4 Ways to Address Skills Gaps in Your Workplace

Businesses across industries and sizes are facing significant challenges in 2025. Between economic uncertainty and rapidly advancing technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI), organizations need employees with the right skills in place to navigate current and future disruptors. 

The latest in-demand skills are rapidly evolving. Recent Lightcast reports found that 32% of the skills required for the average job were different in 2024 than they were in 2021. As a result, many organizations are facing skills gaps, which can hold businesses back from achieving strategic goals and driving long-term growth.

Learn more about what skills gaps are, how they impact organizations, and key strategies to address skills gaps and help your business gain a competitive advantage.

What is a Skills Gap?

A skills gap is the difference or mismatch between the skills needed by an organization to meet business objectives and the actual skills possessed by members of their workforce.

Research from ManpowerGroup shows that 74% of employers surveyed are struggling to find the skilled talent they need. The top five industries facing the greatest talent shortages or skills gaps include health and life sciences, energy and utilities, information technology, transport, logistics, and automotive, and consumer goods and services.  

Gaps may include both hard, technical skills (such as C++ Programming, Data Analysis, and Prompt Engineering) and soft skills (such as Adaptability, or Critical Thinking).

Skills gaps may emerge due to a range of factors, including:

• Technological advancements

• Labor market demand or competition for in-demand skills

• Shifting business or customer needs

• Workforce restructuring

• Employee turnover 

• Inadequate employee upskilling and reskilling

• Lack of an internal skills inventory or proactive skills mapping 

How Do Skills Gaps Impact an Organization?

According to global research from the World Economic Forum, 63% of organizations indicate skills gaps will be the biggest barrier to business transformation through 2030. However, this is only one of many ways skills gaps impact businesses. Other potential impacts include the following.

Decreased Productivity

When employees lack in-demand technical skills or necessary soft skills required to collaborate effectively, this can hold them back from reaching their full potential. This can lead to productivity challenges such as longer timelines to complete projects, mistakes or errors, and challenges with internal collaboration. According to research from Multiverse, organizations lose an average of 25 days of productivity per year due to data-related skills gaps. 

Innovation Barriers

Skills gaps can significantly hold back an organization from embracing the latest technology and driving innovation or efficiencies. In the absence of employees who understand emerging technologies or possess creative problem-solving abilities, companies may struggle to efficiently develop and launch new products, services, or processes. For example, if an organization lacks employees with the right skills to develop or implement AI technology, the company may continue to complete tasks manually that could otherwise be automated. 

Increased Costs

Whether an employee leaves or an organization identifies an emerging skills gap, companies spend a significant amount of time and resources on recruitment, training, and retention efforts to address and close skills gaps.

Employee Morale and Retention Challenges

Skills gaps may lead to frustration among employees who feel inadequately prepared for their roles. This frustration can lead to disengagement, decreased job satisfaction, and ultimately, higher turnover rates.

Competitive Disadvantage

Perhaps most critically, organizations with significant skills gaps find themselves at a competitive disadvantage. Organizations without the right skills often lack the agility to quickly respond to market changes, struggle to meet customer expectations, and lose ground to competing businesses with more well-rounded skills in their workforce. 

4 Ways to Address and Close Skills Gaps

Addressing skills gaps requires a strategic, multi-faceted approach tailored to your organization's specific needs. The following strategies can help you get started with closing skills gaps on your team. 

1. Identify Current and Future Skills Gaps

Begin with a comprehensive skills gap analysis to identify existing skills gaps within your organization. A skills gap analysis is essentially a list of the hard and soft skills that your workforce currently has, a list of the skills that your workforce needs, either now or in the future, and a list of those needed skills that are not covered by your current workforce. 

With a skills gap analysis, you can make a plan to acquire those skills you will need for the future. A valuable part of this process is to utilize a standardized skills taxonomy, such as Lightcast Skills, which ensures that the names of skills, and the relationships between them, are consistent between your organization and the broader labor market.

An effective skills assessment includes the following steps:  

• Understand your organization’s mission and goals

• Ensure your job architecture (job descriptions and skill profiles) are accurate, standardized, comprehensive, and up-to-date

• Identify and prioritize skills most critical to your organization’s strategic priorities

• Monitor progress and regularly reassess skill needs as your workforce evolves, business needs change, and in-demand skills shift 

2. Develop Targeted Learning and Development Programs

No two individuals learn exactly alike. Once you identify skills gaps and outline a strategy to address them, offer employees a variety of options and resources to choose from to help them develop skills based on their specific learning styles. 

Also make sure to create a culture of continual learning at your organization, rather than one-off training sessions. This can help team members stay engaged and ensure they’re continuing to build the latest skills.

When deciding on how to engage with employees, consider the following:

• A combination of formal training, on-the-job learning, and self-directed education

• Experiential learning through cross-team collaboration projects and stretch assignments

• Mentorship programs pairing experienced employees with those developing new skills

• Opportunities to attend professional development events and conferences

• Reimbursements for courses or certifications

• Access to online learning platforms

3. Embrace Technology for Skill Development

Rather than tasking your human resources or talent management team with conducting manual training sessions, leveraging the latest technology can significantly enhance your organization’s ability to continually identify and address skills gaps and measure progress. 

Consider the following technology solutions to help your organization address skills gaps: 

• Talent intelligence and comprehensive labor market data to gain insight into labor market trends, job postings, workforce profiles, compensation, career pathways, skills projections, and demographics

• Learning management systems (LMS) to deliver and track personalized training paths

• AI-driven learning recommendations based on individual needs

• People analytics to track progress and measure the effectiveness of reskilling and upskilling programs 

4. Improve Recruitment and Talent Acquisition

Addressing skills gaps isn’t only about training existing employees, but also often requires bringing new talent into your organization. Effective talent acquisition strategies can help you identify candidates with the skills you need and stand out from the competition and attract qualified job seekers. 

Consider the following ways to improve talent acquisition given ongoing skills gaps: 

• Expand recruiting strategies to target candidates with emerging skills

• Develop non-traditional career pathways and consider candidates from adjacent fields with transferable skills

• Implement skills-based hiring practices rather than focusing solely on credentials

• Develop apprenticeship or internship programs to build talent pipelines

• Form partnerships with educational institutions to discuss skills gaps, shape curriculum development, and improve curriculum alignment with emerging roles and skills

Partner with Lightcast to Address Skills Gaps 

By taking a strategic, proactive approach to identifying and filling skills gaps, your organization can build a workforce ready to address current challenges while preparing for future business needs.

Rather than managing the process of addressing skills gaps on your own, Lightcast can help. 

• Talent Transform identifies skills gaps and recommends learning pathways to address workforce needs and Guides organizations in adapting roles and competencies for future-readiness. 

• Skills Navigator helps companies understand existing skill sets and pinpoint gaps, recommends tailored learning pathways or upskilling opportunities, and aligns individual or team capabilities with market and organizational demands.

• The Lightcast Skills API is free to use, and can be the first step to becoming a skills-based organization, allowing for a clear connection between internal data and the broader labor market.

• The Analyst platform provides all of the global labor market you need, all in one place. When deciding how to best close skills gaps at your organization, understanding supply and demand for specific skills and occupations is an important piece of the puzzle. Analyst offers a complete view with insights you can trust.

Learn more about how Lightcast’s comprehensive labor market data and solutions can help your organization effectively address skills gaps and prepare for market shifts—get in touch with a member of our team today.