The Skills Gap: Waking Up the HR Professional

Enjoy this realistic write up by visualizing yourself entering a sometimes-tense meeting that filled with technological devices. The employees assembled are bowed over the desk, staring at a cubical, typing away with their fingers. The only thing a call center employees are hearing are the sound of typing on the keyboard and occasional groans. This is sad and true for many companies today that are unable to adapt to the growing spate of technological advancements.

The Skills Gap: This becomes a growing threat to the internal growth of an organization since the potential candidates are available within its employee base. Despite the fact that such issues as the shortage of qualified professionals have never been exclusive to the recent years, the tendencies observed in the given sphere can be hardly described as positive. Research reveals that while 40% working population is not equipped with the required competence to perform their tasks, on the other hand 60% employers have difficulty in identifying the candidates with right set of skills. This gap is not uniquely contained within any sector or industry, it is a problem faced universally by every organization, small, medium or large.

Consequences of Skills Mismatches

The outcomes of the situation described as the skills gap are negative and concern various spheres of life. Lack of the required professional competencies to effectively complete the tasks in their positions, the employees may slow down, make more mistakes, and may not be as happy coming to work. The above challenges can therefore culminate to higher staff turnover rates, low morale and ultimately, low organizational performance.

Some of the vital tasks that are performed by the us being the HR personnel are explained below:

Organizations’ chiefs find the skills gap hard to handle due to many reasons, and the role of HR professionals in closing this gap cannot be over-emphasized. They are also responsible for developing specific strategies to train, retrain, develop and acquire talented Employees. As with many HR issues, the topic is multifaceted and raises numerous questions: how exactly can HR professionals approach the problem?

Leveraging the best approach to counter the prevalence of the skills gap. Here are some strategies that HR professionals can implement to address the skills gap:

Here are some strategies that HR professionals can implement to address the skills gap:?

? Upskilling and Reskilling: Offer the staff training since it forms the essential skills required by the employees when working. This can perhaps encompass areas such as the mentoring, coaching and training including workshops.?

? Talent Acquisition: This means making sure that you can attract and then maintain talented employees which means competitive wages, benefits, and promotions.?

? Diversity and Inclusion: Support the HR diversity and inclusion policy in the organization and ensure that the company offers its employees from different marginalized backgrounds an equal chance to grow within the company.?

? Technology and Automation: If possible try to integrate the use of technology and allow automation of various processes to enhance productivity, domination and direct the energy of the employees towards added values.?

Conclusion?

?Skills shortage is an area that cannot be overlooked and needs urgent attention in any society. It therefore becomes the responsibility of the HR department to ensure that they think proactively by formulating the best strategies to take to ensure that these employees are reskilled or upskilled, that the organizations got the best talents to be hired as well as ensuring that there is inclusion of everyone despite their status in the organization. This way, organization can be aware and adaptive to existing changes hence benefiting from the current competing business climate.?

Call to Action?

?This is where I encourage the HR professionals who find themselves facing the skills gap in their organization to share their experiences and the steps they have taken to eradicate this menace with me. Together, it is possible to come up with the best approach towards fighting this battle head on.