by Jenny Reid
A “job” is defined as “a piece of work, especially a specific task done as part of the routine of one's occupation or for an agreed price”. A “skill” is defined “as the ability, coming from one's knowledge, practice, aptitude, etc.” Work has traditionally been focused on jobs, completing the tasks required to fulfil a certain job description. However, Deloitte, suggests instead of looking at work as a series of jobs, we should be focused more on the set of skills held by employees and how those benefit the company as a whole.
For instance, a person may hold the job title of Social Media Account Manager, but they may be equally skilled in content creation or data analytics. In this example, if the company were to only utilise the skill set needed for social media account management, they would be missing out on tapping into the employees’ content creation and data analytics skills.
Jenny Reid, Founder of iFacts, says that companies should be focusing more on identifying the various skills held by an individual and determining how all their skills could benefit the company, rather than focusing on if the candidate can fit into the job title’s box.
Reid says that pigeon holing employees should be a thing of the past, job titles can be altered, adjusted, or made up, but ensuring that you have access to all the skills held by your employees, offers added benefits to the company, job diversity for them, keeping them interested and engaged, as well as your company needing less staff overall, saving you money. Encouraging your staff to be involved in more sections of the company could increase their quality of work and productivity, whilst also increasing employee retention rates.
According to a study by Deloitte, “73% of workers say that skills-based practices would increase their experience at work and 66% of workers said they would be more likely to be attracted to and remain at an organisation that values and makes decisions based on their skills and potential rather than their jobs or degrees.”
South Africa is currently facing an unprecedented rise in unemployment rates, with the official unemployment rate standing at 31,9%”. As of November 2023, South Africa, had the highest unemployment rate in Africa, says Statista. This rate does not even include those who are disillusioned and have given up on seeking employment, meaning the true unemployment rate is significantly higher.
Perhaps, the solution here, is to hire based on a list of skills instead of hiring based on a list of degrees. Particularly when you consider, many South Africans, lack the finances necessary to get certified degrees. However, with the proliferation of free courses online, people can learn various skills, but might not be able to purchase the qualifications to prove to employers, that they have those skills.
Reid concluded by saying that to ensure that candidates are proficient in the skills they say they have, Skills Assessments and Job Specific Checks from iFacts is the ideal way to test the proficiencies of your employment candidates. Skills-based organisational models are showing significant promise as the future of work.
iFacts can help. Hire with iFacts. Hire with confidence.
Jenny Reid is a Human Risk Expert and Professional Speaker, and the owner of iFacts based in South Africa, a specialist employee screening and vetting service. She is constantly assessing new and innovative ways to remove the people risk in any organisation. Since 2009 when she took over iFacts completely, she has seen the company double in size and hopes to continue this growth. iFacts specializes in employee Screening, risk assessments, employee wellness, investigations, and truth verification. Jenny is a past President of the Security Association of South Africa. Contact Jenni via email jenny@ifacts.co.za
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