More than half of managers say people are frequently or always assigned work requiring skills they do not have, according to Skillsoft’s Workforce Readiness Report: Execution Gap Edition.
Key takeaways
- Check capability before allocating work, rather than waiting for delivery problems.
- Connect development support to the tasks employees are expected to perform.
- Include the time needed to review AI output in workforce planning.
The research covered 2,000 full-time individual contributors, managers and executives in the US, UK and Germany. It found that 77% of managers and 60% of individual contributors reported skills gaps in their workplace.
Despite that awareness, 54% of managers and 37% of individual contributors said people frequently or always receive tasks requiring skills they lack.
The cost shows up in delivery
Managers most often identified quality assurance problems as an impact of skills gaps, at 31%. Increased workload and burnout followed at 26%, delayed or unsuccessful AI adoption at 23%, slower product or service delivery at 22%, and lost revenue or missed targets at 20%.
For individual contributors, increased workload and burnout was the most commonly reported consequence, at 31%. Lower engagement or retention was cited by 24%, customer dissatisfaction by 21% and slower delivery by 20%.
Organisations do not need more evidence that skill gaps exist. They need a clearer view of where those gaps will affect successful delivery of the work.
Support can arrive after the problem
A quarter of individual contributors said they typically discover a missing skill only after struggling with a task. Another quarter identified performance reviews as the point at which a gap becomes apparent.
Some 30% waited between three and 12 months for help building a required skill, while one in ten received no support.
There was also a confidence gap between managers and employees. Some 62% of managers were very confident their organisation could identify the skills needed for business priorities, compared with 35% of individual contributors — a difference of 27 percentage points.
Skillsoft argues that employers need a connected view of business outcomes, the work required and the capabilities available internally. For HR and learning teams, that means linking development plans to actual assignments and making it easier to flag a gap before quality or deadlines suffer.
The additional review burden around AI-generated work also suggests that adoption plans need to account for human oversight, rather than assuming that new tools immediately release capacity.
About the research: An independent market research firm surveyed 2,000 full-time individual contributors, managers and executives across the US, UK and Germany in August 2026. Findings are drawn from the combined sample. Source: Skillsoft, Workforce Readiness Report: Execution Gap Edition.
Photo: RDNE Stock project / Pexels. Illustrative image.
