Skills-First Practices for Employers: Skills Development & Utilisation

You identify the skills the business will need now and in the future, based on sector trends, so training can begin before shortages become urgent.

Try this:

• Use sector trends and Jobs Transformation Maps to anticipate the skills your business will need next.

• Consider skills needed when adopting technologies.

• Review your skills needs at each business planning cycle.

You plan training around your business strategy, rather than delivering generic programmes disconnected from future needs.

Try this:

• Link every training plan to a specific business goal or capability gap.

• Avoid generic training that don't connect to where the business is heading.

• Involve line managers in shaping training so it reflects real work needs.

Offer employees internal career moves based on the skills they already have, including into departments they have not worked in before.

Try this:

• Base internal mobility decisions on demonstrated skills and capabilities, rather than primarily on tenure or current department. 

• Create opportunities for employees to move across departments, enabling them to apply and further develop their skills in different roles and work contexts. 

• Facilitate transitions into new roles through targeted retraining, rather than allowing non-essential qualification requirements to become barriers. 

Formally assess and recognise employees' skills so skills are backed by real evidence, not only self-reporting.

Try this:

• Validate employees' skills through credible evidence such as skills assessments, work samples and observed performance. 

• Document and recognise demonstrated skills in ways that employees can use them to support their career development and mobility. 

• Apply clear and consistent criteria for recognising skills across the organisation. 

You recognise employees who develop and apply new skills that create value through job enrichment, career progression, formal recognition or remuneration where appropriate.

Try this:

• Recognise employees for how they apply their skills and contribute value at work, not just training completed.

• Recognise employees’ skills and contributions through career progression, opportunities for growth and formal acknowledgement, in ways that align with your organisation’s needs and practices.

• Make recognition visible so others are encouraged to develop and apply new skills.

You leverage relevant national and industry tools, such as Skills Frameworks and Jobs Transformation Maps, where appropriate, rather than spending time and money building your own from scratch.

Try this:

• Check for publicly available resources before commissioning new tools.

• Reference jobs-skills content from publicly available resources instead of starting from scratch.

• Assign someone to locate, interpret and stay current on updated resources so the organisation can reference them quickly.

  
  

You distinguish general, transferable skills from knowledge unique to your organisation, and make sure critical know-how is documented and passed on — protecting the business against disruption when key people leave or retire.

Try this:

• Identify which knowledge is unique to your organisation versus transferable across sectors, and document the unique parts.

• Create knowledge-sharing practices, walkthroughs, documentation, mentoring pairs, for roles held by a single person.

• Build handover plans into role transitions so know-how isn't lost when key people leave or retire.

You regularly check whether your organisation’s Skills-First practices are actually improving performance, retention or profitability. 

Try this:

• Decide on 2–3 indicators, such as internal mobility, retention, time-to-fill, or training-to-application, and track them consistently.

• Review whether Skills-First practices are actually improving outcomes, not just being adopted.

• Share results with managers so they can see the value and adjust their approach.