The 11 Top Hard Skills Your People Should Master ASAP

Are you looking to build a team with the hard skills necessary to thrive in today's competitive business landscape?

Skills gaps (and the loss associated with them) are increasing. By 2030, the talent shortage and skills gap in the U.S. alone will cause a total loss of $8.5 trillion.

But with so many hard skills to choose from, it can be challenging to know where to focus.

After carefully analyzing fresh industry reports, we created a list of top skills to future-proof your business (along with a training plan). 

For your convenience, we have divided the list into two parts: hard skills and soft skills. 

This article will cover a list of top hard skills in the workplace.

From digital marketing to GDPR, ensure your people stay updated with the most beneficial hard skills. 

🖥️ What are hard skills, and do they matter less than soft skills?

Hard skills are specific, measurable, and teachable abilities or knowledge that individuals acquire through education, training, or experience.

They relate directly to the successful performance of job tasks and are often industry- or role-specific, such as technical expertise, programming languages, or proficiency in a foreign language.

For example, HTML and Javascript coding are hard skills for a web developer.

The biggest catch with hard skills is that they constantly evolve with technological advancements.

For example, many companies using traditional storage methods like Oracle have moved to the cloud. So, knowing cloud technologies is a new in-demand hard skill. 

Another catch is that hard skills alone might not warrant high-performance teams. Your people would not thrive without soft skills like communication and teamwork above hard skills.

For example, a customer service specialist must first use digital tools to track past conversations with any customer or get in touch with customers. However, they need soft skills like effective communication to deal with them.

Hard skills complement soft skills and vice versa.

🙌 11 Top hard skills you need to develop in your organization

We went through below six reports and compiled a list of the 11 most in-demand hard skills in the workplace. 

• Linkedin 2023 In-demand skills
• Coursera Job skills of 2023
• Statista 2023 In-demand tech skills
• Upwork 2022 In-demand skills
• Adobe 2022 In-demand skills
• Closing the Skills Gap 2023 from Wiley University Services

You'll also learn why to train in each specific hard skill and recommended courses.

Digital marketing

Digital marketing is a technique where businesses reach out to their potential online through digital channels like websites, social media, phone, email, and more. It is a big cluster, and the primary hard skills under it are:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): SEO is optimizing a website to increase its reach through search engines. Building backlinks is one of the various techniques for SEO. It involves utilizing strong link building strategies to acquire high-quality inbound links from other websites to improve search engine rankings, increase website authority, and drive organic traffic. (It's worth considering the link building cost and the price of backlink management tools when planning an effective strategy.)
• Writing: The base of digital marketing is writing content that persuades users.
• Social media: Every social media platform is unique. To boost social media reach, one needs to understand the algorithm, ads framework, social media marketing KPIs, and type of content suitable for that platform.

Why develop this skill in your workforce?

Digital marketing is a dominating marketing technique. 

A CMO Survey predicts marketers will allocate 57% of the total budget to digital marketing activities.

Recommended courses:

Data analytics

Data analytics turns raw data into meaningful data using various techniques and algorithms.

In a world of abundant information, continuous A/B testing and data-driven decision making are absolute core to getting results.

Structured Query Language(SQL) and Python are used extensively in data analytics. 

Why develop this skill in your workforce?

More and more businesses are extensively analyzing existing data and building reports to help with decision-making.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics also predicts the demand for data analytics jobs will grow 23% from 2021 to 2031, much more than the average 5% of any other industry.

Bonus tip: Data analytics skills come in handy for driving a data-driven HR function.

Recommended courses:

Cloud computing

Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of IT resources, especially data storage and computing power, over the internet.

Why develop this skill in your workforce?

The use of the cloud will keep increasing due to ease of scalability and less maintenance. 

The global cloud computing market could grow from $480.04 billion in 2022 to $1,712.44 billion by 2029. 

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the biggest cloud provider in the world. So having employees with hands-on experience with AWS will keep your business future ready. 

Recommended courses:

Product management

Product management is tracking the entire lifecycle from product development until launch. 

Why develop this skill in your workforce?

A product manager is one of the most important roles in any organization. They lead the ship and provide direction to multiple teams involved, such as development, marketing, customer support, and more. 

Recommended courses:

UX design

UX design is the skill of designing a product or service to solve the user problem while keeping the experience well-optimized and desirable. 

Why develop this skill in your workforce?

The UX field constantly changes as new technologies and trends emerge. To stay ahead of the curve, UX designers must continuously upgrade their craft and skillset.

Recommended courses:

Web development

If you have a website and you're creating a custom Wordpress website and not using a drag-and-drop website builder, you need a talent pool of web developers or full-stack engineers with hands-on experience in popular web development technologies like Javascript, CSS, HTML, React, and Angular JS.

Why develop this skill in your workforce?

A good website is a MUST for any modern company. There simply is no way around it. From lead generation to employer branding, there's a lot that a well-optimized website can do for you. Not to mention if your business is to sell products or services online.

As internet users have increased, so has the number of websites. So you'll need to make your website stand out from the noise. Your well-skilled web developers will help you with this target. 

Recommended courses:

DevOps

DevOps integrates Development(Dev) and Operations(Ops) using practices and tools. As a result, it shortens the entire software development lifecycle. Popular DevOps tools are:

• Git;
• Jenkins;
• Testing frameworks like Selenium, JUnit, Mocha, etc.

Why develop this skill in your workforce?

Having employees trained in DevOps increases collaboration, eventually leading to more productive teams.

Recommended courses:

Customer Relationship Platform (CRM) 

A Customer Relationship Platform (CRM) is a one-stop platform managing all the interactions with customers and potential customers.

Why develop this skill in your workforce?

A CRM market report says that with the increase in hyper-personalization of customer service, the adoption of CRM will increase. 

The most significant advantages of CRM adoption will be workflow optimization and increased customer satisfaction.

Recommended courses:

Financial reporting and analysis 

Financial reporting and analysis refer to recording and tracking the company's financial activities. These reports help in making better financial decisions. 

Why develop this skill in your workforce?

Based on the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the need for financial analysts is growing faster than the average for all occupations. The need for financial analysts keeps increasing with the changing economy and the rise of new investment options. These analysts evaluate investment opportunities for businesses to promote their growth.

Recommended courses:

Mastering financial reporting and analysis typically requires a formal degree. However, there are some certification programs or courses that can fast-track the journey.

GDPR 

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a legal framework requiring companies to have robust processes for handling personal data. 

Why develop this skill in your workforce?

Multiple roles in an organization deal with data. HR has access to employee data. Developers, Business analysts work on customer data. If these employees have GDPR knowledge, they will make the system more fault-proof and secure.

Doing any business with EU customers also requires awareness of GDPR. 

Recommended courses:

Cybersecurity 

Cybersecurity prevents computers and electronic systems from any malicious attacks. 

Why develop this skill in your workforce?

According to a new Deloitte Center for Controllership poll, nearly half of C-suite and other executives expect cyber attacks targeting their organization.

However, having more employees trained in cybersecurity will protect your company from any such attack. 

Recommended courses:

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That completes the list of top 11 skills.

A few other notable mentions based on our analysis are:

• Risk assessment
• Mobile app development
• Machine learning and AI
• Robotics
• Foreign languages
• Customer service
• Financial management/budgeting and accounting 
• Video production
• Graphic design

➡️ Check out part 2 of this series for a well-researched list of in-demand soft skills.

🤵‍♂️ 7 Reasons you should not give up on boosting your people's hard skills 

Upskilling is better than hiring

Technology and trends will keep changing. Something new may come, and an existing talent pool skills can become obsolete. Looking for new talent is not always the right way to approach this gap. 

The cost of replacing an employee can range from one-half to two times the employee's annual salary, and that's the bare minimum. Therefore, upskilling is a more cost-effective way to handle skill gaps.

Improved on-the-job productivity

Hard skills remain the core and necessity to get any job done. Getting better at hard skills improves workplace productivity. 

Increased innovation 

Employees experiment with newfound knowledge. If they are up to date with emerging technologies, they can propose changes/innovations.

Keep you ahead of the competition 

As per LinkedIn 2023 Workplace Learning report, 2 out of the top 5 factors job seekers are looking for are:

• Opportunities for career growth within the company. 
• Opportunities to learn and develop new skills. 

Learning and development opportunities are now a competitive differentiator that helps you attract and retain top talent. 

Improved company culture

Another LinkedIn report says opportunities to learn and grow are signs of a great work culture. 

As a result, employees want to stay with companies that invest in their learning and growth. 

Improved compliance

If there is something you cannot compromise at all, then it's security. Training employees in data protection and security helps them to be aware of any mandatory process and avoid any mistakes that could lead to a security breach. It also increases compliance and builds customers' trust that their data is handled responsibly.

High ROI

We've already discussed increased productivity, supporting innovation, better employee retention, and ease in recruiting. All these factors show that the return on investment(ROI) in training programs is really high.

🪜 Your 8-step plan to implementing hard skills training for employees

1. Understand industry trends

The first step to conducting any training is knowing what to train on. For this, you can monitor industry trends. We have already done that work for you by creating an exhaustive list of hard skills in the workplace. You can easily pick skills from the above list. 

2. Find business goals

The next step is to find what your company needs. You can involve team leaders and managers to determine the client's demands. It will help you create a strategic list.

3. Take a pulse of your employees

The third and final step in collecting training needs is going back to the employees.

• What training do they need?
• Which skill will help them grow in the job?
• Which training format will suit them?
• When would they like to get the training?

➡️ Wondering about the best way to assess employee demands? Download a sample training needs survey template for free.

4. Finalize your skills list

The final list of skills should reflect industry trends, business demands, and employee needs:

• Having a tab on trends will help you grow your company.
• Understanding business demand and your customer is non-negotiable.
• Lastly, it's employees who receive the training. The training participation and engagement levels will be low if they don't see the need. 

5. Get the current training status

Check your current training status to get a list of:

• Training already completed by employees
• In-progress training

💪 Our training matrix can help with this task.

6. Create a training plan

Now, you have all the details to get started: list of relevant skills and current status. Based on this input, you can devise a training plan outlining the: 

• scope of every training;
• success metrics;
• training methods;
• schedule.

➡️ Download a free training plan template to get started right away.

7. Assign training

Next, you can start assigning training to the employees. 

Use technology like a learning management system to facilitate this process. 

Training management systems have a list of training readily available and also give options to create new training courses. Plus, you'll be able to assign and track any training. 

8. Measure the effectiveness 

Lastly, training works if the employees benefit from it and implement it in their day-to-day work. 

Therefore, ask employees if the training was helpful by conducting a survey. 

➡️ Improve your training system by taking feedback. Download a free training evaluation survey template now.

💡 7 Best practices for a successful hard skill training program

We reached out to 5 industry experts and got below nuggets of advice to make your training programs successful. 

Integrate training in your talent ecosystem 

Laura M Hume has experience heading talent development at companies like IBM and EY. Her top tip to ace training programs is integrating training into the overall ecosystem or talent landscape. 

You can do it by:

• Creating a continuous company-wide competence development process. Competencies are skills and attitudes that help to do any job. 
• Being transparent about the competency requirements with employees makes them aware of company needs and which skills will help them grow in the organization. 
• Asking employees to create a development plan for their learning. Being transparent about organizational needs helps here. Ensure your employees align with business needs, so they can further choose the training that helps them grow in the company.
• Include competencies in your performance management system. This way, training is not isolated, and employees know their training efforts also count in their performance reviews.

➡️ Thinking of how to scale up competency development at a company level? Find current competency levels with competency matrix templates.

Do not add all theory and no practicals

Laura Hume further suggests adding some simulation or hands-on projects to every training. These are legit hard skills; a theory course with no hands-on will make a negligible difference. 

Keep it flexible 

Different employees will prefer different training methods. 

A few will like formal training, but a few will prefer social learning, learning via networking, coaching, learning on the job, or blended learning. 

Having the option to cater to all the choices will increase participation levels. 

Evenly space out training

Adeline Bodemer, Head of People at Gorgias, says: 

"One early mistake we made was trying to cover a lot of details in 2-3 sessions — it just wasn't enough time." 

Avoid this mistake by creating a training plan where employees have enough time to soak in all the information.

Have dedicated learning hours

Simon Bacher, Co-founder of the Ling app, recommends giving employees dedicated learning time. 

For example, most technologists get one weekly learning day at Fidelity investments. 

Think twice before doubling down on an LMS

Swati Sinha, an HR strategist with over 16 years of experience, suggests asking below five questions before finalizing any Learning Management System(LMS):

1. Is it scalable?
2. Does it have a variety of courses?
3. Is there any option for customization in it?
4. How to integrate Reward & Recognition programs and Performance Management with the LMS?
5. What security measures does the LMS have in place?

Futureproof your training system

Helen Buckwell, Team, and Leadership Development Specialist, advocates for choosing an LMS that keeps up with the changing technology landscape.

When new technical skills requirements suddenly pop up, having a course in your existing LMS will speed up the training.

➡️ Build your people's hard skills with Zavvy

Conducting training courses is relatively easy. Conducting an effective training program that gives an ROI is hard. 

Adopting the right LMS is your cheat code for planning effective training programs. 

Zavvy provides you with an entire training ecosystem to:

• Create custom courses: not limited to video courses but also microlearning or cohort-based courses. 

• Provide a wide range of third-party courses. All the recommended courses we included in this article are already available on Zavvy.

• Keep all learning materials in one platform where employees can search and take up any course based on their needs.
• Assign/track any training

Is Zavvy the right training tool for you? 

As Swati Sinha said, ask the below five questions before deciding on any LMS. 

So we will answer that for you right away.

1. Is it scalable?

Zavvy is best suited for small and medium-growing companies. We have helped growing businesses like Talktile and Roadsurfer to train employees efficiently.

2. Does it have a variety of courses?

We have partnered with 30+ providers like Udemy, Coursera, and Codecademy to provide a wide range of courses. 

No single provider can offer everything your team needs. 

So we cherry-picked the best of the best and added them on Zavvy.

With this wide range, you can choose the best-suited course for any skill. We also continuously add new training based on industry trends to futureproof the system.

3. Is there any option for customization in it?

Yes, you can create courses or customize the existing templates as needed.

4. Can you integrate Reward & Recognition programs and Performance Management with the LMS?

Zavvy integrates with your existing HR Management systems and collaboration tools like Slack. 

You can give shout-outs to employees for completing any training. You can also conduct 360 feedback and performance reviews on the platform. 

5. What security measures does the LMS have in place?

Zavvy is GDPR compliant and gives data security a top priority. Please read our privacy policy for details.

Take the first step towards hard skills gaps in your company today. ‍

Book a demo, and one of our experts will provide custom solutions to your challenges.

❓ FAQs

What is the difference between hard and soft skills in the workplace?

Hard skills are measurable job-related skills that are necessary for a particular role. For example, a software developer must know how to code. On the other hand, soft skills are like personality traits that help further in work, like good communication skills.

How are hard skills beneficial in today's workplace?

Hard skills are role-related skills and the bare minimum to get a job done. If employees do not have the right job-related hard skills, workplace productivity will take a major hit.