Change as a constant phenomenon is what we have come to live with in today’s business world. Not only are businesses presented with the challenges of having the required number of competent people, there are also other unique sets of challenges that require employees to constantly upskill to be able to deal with them effectively. Identifying the competency gaps through employee competency audit is the first step to harnessing the best from your employees.
Competence management is an essential part of an organisation’s performance. You’ll naturally expect your employees to have a wide range of competencies and abilities, but not all organisations understand how to manage the diverse range of employee competencies; This is usually the prerequisite for an audit on your employee competence.
As a business leader, you want to establish a clear understanding of available skills, knowledge and attributes ( which are the components of job competency) your employees require for each role and unlock the potential for growth, development and mobility already available in your company.
An employee competency audit is more than just collecting qualifications information. It enables you to build a comprehensive competence model and determine whether your employees have the fundamental skills, knowledge and attributes to fulfill their workplace roles. Your audit data can also prevent critical competency losses because it is crucial to know how employees use their skills and attributes in their work roles.
Auditing your employee competence involves documenting the organisation’s skills, knowledge and attributes needed for success and comparing them to those your employees already have. This provides a snapshot of your organisations’ competency base, which helps you identify specific training needs and meet employees’ desires and aspirations.
Here are six compelling reasons why you should consider auditing your Employee’s Competence
Identifying Needed Competencies in the Organisation
The process of conducting an employee competency audit starts with having an organisational competency framework. This means that an organisation would have first taken time to consider what their vision is, the strategy to achieve it, the structure to put in place, the roles within the structure and the competencies required to succeed in each role. Having this framework guides virtually all the talent management initiatives in the organisation such as succession planning, promotion, recruitment etc.
Uncover Knowledge Gaps Within Your Team
Job competency audit also helps you to identify any knowledge gaps within your team. It is possible that there are critical competencies where your employees may be lacking. Knowledge of this will help you create a more strategic training solution that helps you fill these gaps.
Alignment of Team’s Competencies with Organisational Strategy
Competency audit allows you to align your business strategy with the knowledge, skills and attributes possessed by your employees.
The strategy of organisations are likely to change from time to time, therefore, you want to be sure that your employees also have the necessary competencies to effectively perform on the job and help you achieve your strategic objectives. In the event that the competencies don’t match, you can provide development interventions to help them acquire these competencies.
Targeted Training and Development
It is difficult to target training and development programmes correctly when you don’t have the data to know which of your employees need what. Organisations end up spending wrongly, which is a problem currently plaguing several industries.
Performing an employee competency audit ensures you can identify the areas where employees need training programmes, helping them develop the competencies that truly matter and providing an effective way of spending.
Decreased Employee Churn
Regardless of significant sums spent on recruitment, welfare and other remunerations, your employees might be quick to jump ship and join competitors when they feel minimal disengagement or other easily preventable reasons like access to learning and development.
A recent LinkedIn survey revealed that nearly 95% of employees would continue at their organisations if more significant investments were placed on their learning or a defined structure for their growth.
Employee competency audit helps your employees understand their competencies and proves you’re investing in them the right way. Improving your employees’ unique competencies and providing them with a structured growth plan ensures they are more engaged and less likely to leave.
Builds a Culture of Continuous Improvement
Consistent Employee Competence Audit creates an environment where your employees constantly strive to improve themselves and, in turn, improve the business. Employees also yearn for feedback because it helps them understand their pitfalls and makes them feel valued as members of the team.
Returns on Investment
As a business leader, one thing that brings the most satisfaction in people management is the return on investment on employee training, upskill, and development programmes. Michigan University research targeted at soft skills training shows that when there is a deliberate investment in employee development, there is a 12% increase in employees’ productivity level.
Placing the right people with ideas, projects, and job roles also yields a positive return. This highlights the importance of competence-based audit in determining the specific programmes to invest in and the best placement decisions to make.
The benefits of an effective employee competence audit are clear, and the impact can be huge for you and your business, but what should you consider before performing your employee competence audit?
Consider some quick tips on the way you can go about it;
- Ensure you have everyone onside before you begin, and your scope is in-line with business targets and goals.
- Establish a clear Competency Framework with a distinct link between your employees competencies and the organisation strategic imperatives
- Communicate with your team. It’s important to let them know the reason for the competence audit and reassure them that the data is secure and confidential.
We can provide you with much more than tips
We have proved reliable and efficient in providing our clients with frameworks to audit their employee competence level and have delivered impactful results on each occasion. We take it as our duty to ensure that your organisation achieves its goals by having the right people with the right competencies in the right places at the right times.
Send us a mail today; hello@workforcegroup.com
