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There are jobs that make up today’s workforce that will be disrupted by technological advances in the coming years. These changes call for companies to upskill and reskill their teams, which requires insight into skills gaps. While some organizations plan to adapt their workforce for the future, fragmented skills data may prevent them from leveraging learning and development.

Companies may operate under the false assumption that they have a centralized and accurate view into their workforce skills data. But this information can be fragmented, and that can lead to a lack of insight into employees’ true capabilities. Here are a few ways that fragmentation happens.

The standard talent acquisition practice is to base skills on one predefined role. HR creates the job descriptions, establishes a salary and assigns training. Hiring managers bring talent onboard, provide feedback, and organize role-based teams. But without a common skills language across departments, skills could be defined differently between HR and L&D. Or the same skill might be labeled differently across HR and L&D teams. The result is potential confusion between employees, L&D professionals and HR.

Managers in some organizations are completely unaware of which skills their employees possess. While they may be aware of some skills (like the ones employees use to do their jobs), managers may lack visibility to other untapped skills or skill development potential. In some cases, managers rely on workers to self-report their skills and levels of proficiency.

According to a , only 48% of surveyed HR and business executives are confident that they have verified and documented human capabilities within their organization. Additionally, 68% are confident that they have documented and verified hard skills, which are typically required to perform a job. 

Employees may seek opportunities to learn new skills (or enhance existing ones) that align with evolving industry demands and their own interests, but the resources to do so are not always available. Tuition programs have historically existed outside of a company’s L&D objectives and talent strategy. Only 2 to 5% of companies have actually evaluated the return on investment(ROI), according to .

As a result, companies can face a disconnect over who holds responsibility for creating career pathways, as well as who should fund and support employee training and continued education. Additionally, employees may face uncertainty about which skills and educational paths are worth investing in. 

Organizations have spent years investing in HR data systems used for tracking talent acquisition, learning, payroll, performance and engagement. However, there are companies in which HR managers fail to leverage the data they’ve collected. At best, this data is treated as a by-product centered on compliance and transactions.

What’s missing is an approach to using workforce data to create a competitive advantage. Without such an approach, the data remains fragmented, reporting is inconsistent and no real insights are gained.

The lack of an organized skills visibility system shows up in day-to-day operations in the following ways. 

While some HR managers may have plans to create a common skills language across their organizations, not all have effectively done so.

A lack of a shared skills language has been an issue across the labor market for decades. Employers provide varying descriptions for the same roles. Employees face challenges demonstrating their skills. Training providers find it difficult to pinpoint the skills employees need to thrive professionally. 

In some companies, HR managers are unaware of what skills their employees possess and rely on self-reporting without validated proficiency. This is especially problematic when companies make decisions on pay, promotions and allocation of responsibilities without valid and verified skills data.

Closing skills gaps is a top priority for many organizations. Yet few have the readiness to act on it, often due to a lack of skills visibility. According to a , fewer than 50% of survey respondents say their organizations are fully aware of employees’ current workforce skills. 

Talent visibility is a necessary part of internal mobility. It can help HR identify existing skills within a company’s workplace and what future capabilities are needed. However, some organizations don’t have effective internal mobility processes in place. Companies typically hire employees based on their visible skills through prior work experience, education or competencies listed on their resumés. 

According to a by Deloitte, only 22% of companies surveyed use AI technology to detect or deduce which skills employees have based on their work activity. Plus, 26% use AI to get skills insights from employees’ performance and daily behaviors in workflows. However, in many organizations, HR managers rely on self-reporting, course completion, digital assessment tools, manager or peer feedback, and employees’ credentials. 

The true cost of fragmented skills signals goes beyond operational friction; it can result in wasted budgets and lost talent. These tangible losses tend to show up in ways that HR managers may be overlooking.

Companies in the U.S. already spend billions of dollars on workforce learning and development programs collectively, and in some cases, the training offers little value. When skills data is fragmented, companies may find themselves paying multiple times to train employees on skills they already have.

It’s common for HR managers to seek external talent when filling job vacancies, and sometimes, they see these candidates potentially filling skills gaps. However, looking to external candidates often isn’t enough to fill empty roles due to ever-evolving technology.

Sometimes, employees who could be retained leave jobs due to the absence of career development initiatives. These employees may find themselves changing employers and taking existing capabilities with them into similar roles, which suggests that workers possess the skills they need to advance internally, but employers never give them the opportunity.

While workforce training programs can lead to better employee retention, engagement and overall business competitiveness, the investments companies make in skills development don’t always yield lucrative results. There are instances where employees receive training in skills that address problems but don’t actually solve them.

For example, a financial services organization may invest in training employees on advanced analytics tools to support a digital transformation initiative. At the same time, frontline teams may be struggling with basic data interpretation and communication skills needed to apply those insights to day-to-day decisions. While the training addresses the strategic priority, it doesn’t solve the immediate execution gap, leaving teams better trained but not necessarily more effective in their roles.

When there’s a disconnect between employee skills development and its impact on financial business outcomes, companies may struggle to prove ROI. A 2023 reveals that only 33% of companies actually measure the ROI of skills acquisition, and 75% report seeking better metrics for tracking ROI.

To overcome the challenges posed by fragmented skills signals, HR managers should prioritize systems that connect talent acquisition, learning and internal mobility, including:

• Shared skills language: Skills taxonomies provide clarity on which capabilities employees need to perform job responsibilities. They give organizations a clear understanding of which skills a role requires, a common definition of each skill and insights into which skills are most in demand.
• Validated proficiency signals: With skills-based practices becoming more commonplace, HR managers should know which skills a company needs to meet its goals. HR managers should also establish a supportive environment for skills-based practices and effective performance management systems.
• Cross-functional access: Access to cross-functional learning pathways is necessary for teaching new skills to employees to keep up with personnel changes and evolving business processes.
• Transparent capability gap: Companies that can pinpoint the skills required to meet future demands are positioned to create tailored, skills-centered learning pathways. 

In an environment that demands constant adaptability, alignment is a must for keeping up with evolving business and workforce demands. That alignment begins with workforce solutions that help foster skills visibility. Identify where fragmented skills signals may be limiting workforce performance. Get a clear view of your workforce’s skills, where gaps exist and where to focus development next. Explore workforce skills and gaps.