Feature

Building a skills inventory

An inventory of skills helps in identifying gaps in competencies, and initiating remedial action, says Sudipta Dev

Managing employee skills and competencies lays the foundation of any organisation, particularly so in the IT industry where technical skills form the core of the business. A skills inventory is essentially a checklist or database of organisational capabilities, that can help a company determine whether it can deliver a particular product on time or service the client efficiently. The difference between the existing and expected conditions determine the skills gap. It is the responsibility of line managers and the HR department to analyse the skills gap and provide the necessary training to bridge it. Alternately, they can also hire people with the requisite skill sets to build a skills inventory. It is the skills and competencies developed by the organisation that determines how it does its business and whether it will succeed.

In a globally competitive business environment, it is necessary for an organisation to know its competitive strength. By creating its own unique inventory of human capabilities, an organisation is better equipped to compete. Madan Padaki, Co-founder & Director, MeritTrac Services, agrees that it is critical for an organisation to understand its competitive strengths in terms of its people skill sets, benchmark it against that best in the industry and work towards bridging these gaps. “The first step in this process is to measure the “as-is” status. This is where skills inventory and measuring the existing skill sets of employees come into the picture. Once this is mapped, companies can then look at the ideal profile of employees that it must have to remain competitive and work towards building this.”

The skills gap analysis

We provide opportunities for our existing employees with complementary or overlapping skills to further their development Salil Bhargava Chief Marketing Officer Paradox Studios

Most IT organisations now have a system in place for a skills gap analysis. The fact of the matter is that when an organisation is aware of its strengths and weaknesses, and requirements, it can make the right decisions which will enable a greater return on its human capital investments. While most organisations have their own approach to the issue, the basic idea remains the same. Noida-based FCS Software Solutions has an employee skills pool in Java, .NET, Oracle, MS SQL Server, open source expertise built around Linux, Apache, and MySQL. The company analyses the gap (between the expected and actual knowledge of employees) by conducting regular assessments and appraisals of each level of employees. “This involves business unit managers or project managers conducting an assessment test or reviews of each employee’s level of knowledge, skills and abilities relative to the level required for successful performance in the position,” says Renu Singh, Senior Executive, HR, FCS Software Solutions. She informs that the skills gap is bridged by organising role-based training programme, skill-based tests and classroom training programme. Post-training assessment is done to help assess employee skills before and after the training.

The gaming industry comprises a range of professionals including game designers, programmers, graphic artists, testers, et al. Paradox Studios which specialises in game development on a number of platforms is constantly expanding its portfolio. “With prior development experience on several platforms like the PC, wireless, Web, iTV and PDA, we know that finding specialised talent for a new platform’s requirements is difficult. While we are always on the look out for fresh talent, we also provide opportunities for our existing employees with complementary or overlapping skills to further their development,” says Salil Bhargava Chief Marketing Officer, Paradox Studios.

Bhargava explains that if a game has to be developed on a new platform and if the programming required on this platform is similar to C or C script, then employees experienced in C or having a background in C are allotted to work on the project. “Pilot projects are executed to get the employees familiarised with the platform, following which working projects may be undertaken. This can also be applied to graphic artists. When Paradox started undertaking 3D mobile game development, our past 3D experience on the PC platform helped us immensely. 2D artists proficient in working on mobile platforms and familiar with the limitations and constraints on such platforms worked in tandem with our PC art team experienced in 3D art. A middle ground was thus established to bridge the gap and achieve optimum results,” adds Bhargava.

Skills tracking

The Competency Model is one of the key tools used at TIS to track individual performances in terms of knowledge and skills gained P Premkumar HR Head Tata Interactive Systems	Managers assess each employee’s level of knowledge, skills and abilities to compare it to the level required for an optimal performance in a job role Renu Singh Senior Executive, HR FCS Software Solutions

Once an organisation has documented its skills, it can build or buy a system designed to track them—a necessity in today’s increasingly specialised business world. “The skill tracking system helps us get the right talent at the right time and engage existing employees appropriately. Employee-skill inventory also helps in designing customised training and development programmes. Identifying the skills and competencies that drive success make it easier for us to find out the availability of any required skill and the level of expertise in that skill within the organisation at any given point of time. This in turn helps us in servicing our clients better with a faster turnaround time,” asserts Singh.

Tata Interactive Systems (TIS) has a global team of over 800 multi-disciplinary specialists, a unique mix of project managers, software engineers, instructional designers, content developers, visual designers, and animators. It claims to be the only e-learning organisation in the world which is certified for P-CMM Level 5. “The Competency Model is one of the key tools used at TIS to track individual performances in terms of knowledge and skills gained. This is an ideal practice, which takes place once every six months to gauge competency levels across the organisation,” says P Premkumar, HR Head of Tata Interactive Systems.

Skills mapping

While it is true that skills mapping improves an individual’s as well as organisation’s performance, the fact remains that very few organisations have an established process of giving the employees feedback on their skill sets. What could be the first step to self-improvement is often ignored. “An assessment exercise helps to measure the “as-is” status of the employee and provide a structured feedback on the strengths and the weaknesses. Based on this feedback, the employees are provided a learning environment where they can pick up specific topics and improve their understanding of these topics,” points out Padaki.

At TIS, following the end of a month-long detailed induction, an employee is fully aware of all the benefit skills and competency management practices followed. He also has the option of viewing his “Bill of Rights” online, which shows him his competency level, his appraisal rates and who his mentor in the organisation is. All modifications to these are conveyed through training programmes on the same, adds Premkumar.

Motivating employees

Educating employees about the benefits of the system is essential. It is not only the job of the HR department, but also the line managers, to motivate them constantly. “Skills are the only currency that carries a lot of value in today’s knowledge-driven economy. An individual’s value is determined by the breadth and depth of skills that he possesses. Any programme that enhances skills becomes beneficial to the employee as well as the organisation. This is the basic premise in educating employees about working towards enhancing their skills,” states Padaki.

Paradox has adopted a rather unique approach to its employee development—it challenges its employees to a game! Freshers might start by developing a simple game and advance to more complex games, the challenge after this is to get into the big league—international titles. “This is a three-pronged approach involving evaluation, experience and incentive. Going through the process starting from a simple premise and garnering experience down the line serves as a good training ground for understanding and implementing rich gameplay. At the end of it, for the developer, working on an international title turns out to be its own reward. We want people to seize the opportunity and get credit for their ability. By training them through these stages and monitoring quality and potential we prepare them to be the best, in effect raising the company’s standards,” says Bhargava.

For an organisation, building a skills inventory has several advantages—from improving operational efficiency and productivity to competitive advantage in the marketplace. It creates a learning environment and is a great internal branding strategy that is able to retain employees and successfully attract new people.

sudipta@expresscomputeronline.com