Technology Advances Create Skills Gaps in Utility Workforce

No doubt that technology is moving at a rapid clip, so fast that the total number of skills required for a single job has been increasing by 10% year-over-year since 2017, according to Gartner Inc. So for utility executives, the challenge becomes empowering your workforce, so they gain the expertise needed to continue to do their jobs.

Traditionally, employee career frameworks assumed that job roles remained static for years. Typically, employees entered the organization with one set of skills and slowly gained a few new ones, moving up the organization chart in a slow, steady, well understood path. No more. Given today’s dynamic environment, energy producers need to manage their workforces differently.

Forge a New Path  

First, they need to get a better picture of how the workforce requirements have shifted. Next, they must dig a bit deeper into their employees’ skills. In some cases, individuals possess the new skills required for their job even though the organization has not categorized them as such. New software programs are emerging that help companies track this area more closely.

Companies also must invest in their employees. This step requires identifying where skill gaps lie and then conducting training classes to help workers gain such competencies.

The energy field is dynamic, and one area that has been changing dramatically is employee skill sets. In a growing number of cases, shortfalls are occurring, which may lower productivity and stymie business development. Utility executives need to understand such gaps exist and then fill them.