Skill shortages have been snowballing across Wales. In late 2024, Barclays released a report revealing that 97.5% of manufacturers find hiring challenges a risk to their business. In March 2025, the chief inspector of education announced that teacher shortages were limiting subjects in Welsh schools. Combined with almost a million young people still not in work or education, one trend is clear: the skills gap is widening.
Proactively addressing shortages is essential for protecting businesses across Wales. Here are four steps for employers to future-proof their workforce.
Identify and Map Current Skills and Gaps
Begin with a thorough audit. Hiring without understanding which skills your business needs is a waste of resources. Instead, map out current skills and then identify what’s missing.
Identify larger patterns, like the retirement of experienced staff, demographic changes, or increased digital demands. Certain positions require advanced training. For instance, in manufacturing, technicians operating test equipment must not only handle the physical controls but also interpret the measurement results. Conducting a skills gap analysis is vital for identifying the best route forward.
Prioritise and Plan Interventions
Identify the most pressing gap in your workforce and start from there. Often, this means prioritising positions that are harder to fill (such as leadership roles or specialist technicians).
Nobody wants to enter a never-ending hiring process. A smart way to overcome this is through internal mobility; provide training routes like apprenticeships. Invest in business forecasting, and plan a long-term intervention strategy.
Build the Talent Pipeline and Capability Development
Successful companies have their doors open to new talent. Attend career talks and festivals at local high schools, or partner with nearby colleges and universities. Visibility is the secret to building a talent pipeline.
Support the growth of existing employees, too. Capability development is a fantastic way to upskill existing staff members.
Monitor, Review and Adapt
Not every strategy will be a success – it’s an unfortunate fact of life. The strongest companies have a mixture of foundational and reactive strategies. To collect the necessary insights and maximise your chance of success, it’s important to monitor and review your results. Collect data on training hours, numbers of qualified staff, and the time it takes to fill roles. Feedback loops are vital in providing insightful metrics should you need to adapt.
Overcoming a skill gap doesn’t happen overnight. However, with these four steps, your business will be better positioned for the future.
