In a Nutshell
- TalentLMS’ Skills Visibility Report finds 90% of managers confident they understand their team’s skills, against 69% of employees who agree.
- Half of respondents say their organisation hires externally for skills it already holds internally.
- Only 18% of companies use a centralised system to track skills, so most capability lives in a manager’s head or surfaces once a year in a review.
- The fix is part process and part culture: people only share their skills and ambitions when they believe it leads somewhere.
Most organisations are used to talking about skills gaps. The phrase has become part of the furniture in workforce planning, learning strategy and transformation conversations.
New research from TalentLMS suggests the more immediate issue is visibility, because organisations often cannot see, track or unlock the skills they already have. The company’s Skills Visibility Report, based on a survey of 536 US employees and 964 managers, points to a real disconnect between what managers believe they know and what employees feel is actually understood. Ninety percent of managers say they have a good understanding of their direct reports’ skills, while only 69% of employees agree.
“Half of respondents agree their company hires externally for skills that current employees already have, which means organisations are spending money and time looking outside the business for capability that already exists inside it.”
That gap has stopped being an L&D footnote. It shapes workforce agility, internal mobility, retention and whether organisations can respond quickly when business needs shift. Half of respondents agree their company hires externally for skills that current employees already have, which means organisations are spending money and time looking outside the business for capability that already exists inside it. That is an expensive blind spot to carry.
The cost of invisible skills
Skills underuse frustrates employees, and it drags on business performance at the same time. TalentLMS found that 75% of managers say their team’s skills are fully utilised, while 49% of employees say their company underutilises theirs. More than half of managers identify underutilised skills as the top consequence of poor visibility, with declining team performance close behind.
There is a clear employee experience risk running alongside this. More than half of employees say their career growth is held back at least sometimes because their skills go unnoticed, and 31% say they would consider leaving for a lack of skill development opportunities. The organisation then risks losing people who could see no internal route forward, even where the opportunity quietly existed.
“Internal mobility should be one of the most efficient ways to retain and redeploy talent, but it depends on knowing what people can do and what they want to do next.”
The report also found that 40% of respondents say it is easier to find a new job than to move internally. For organisations investing heavily in attraction, recruitment and onboarding, that is a troubling signal. Internal mobility should be one of the most efficient ways to retain and redeploy talent, but it depends on knowing what people can do and what they want to do next. If that information sits only in a manager’s head, it is fragile, and if it surfaces only once a year in a review, it is already out of date.
The development risk
The research suggests skill development is often reactive. Forty-two percent of employees say managers address skill gaps only when performance issues arise, while 61% of respondents say employees are expected to keep their skills up to date on their own.
There is nothing wrong with employees owning their development, and that ownership is essential. The problem starts when the responsibility falls too heavily on individuals, because development then becomes uneven and dependent on confidence, time, manager support and a person’s willingness to advocate for themselves. The familiar result follows: the most visible people get more visible, while quieter capability stays hidden.
For EX, HR and L&D leaders, the practical lesson is that skills visibility belongs inside everyday workforce decisions. That means being able to answer a few fairly ordinary questions:
- Who has the skills we need, and who has adjacent skills that could be developed quickly?
- Who is underused now, and who wants to move, stretch or reskill?
- Which teams are hiring externally for skills that already exist elsewhere in the business?
From skills gaps to skills intelligence
As AI reshapes work, understanding existing capability matters more, not less. Organisations are trying to work out which roles will change and where human capability needs strengthening rather than replacing, and none of that works well without a clear view of the current skills base.
“The gap isn’t skills, it’s visibility into them. Companies are rich in talent but poor in insight.”
Dimitris Tsingos, CEO of Epignosis, the parent company of TalentLMS, puts it plainly: “The gap isn’t skills, it’s visibility into them. Companies are rich in talent but poor in insight.”
Respondents pointed to two practical solutions: regular skills assessments and better manager training to identify and track capability. The larger opportunity is cultural, because employees only share their skills, ambitions and development needs when they believe it leads somewhere useful.