The skills-based organization as an approach to counter the shortage of skilled workers
In order to enable the agility often described today for companies and to maintain competitiveness despite a shortage of skilled workers, it is worth moving away from the existing understanding of fixed, static jobs to a view of skills that are used for projects and work and that are continuously evolving. This new form of organization, which is often discussed as a skill-based organization, places human skills at the heart of talent strategies and thus creates a new operating model for work projects and the workforce.
An important step in implementing a skills-based organization is the development and training of a values-based corporate culture. This promotes a broad range of talent strategies and business decisions, ensures continuous adaptability and unlocks the full potential of the workforce. This means including a stronger focus on the needs of the individual and employee participation to encourage engagement and convey a sense of purpose. This is the signpost for employees, because the purpose answers the question of the individual as to what their daily work contributes to. Building a skills-based organization is therefore more about focusing on the employee and their skills, giving them a stronger voice in career development and contributing their competencies.
This includes internal mobility, which enables the advancement of employees through new career and development opportunities within an organization. This is best achieved through an internal talent market such as the Workday Talent Marketplace - an HR platform that alerts suitable employees to internal career opportunities (e.g. new jobs or a temporary project). With the help of a central database that records the skills, interests and preferences of the workforce, development opportunities for employees can be identified more quickly. But the approach goes beyond improved employee development because it enables individuals to advance their careers, develop new skills and competencies and gain new experiences. By encouraging internal mobility, employers support employee engagement and ultimately reduce turnover. You will probably never be able to completely eliminate external recruitment, but focusing on internal staffing can ensure a happy, balanced workforce.
Skills Management
And this is where technology plays a decisive role: traditional HR management is no longer sufficient. However, if a company uses skills management software instead, the skills available in the workforce can be recognized more quickly, potential skills gaps identified and supported by targeted internal development opportunities to develop the required skills. Modern solutions such as the Workday Skills Cloud are crucial here, as the skills-based approach goes hand in hand with the processing of large volumes of data. An employee from the HR department is less able to cope with the complexity of the data alone. An automated, repeatable method for creating skill semantics is also required for the emergence of new skills and changes in the meaning of skills and their relationships over time. And this is where the use of artificial intelligence is suitable to enable the creation and ongoing development of a skill ontology that cleanses, understands and correlates skill data.
However, it is not enough to find the right talent - you also need to be able to retain them. The HR department plays a key role in promoting a flexible cultural change that enables employees to develop their full potential. In order to pay better attention to the individual needs of employees, the relevant company data must be bundled, which is facilitated by modern technologies. Overall, it can be seen that greater efficiency, coupled with a skills-based corporate culture and the use of the latest technologies such as AI, can mitigate the effects of the skills shortage for forward-looking organizations. The systematic identification and development of skills within the team, coupled with an efficient application process and strong talent retention, are key to successfully competing for skilled workers.
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