Conducting an analysis can sound overwhelming and tends to be met with some resistance in most cases. However, in this article, we break it down in order for you to understand how this works within the organisation.
The first thing that you should know about a skills gap analysis: A skills gap analysis is conducted to establish the difference between skills that the organisation requires and the skills that their workforce currently has. Conducting a skills gap analysis helps you identify skills that the company needs to meet your business goals. To put this in simple terms, it is to analyse what skills your staff currently have and compare that to the skills that the company requires. For example, if you require someone that can work with difficult clients, they would need to have good communication skills and a firm knowledge in regards to the product or service that you offer, but there might not be employees who have both of these skills sets. From here, you will be able to pinpoint what skills are missing or can be topped up within the company. With this in mind, you can plan accordingly to overcome the skills gaps.
Once the analysis has been conducted, and a training provider has been identified, you can start providing the staff with the training as and when they have time and/or availability. It is always a good idea to promote a learning culture within the organisation which will encourage the staff to do the training. However, this can also form part of their annual performance review should the company make use of such a tool. To ensure that the process works, you will need the support and backing from management to ensure that all necessary resources and documentation is put into place in order to conduct this in a formal manner.
Here are some ways to conduct a skills audit:
- You can make use of Questionnaires;
- Meeting with the staff on a one to one basis;
- Have a general staff meeting and engaging with them to hear what they think is needed within the company.
The role of the person/s conducting the audits can be chosen from within the Human Resources department, or it can be tasked to the Manager of each department if need be.
There are many benefits to conducting this type of analysis, some of which are as follows:
- It gives you useful insight into your current workforce;
- It improves individual learning and development;
- It assists you with strategic workforce planning and recruitment efforts;
- It creates a competitive advantage;
A skills audit should always be conducted in a fair and non-discriminatory manner, allowing each employee to provide feedback on their audit with their respective Manager.
By involving the employees in the skills gap analysis, with the points mentioned above, your staff will be more willing to attend the training, as they will see that the company has their best interests at heart.
Based on the above, it is therefore highly beneficial to ensure that the employees fulfil the inherent requirements of their specific job role so that the company’s mission and goals can be achieved, which in turn benefits the employees in terms of the growth of the company and possibly their own personal growth as well.
Once you have identified the training needs, this can be added to your Annual Training Report (ATR) and Workplace Skills Plan (WSP), which is submitted to the Seta annually by your allocated SDF. Depending on the type of training identified, it could fall under the Mandatory Grant or Discretionary Grant funding. If the above-mentioned training is implemented in such a way that staff will be promoted, this could assist in you reaching your targets that were set out in your Employment Equity plan (Only applicable to Designated Employers).
SEESA is an accredited training provider and can assist your company with a few of the generic skills that employees may require in terms of various skills, such as Management, Computer Literacy, Health & Safety and even the various Acts that all companies need to abide by.
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!” – Benjamin Franklin
SEESA has always been committed to providing ongoing quality service to all our clients. Our team of Skills Development Facilitators can also assist you by providing further information or documentation in terms of the above process.
Contact your SEESA Skills Development Facilitator to assist your business with the skills gap analysis.
About The Author:
Simoné Van Den Berg started her career at SEESA in 2012 and is currently a Skills Development Facilitator at SEESA’s Durban office. She completed her Marketing Management Diploma at Boston College.
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