Many French companies feel a discreet unease: despite correct results, lengthening deadlines, repeated errors and exhausted teams betray an underlying problem. This phenomenon has a name: lack of skills.

It is a sensitive subject, often taboo, sometimes even invisible. However, it has become one of the number one issues for leaders. According to Apec, 71% of companies report lacking key skills. And for SMEs, this figure rises to 78%.

The problem is not just recruiting. The challenge is broader: detecting gaps before they turn into a crisis. Understand what is missing, what is eroding, what should be strengthened. And, above all, act.

A phenomenon that takes hold: when skills wear out in silence

Skills don’t disappear overnight. They degrade slowly, at the rate of technological developments, unreplaced departures, process changes or new markets.

The OECD estimates that nearly 32% of current skills will no longer be relevant by 2030. Conversely, entire professions now require qualifications that did not exist five years ago.

A company can therefore be profitable, efficient, recognized… while being weakened from the inside.

The lack of skills often manifests itself through diffuse signs:

• An increasing error rate.
• Projects that are falling behind schedule.
• Employees who feel overwhelmed.
• Recruitments that fail.
• A manager who constantly “plugs the holes”.
• Over-reliance on a few experts.

These weak signals are valuable: they are what makes it possible to detect what we call a skills gap.

Step 1: Listen to what the teams are saying (or not saying)

The first way to detect a deficiency is to listen to those who are in charge: the employees.

According to a LinkedIn Workplace Learning study, 59% of employees say they lack skills on subjects essential to their role. But only 27% dare to express it clearly.

For what ? For fear of being judged, for lack of time or because they don’t know what a solution would look like.

In some companies, a skills gap is only discovered when a project fails. In others, a simple informal interview reveals a colossal need.

The best internal listening tools are often the most human:

• regular individual interviews;
• structured feedback;
• observation of interactions in teams;
• anonymous questionnaires;
• analysis of everyday irritants.

A company that doesn’t listen can’t detect.

Step 2: map skills… even those we think we have acquired

Skills mapping has become a strategic lever. It is a precise inventory of what the company knows how to do… and what it does not yet know how to do.

In 2025, SMEs will finally begin to equip themselves with these tools, long reserved for large groups. AI-based HR platforms now make it possible to:

• view the skills present by profession;
• identify holes in the racket;
• anticipate future needs;
• measure the obsolescence of certain expertise;
• detect under-exploited talents.

Dares estimates that companies with clear mapping reduce the risk of skills mismatch by 40% within two years.

A map is not a fixed file: it is a living photo, which must be updated regularly.

Step 3: analyze performance without falling into microcontrol

The skills gap is not just a gap between two numbers. It is also observed in:

• work practices;
• the fluidity of processes;
• the quality of the service provided;
• the ability of a team to collaborate.

A persistent delay in a service can reveal a lack of control. An overwhelmed team may lack organization. An increase in errors may indicate a need for training.

But be careful: analyzing does not mean monitoring. A good performance analysis aims to understand, not to punish.

Step 4: look at the market, the competition moves quickly

Sometimes, it is not the internal that alerts, but the external.

If your competitors are digitalizing at high speed, if they are integrating generative AI, automating their workflows or deploying new ranges… and your company is struggling to keep up, it is not a lack of effort, but a lack of emerging skills.

INSEE shows that companies that invest in digital skills grow 30% faster than others.

The market provides simple information: If you don’t adapt, it will do it without you.

Solutions: how to fill gaps without disrupting the company

Once the diagnosis has been made, the real question arises: how to act?

Solutions exist, and they are often complementary.

Solution 1: training, but not just any training

Training is the natural reflex. But to be effective, it must be:

• targeted (meeting a real need);
• agile (short formats, micro-learning, practical workshops);
• continues (not a one-time event).

The professional training market grew by 8% in 2024, proof that companies are investing.
The most requested training courses: digital skills, management, data analysis, cybersecurity, ecological transition.

Well trained → well armed.

Solution 2: internal mobility, an often underestimated treasure

We often forget: the most suitable skills are sometimes already there.

Apec reveals that 52% of positions transformed in 2025 come from internal mobility.

Creating bridges, offering a new role, repositioning talent… it’s faster, less expensive, more reliable.

Solution 3: targeted recruitment, when expertise is really lacking

If a company has a strategic need (cybersecurity, AI, automation, ESG standards, etc.), the best solution may be to directly recruit an expert.

But recruitment is not a magic solution. It works if it is:

• anticipated;
• structure ;
• aligned with strategy;
• accompanied by an internal transfer of skills (mentoring).

A single expert does not change everything: he must disseminate his knowledge.

Solution 4: field support, where everything is at stake

Mentoring, tutoring, pairs, coaching… It is often these simple methods that accelerate the development of skills the most.

According to France Travail, employees supported in the field progress 2.5 times faster.

Because we learn better with someone who shows, rather than someone who explains.

Solution 5: internal innovation, creating an environment that helps you grow

A company that gives you the right to try, to test, even to make mistakes, naturally builds your skills.

Internal hackathons, cross-functional projects, innovation meetings, agile workshops… the more the company releases initiative, the more it brings out talent.

Detecting the skills gap means protecting the future

The issue is not just HR. It is strategic, economic, human.

A company that knows how to identify its gaps can:

• anticipate market transformations;
• reduce costs;
• retain your teams;
• improve your performance;
• strengthen your resilience.

Even more: it offers its employees the opportunity to grow, to reinvent themselves, to evolve without leaving the ship.

In 2025, companies capable of detecting skills gaps Before that they do not become faults will be the ones that last.