Survey: Competencies in the workplace

The flexibility of the competency approach is attracting increasing numbers of employers, but this can also make competency frameworks difficult to understand and use; IRS's study of 210 employers looks at how to avoid common pitfalls.

On this page:
What are competencies and how many employers use them?
Are competencies becoming more popular?  
What types of competencies are employers using?
What do competencies look like?
      Behavioural competency frameworks
      Other framework approaches
What benefits can employers obtain from using competencies?
Chart 1: HR practices where competencies make a particularly effective contribution
      Other benefits
What are the main uses of competencies?
Chart 2: The main uses of competencies by employers
Competencies' main uses in depth
Are competencies easy to use?
Updating competencies
Hints and tips from employers
Our research
Box 1: Hints and tips about competencies based on employers' experience
Table 1: Employers' specific uses of competencies in their HR practices
Table 2: How employers revise and update their competencies
Additional resources on XpertHR.