Multi Skilled Employees of an organization

 

Figure 1, source; (vecteezy.com)

Employee skill is a mostly discussing point in human resource management as this is such crucial for an organization. Having the correct skill blend is mainly required for the approach of an organization.

Multi skilled workers have trained & skilled for several areas of the process. This term commonly used in HR to identify employees who have the necessary skills to cover more than one job function efficiently within the organization, (plannam, 2022).

Video 1, source; (youtube)

 

Advantages of multi skilled employees

 As a valuable asset for any of the organizations multi skilled labors are giving many advantages. According to Kelchner (2024), four of the main advantages can be described below.

• Flexibility – Organization can maintain a flexible workforce, which allows to schedule & arrange workers to the need. They can be filled to the absenteeism and increase labor force to required stations at required time.
• Decrease labor cost – Organization can reduce the number of employees required to run the business. Waiting time also can be reduced with multiple working ability and therefore productivity will be increased by 8%, (plannam, 2022).
• Efficiency in planning – With multi skilled labor availability planning can be adjusts for the sudden business requirements. Therefore, it’s helpful to ensure the supply without delays.   
• Employee satisfaction – There could be less threat with multi skilled employees when moving for the changes as they could adapt for them.  Leave planning also will be easy and overall employee satisfaction will be increased.

Figure 2, source; (cogentlearn)

Strategies to develop multi skilled employees

Multi skilled development depend on the trainings, mentorship and opportunities for practical applications. Some strategies can be identified as below.

• Identification of core competencies – determine the required knowledge and skills for certain roles. Therefore, the required level of skilled need to develop can be understand.
• Provide cross functional training opportunities – Employees should expose for the different aspects of the process. This can be done by providing job rotations to broaden their skills.
• Encourage continuous learning – Encourage a learning culture by providing access & opportunities for learning resources, workshops and courses.(liveskills, 2023).
• Promote collaboration & knowledge sharing – organizing knowledge sharing sessions among employees.
• Provide opportunities for projects outside their usual scope – With additional learning & experience they could increase their potential.
• Provide feedback & support – Admire the employee’s progress while highlighting the areas that need to improve. Need mentoring for their development. 

Conclusion

Multi skilled employee are a valuable asset for an organization with the flexibility, efficiency and adaptability of the workforce. Operations can be run smoothly with the help of this kind of employee while properly adapting for the required changes. This can help in improving the organizational culture with trust and helping mindset among employees. From the employee point of view its an major advantage for their job security & reputation as well.  

 

References

Kelchner, L., 2024. Chron. [Online]
Available at: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/objectives-workforce-planning-18795.html
[Accessed 05 Apri 2024].

liveskills, 2023. linkedin. [Online]
Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-multi-skilling-beneficial-todays-competitive/
[Accessed 05 April 2024].

plannam, 2022. plannam. [Online]
Available at: https://plannam.com/en/multi-skilled-employee-and-their-advantages-at-work/
[Accessed 5 April 2024].