How Do We Ensure That Our Skills and Competencies Development Efforts Are Aligned with Our Employer Brand and Employee Value Proposition?

Building a strong employer brand and employee value proposition (EVP) can create a feeling of alignment and support in your workplace for employees. Implementing skills and competencies development initiatives makes employee growth and learning a priority. If effective, it can go a long way in engaging your employees.

In this article, we will explore how you can align skills and competencies development efforts with your employer brand and EVP. It takes some effort, but it is possible for your organization to do this effectively. So, let’s start by looking at skills and competencies mapping to your EVP.

Skills and Competencies Mapping to Your EVP

To begin, you need to map your key skills and competencies to your EVP pillars. For example, innovation could be a key pillar for your organization. If this is the case, you can focus on the development of skills such as creative thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration. Do this for all the EVP pillars within your organization.

Once you complete this, it’s time to survey your employees to determine which skills to prioritize for development. Ask them what they believe their strengths are and which areas they would like to improve in. For example, if communication is a top need, you can set up workshops aimed at improving presentation skills and cross-cultural communication.

You should also promote a growth mindset among your employees. You can do this by providing opportunities for continuous learning and skills mastery. Offer access to online training courses, mentorships, and job rotations. Create individual development plans with your employees to help them stay on track.

Developing a Skills Framework Aligned to Your Employer Brand

To ensure that your skills development programs align with your employer brand, you need to develop a comprehensive skills framework. This framework needs to outline the skills and competencies you want to develop in your employees. These should be based on the company’s values and goals.

A strong skills framework identifies both technical skills and soft skills. For example, if collaboration is important to your EVP, focus on skills such as teamwork, communication, and conflict management.

When you develop a skills framework, you need to communicate them clearly to employees. This helps them understand the skills and behaviors that they value most. This helps you to reinforce your employer brand and EVP.

Make sure to continually revisit and update your skills framework. This is due to the need to keep up with changes in your industry and business priorities. This will give your employees an environment where they can thrive. This is the core of a strong employer brand.

Identifying Critical Skills Gap

To make sure that skills development programs align with your employer brand, you need to begin by identifying any critical skills gaps in your organization.

Conduct an audit of the skills and competencies of your employees. You can then compare these to the skills that are required to achieve your business strategy and goals. Identify which areas are lacking or need strengthening. Here are some ways to assess current skills:

• Employee Surveys

In a survey, you can ask your employees about their skills, strengths, and development needs. You can take some time to look for any common themes that occur. From here, you can identify which skills gaps are prominent in your organization.

• Performance Reviews

Performance reviews allow you to see which areas employees excelled in and needed improvement in. Review recent performance reviews to identify which skills have been noted as needing improvement.

• Job Analysis

Examine which keys and competencies different roles require. Conducting this analysis helps you determine where gaps exist between employees’ skills and job needs.

Anticipate Future Needs

When it comes to aligning skills and competencies development with your employer brand and EVP, you need to be able to anticipate future needs. This means anticipating what your organization will need in the next 3-5 years to achieve its strategic vision. Some factors to consider include:

• Industry Trends

New technologies, practices, and innovations impact the skills that you need.

• Growth Plans

If your organization plans to expand into new products, services, or markets, you need to decide which new skills will be required to support these plans.

• Automation

Look at the potential impact of automation and AI on jobs and skills within your organization. You can ask questions such as will some skills become obsolete? Predicting this can be difficult, but it is definitely a possibility.

Measuring the Impact of Your Investments

To ensure that your skills and development programs are aligned your employer brand and EVP, you need to measure their impact. Some key metrics to track include:

• Employee Satisfaction and Engagement

Surveying employees before and after skills development programs can help see if there is a change in their satisfaction or motivation. You can also look for increases in areas including growth opportunities, learning, and development.

• Productivity and Performance

Measure key performance indicators before and after skills development programs. Look for increases in areas such as sales, customer satisfaction, or productivity.

• Retention Rates

Calculate employee retention rates to see how successful your organization has been at retaining staff. Losing top talent can be costly, so see if there have been increases in retention for the 6-12 months following skills development programs.

• Promotion Rates

Track the number of employees promoted into more senior roles since skills development programs were introduced. This helps determine if your initiatives are effectively preparing employees for career progression.

• Cost Savings

You can also see calculate the cost savings and ROI of your programs. Even small improvements can translate into substantial savings over time. This helps justify the investment in skills development.

Conclusion

In summary, making sure your skills development programs are aligned with your employer brand and EVP is key. You need to be able to fully understand what really motivates your employees and align your strategies accordingly. If effective, your employees will thank you for it and drive your organization to success.