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Skill

A skill is something a person can do: TIG welding, CNC setting, forklift driving, spreadsheet work. The list lives here, and the employee record then says who has which skill and how good they are at it.

Where
People Directory › Setup › Skill
Who uses it
HR with the production manager, built up over the first few months
When
Before employee skills are recorded
Needs first
Skill Group

What it is for​

The question this list answers is who can do this job if the man who normally does it does not come in. On a factory floor that question is asked most mornings, and it is usually answered by the supervisor's memory.

Writing the skills down turns it into a record. Once the skills exist, Employee Skill records who holds each one and at what rating, and the shift can be covered from a list rather than from a conversation.

Be specific. A skill called "welding" tells you nothing useful, because the man who can TIG weld stainless is not interchangeable with the man who can stick weld mild steel. Specific skills make a longer list and a useful one.

Every field, in plain words​

Skill​

FieldWhat it meansWhat to put in itNotes
SkillThe short code for the skill.WELD-TIGRequired. Must be unique.
NameThe skill written out as the shop floor says it.TIG Welding - Stainless SteelRequired. Translations are kept per language.
Skill GroupThe family the skill belongs to.WELD - Welding and FabricationPick it from the list. See Skill Group.
BlockRetires a skill.Leave clear.Ticking it stops the skill being offered on new records. Employees who hold it keep it.

How to configure it​

  1. Create the families on Skill Group first.
  2. Build the list department by department with the people who supervise the work. Ask what somebody has to be able to do to stand at each station.
  3. Create each skill with a code, a specific name and its group.
  4. Save. Expect the list to keep growing for a few months, which is normal and not a sign the first pass was wrong.
  5. Decide how skills will be rated and set that up on Skill Rating, then record who holds what on Employee Skill.

Scenarios​

Our supervisors keep the skills matrix on a whiteboard​

That whiteboard is this list plus Employee Skill. Copy the columns of the whiteboard in here as skills, then record the ticks as employee skills. The advantage is that the matrix survives the whiteboard being wiped and can be read by the shift that was not in the room.

One skill is really three levels of the same thing​

Create one skill and use Skill Rating for the levels. Creating WELD-TIG-BASIC, WELD-TIG-INT and WELD-TIG-ADV as three skills means somebody who improves has to be moved between skills, and the history reads as though they lost one and gained another.

What it is connected to​

  • Needs Skill Group to exist first.
  • Employee Skill records which employee holds which skill, at which Skill Rating, assessed on what date and by whom.
  • The skills recorded against employees are what a skills gap report and a training need conversation are built on. See Training Need.

If something looks wrong​

  • "The skill list is empty on the employee" - no skills have been created, or all of them are blocked.
  • "The list has grown to three hundred entries" - the skills are too fine. Merge the ones nobody distinguishes in practice and use the rating for the difference in ability.