What Is Competency? Assessing Employee Proficiency

It goes without saying that employers want to ensure that their employees are competent at their jobs. But what is competency and how can you measure competency proficiency? Why is it even important to do so? In this article, we’ll answer these questions and more.

What is Competency?

Simply put, competency is an employee’s ability to do their job. Competencies are the behaviors, knowledge, and attitudes that allow someone to do something successfully. They explain how an employee delivers results. Typically, these are non-transferable and individual to a role or organization.

To really answer the question “What is competency?” we’ll need to discuss how it differs from skills. We learn skills, often through education, training, and experience. Employees can also improve them with practice and mentoring. These are transferable across different jobs and companies.

Why Assess Employee Competency and Proficiency?

Assessing employee competency and proficiency levels helps you understand their strengths and areas needing improvement. This way, you’ll be more informed to support them and their growth. It will also help you identify high-potential employees for promotional opportunities.

Regular competency assessments help employers understand how proficient their team is in areas like communication, critical thinking, and innovation. Through on-the-job experience, training, and performance assessments, proficiency will increase. As an employer, you want to ensure that your team is constantly upskilling and developing professionally. This ensures that your organization remains relevant and competitive.

Believe it or not, employees want you to monitor and assess their competency. Employees, particularly millennials, are eager to learn new skills at work. found 76% of employees are more likely to stay with a company that offers continuous training. However,are pleased with their current career advancement opportunities. Competency assessments can inform your skills training.

Methods for Assessing Competency and Proficiency

Now that we’ve answered “What is competency?” and discussed the importance of making these assessments, let’s turn to methods. There are a few ways to assess competency and proficiency.

• Performance Reviews

Performance reviews are a great way to monitor how employees are completing their work. You can identify and track key competencies based on goal achievement. It’s important to establish an employee profile from the beginning of their tenure and frequently update it with their progress. Use these profiles in performance reviews to discuss competency proficiency.

• 360 Reviews

360 reviews involve managers, colleagues, stakeholders, customers, and reports relevant to an employee. Through their feedback, you create a holistic view of an employee’s performance, competencies, and proficiency. Having reviews coming from an array of sources helps to minimize bias when evaluating competencies.

• Skills Assessments

Skills assessments will evaluate employee skills but they can also be useful for competencies when appropriate. They provide objective data for targeted competencies. Examples of skills assessments include role-playing and knowledge tests. They can be helpful, but be mindful that they may not always translate to on-the-job performance.

• Self-Assessments

You can also ask employees to conduct self-assessments using a standard framework. A common self-assessment is a questionnaire that employees can fill out on their own. It shows their competencies and self-perception. Because they can often be overly pessimistic or optimistic, combine this method with others.

Tracking Employee Growth in Competencies Over Time

Employers should track employee progress as they become more proficient in their roles. Obviously, you’ll want to see steady growth. Competency assessments are a way to focus on skills, knowledge, and behaviors specific to a position. The process involves an initial assessment, reassessments, and constant progress tracking.

Initial Assessment – Start with an initial competency assessment when you hire an employee. This acts as your baseline to measure growth. You can rate the competencies using a scale, such as basic, intermediate, and advanced.  

Reassessments – Reassess employees every 6-12 months. Rate their competency proficiency progress based on new education or certificates, completing job responsibilities with less guidance, positive managerial feedback, and colleague mentoring.

Tracking Progress – Comparing the initial assessment to the reassessments will help gauge how employees are progressing over time. You can guide your development plans based on where employees are stagnating. This will also empower your employees by visualizing their own growth and career progression.

Final Comments

Skills and competencies are becoming increasingly important in the workplace. A found that 83% of HR professionals have difficulty recruiting suitable candidates due to the skills shortage. As an employer, it’s in your best interest to conduct assessments and monitor proficiency progression. Instead of losing and replacing talent, foster their development and nurture their growth to align with your company’s goals. Competent talent is invaluable.