Enhancing Workforce Resilience: Using Workday to Manage Skill Gaps and Talent Mobility

Feeling the pressure of evolving skill needs and the constant hum of talent movement within your organization? You're navigating a landscape where adaptability isn't just a plus – it's a survival skill for businesses. The World Economic Forum predicts that over 50% of all employees will need reskilling and upskilling by 2025. That's a significant shift, and proactively addressing skill gaps and fostering internal talent mobility is crucial for building a resilient workforce.

You've invested in Workday, a powerful platform that goes far beyond basic HR administration. Its robust capabilities in skills management, career development, and talent acquisition can be your secret weapon in building a workforce that's not only ready for today's challenges but also equipped for tomorrow's opportunities.

So, grab a cup of tea, and let's explore a detailed, step-by-step approach to leveraging Workday to effectively manage skill gaps and drive seamless talent mobility within your organization, ultimately enhancing your overall workforce resilience.

Deep Dive into Your Current Skill Landscape with Workday Skills Cloud

Before you can address gaps or facilitate movement, you need a clear understanding of your existing skills. Workday Skills Cloud provides the foundation for this:

• Centralized Skill Inventory: Encourage employees and managers to accurately tag and update skills within Workday. This creates a dynamic, organization-wide inventory of your talent's capabilities. Think beyond job titles – focus on the actual skills individuals possess and utilize. Organizations with a well-defined skills inventory are 20% more likely to effectively match talent to projects and opportunities (Deloitte).

  
  

• AI-Powered Skill Inference: Workday's AI can intelligently infer skills based on job roles, experience, education, and even project history. This helps to identify hidden skills and potential within your workforce that might otherwise go unnoticed.

  
  

• Skill Gap Analysis: Leverage Workday's reporting and analytics to identify critical skill gaps within teams, departments, or across the entire organization. By comparing the skills you have with the skills you need for current and future roles, you can pinpoint areas requiring attention. Identifying skill gaps early can reduce time-to-fill critical roles by up to 15% (Gartner).

  
  

• Skill Proficiency Levels: Implement proficiency levels for different skills, allowing for a more nuanced understanding of your workforce's capabilities. Is someone "aware" of a skill, "proficient," or an "expert"? This detail is crucial for effective talent matching and development planning.

Empower Employees with Transparency and Development Opportunities

Resilience is fostered when employees feel empowered to grow and adapt. Workday provides tools for this:

• Visible Career Paths: Utilize Workday Career Hub to make potential career paths transparent and accessible to all employees. Showcase the skills and experiences required for different roles, inspiring employees to proactively develop themselves. Companies with visible career paths report a 10% higher employee retention rate (SHRM).

  
  

• Personalized Development Plans: Leverage Workday Learning to create and track personalized development plans aligned with individual career goals and identified skill gaps. This can include internal and external training, mentorship programs, on-the-job learning, and stretch assignments.

  
  

• Internal Mobility Marketplace: Implement Workday's internal mobility features to create a transparent marketplace for open roles, projects, and even short-term assignments. This empowers employees to explore new opportunities within the organization, fostering engagement and reducing reliance on external hires. Internal hires have been shown to have a 41% lower turnover rate in their first year compared to external hires (ERE Media).

  
  

• Mentorship and Coaching Programs: Integrate mentorship and coaching programs within Workday, connecting employees with experienced colleagues who can help them develop new skills and navigate career transitions.

Proactive Talent Acquisition and Redeployment Strategies

Building a resilient workforce requires a proactive approach to both acquiring and redeploying talent:

• Skills-Based Hiring: Shift your hiring focus from solely relying on job titles and past experience to prioritizing the specific skills needed for open roles. Use Workday Recruiting to identify and attract candidates with the critical skills identified in your gap analysis. Skills-based hiring can reduce time-to-hire by up to 25% (LinkedIn).

  
  

• Talent Pooling and Anticipatory Hiring: Build talent pools of individuals with in-demand skills, even before specific roles become available. This allows for faster hiring when needs arise.

  
  

• Strategic Redeployment: When business needs shift or projects evolve, leverage Workday to identify employees with transferable skills who can be quickly redeployed to new roles or teams. This maximizes your existing talent and reduces the need for external hiring. Organizations with strong internal mobility programs fill roles 1.8 times faster than those without (ERE Media).

  
  

• Contingent Workforce Management: Integrate your contingent workforce management within Workday to gain a holistic view of your total talent pool and strategically deploy external resources to address temporary skill gaps.

Foster a Culture of Continuous Learning and Adaptability

Workforce resilience isn't just about tools; it's about cultivating a mindset of continuous learning and adaptability:

• Promote a Growth Mindset: Encourage a culture where employees are open to learning new skills and taking on new challenges. Highlight success stories of internal mobility and skill development.

  
  

• Make Learning Accessible: Ensure that learning resources within Workday are easily accessible, engaging, and relevant to employees' needs and career aspirations.

  
  

• Recognize and Reward Skill Development: Acknowledge and reward employees who actively participate in learning and development initiatives and successfully transition into new roles.

  
  

• Regularly Communicate Future Skill Needs: Be transparent with your workforce about the skills that will be critical for the organization's future success. This allows individuals to proactively prepare and develop those skills.

Measure, Analyze, and Iterate on Your Resilience Strategies

Just like any strategic initiative, your efforts to enhance workforce resilience need to be continuously monitored and refined:

• Track Key Metrics: Monitor metrics such as internal mobility rates, time-to-fill critical roles, employee participation in learning programs, and employee retention rates in new roles.

  
  

• Analyze the Impact on Business Outcomes: Correlate your talent mobility and skill development initiatives with key business outcomes such as project success rates, innovation metrics, and overall organizational agility.

  
  

• Gather Employee Feedback: Regularly solicit feedback from employees and managers on their experiences with internal mobility and skill development programs. Use this feedback to identify areas for improvement.

  
  

• Adapt Your Strategies: Based on your data and feedback, be prepared to adjust your Workday configurations and talent strategies to ensure they remain effective in a constantly evolving environment.

Building a Future-Proof Workforce

Enhancing workforce resilience is a strategic imperative in today's dynamic world. By effectively leveraging the power of Workday to manage skill gaps and drive talent mobility, you can build a workforce that is adaptable, engaged, and ready to navigate any challenge the future may hold. It's about empowering your people to grow, move, and contribute their diverse skills in ways that benefit both the individual and the organization.

Ready to build a more resilient workforce with Workday? Schedule a personalized consultation with our Workday experts to explore how we can help you optimize your talent strategies. 

Let's empower your people for the future, today.