Close The Skills Gap With Digital Credentials

Best practices to maximize the benefits of digital credentials

Traditional degrees do not demonstrate the skills — critical thinking, leadership, decision making and project management — most businesses neither see these as vital for employee development, nor do they account for future needs. Instead, we are seeing a rise in the popularity of skilled credentials. According to an SHRM survey, nearly half of U.S. workers have already earned a skilled credential, and another quarter is considering earning one.

Credly’s own data reflects an increase in employer-issued digital credentials recognizing on-the-job skills over the last several years. Skilled credentials provide verified evidence of competencies, enabling employees to show their professional development’s alignment with changing needs.

A vast majority (68%) of workers say skilled credentials have helped them grow in their careers. And leaders said employees who earn credentials:
●    Perform better.
●    Grow in their roles.
●    Add value to the workplace.
Employers can future-proof their workforce by following employees’ lead and embracing digital credentials. Consider these best practices to maximize the benefits of digital credentials and minimize the skills gap in your organization.

Demonstrate the Value of Credentials

Most employees will not go out of their way to collect credentials “for fun,” so connect your credential offerings to role-related outcomes. Encourage your people managers to demonstrate how credentials complement talent management efforts, including project assignments, internal hiring processes and broader learning and development goals.
As your organization builds a credential program, consider these questions:
●    What skills are/will be essential for your employees?
●    Have you identified and formalized role-specific training?
●    Do employees have insight into internal mobility paths?

If you provide transparency as you build your credential program, employees will feel more included in the process — and are more likely to share their perspectives on learning and development. This collaborative approach invites employees to own their skills goals, and creates a shared sense of value around credentials.

Encourage a Culture of Skills Recognition

Recognizing employee accomplishments — whether they completed a lengthy project or took the time to learn a new skill — helps workers and workplaces. According to Harvard Business Review, morale, productivity, performance, customer satisfaction and employee retention improve when managers regularly recognize employees’ efforts.

How do digital credentials fit into employee recognition efforts? They increase the visibility of achievements by recognizing and rewarding employees’ participation in learning initiatives. Digital credentials also create opportunities for peer recognition and promote awareness of learning opportunities via a shareable visual representation of employees’ verified skills.

Employees can share their achievements internally and externally on employee profile pages, email signatures, social media platforms and digital resumes. IBM's Smarter Workforce Institute saw an increase in employee engagement after issuing digital badges, and employees sharing badges led to greater recognition of learning efforts.

Integrate Skills Beyond Employees’ Current Needs

Tackling the skills gap requires more than meeting current needs — you must also anticipate employees’ future needs. Consider company, industry and broader labor market data as you build your credential offerings. For instance, how will the growing use of automation and AI affect specific job roles in your organization? What skills can you help employees develop now to ensure they adapt to working with and around those technologies?

Offering future-fit training and development — supported by digital credentials as proof of learning — ensures your current employees will possess the skills needed to grow with your organization as business requirements and technology change.

As you prepare for future needs, don’t neglect the timeless value of soft skills, which learning programs do not always reflect. Human skills, such as writing, interpersonal communication, project management and problem-solving will remain essential regardless of technological advancements. Offering digital credentials for technical and soft skills prepares your workforce to collaborate and communicate now and in the future.

Acknowledge and Accept Third-party Credentials

Digital credentials include verifiable descriptions of the activities and knowledge necessary to earn the certificate, enabling learning and development professionals to incorporate third-party credentials into their organization’s learning and development programming.

Employees seeking more specialized skills may turn to third parties, such as software vendors, trade groups or community colleges, to bolster their abilities. Design your credential program to accept externally issued digital credentials. By doing so, your organization can validate skills your employees want and need without burdening your own growing internal training programs.

Incorporating digital credentials into learning and development efforts empowers organizations to close current skills gaps and future-proof employees. By planning for new needs and promoting the enduring value of soft skills, organizations protect themselves against industry changes.

Connecting skills to real-world outcomes, like internal mobility, can add transparency and foster trust with employees. And the visible, verifiable and shareable nature of digital credentials encourages a culture of skills recognition and participation. These characteristics offer a better approach to learning and development, no matter what the future holds.

Author Bio

Bailey Showalter is Vice President of Talent Solutions at Credly, a business of Pearson, where she is focused on growth initiatives that help people connect to the right opportunity at the right time on the basis of their verified skills. Previously, Bailey led the Incubator Global Commercialization team at Indeed, where she brought new products to market