Adjacent skills. The answer to the skills gap?

With a widening of the skills gap and the on-going talent shortage, organisations are having to adapt their recruitment processes. The days of having people fit into strict job descriptions are long gone, now it’s about finding applicants with adjacent skills or upskilling existing employees who are capable of taking on in-demand roles.

Adjacent skills are skills that are closely related and complement each other through shared similarities. These skills are often used together in various tasks and jobs, and having proficiency in one skill can enhance the development and mastery of another. There are several reasons why an adjacent skills strategy can be effective:

• It can fill a skills gap. By recruiting and developing people with skills just outside what’s required, you can close the gap.

• It’s a cost-effective way to build skills. Training existing employees is generally more affordable than recruiting externally.

• It can help with succession planning. Identifying high-potential employees who can develop the required skills means you can start preparing them for future roles.

There will of course be times when using adjacent skills just won’t work but inflation, the great resignation, quiet quitting and a possible recession means organisations need to stay flexible to ensure that they have access to the necessary talent when its needed. To achieve this, leaders need to connect their people and their adjacent skills with the organisation’s ever-changing needs in a strategic way through well-targeted reskilling and upskilling programmes.

Upskilling to retain your top talent.

According to the World Economic Forum, by 2025, 50% of employees worldwide will need to be reskilled as the adoption of technology continues, whilst LinkedIn’s ‘2022 Global Trends Report’ reveals that upskilling and development opportunities were top priorities for employees.

As we move into 2023, in the UK economic uncertainty, and a competitive labour market means businesses face an on-going talent shortage. The pandemic changed job requirements and left many people feeling unprepared as businesses quickly reorganised and traditional learning and skills development tried to adapt.

The global labour market is also changing. A report from the McKinsey Global Institute says 14% of the workforce will have to change their careers by 2030. With so many employees looking for new jobs, employers have to be creative in their retention strategy and upskilling is an effective way of retaining top talent in the organisation.

Acquiring new skills or knowledge in order to improve job performance or career opportunities is advantageous to both employers and employees. For employers, identifying skills gaps and then investing in training initiatives to upskill the current team moves the priority to talent development rather than recruitment. This helps the business to remain competitive, increases the efficiency and productivity of the current team, boosts employee motivation and job satisfaction which results in improved employee retention. From an employee perspective, it not only offers the opportunity to develop or learn new skills, but also to increase their value and enable them to take on more responsibility or higher-level, better-paid positions within their organisation.

As we move into 2023, it’s clear that employees need to be prepared for the ‘future of work’ and that businesses will need to be resilient to the economic problems ahead. Upskilling can become an important part of a businesses workforce planning, talent acquisition and retention strategy and those that show a commitment to employee growth and implement better learning and development opportunities will be the ones that attract and retain top workers.