Skills Management in ClayHR provides a structured, scalable Skill Framework to define, categorize, assess, and continuously develop employee capabilities. It serves as a foundational layer that connects Job Profiles, Career Pathways, Performance Management, Learning, and Talent Analytics.

This article explains how to manage Skills end-to-end in ClayHR, from setup to ongoing assessment and optimization.

Overview: Skills Management in ClayHR

ClayHR Skills Management enables organizations to:

• Maintain a centralized Skills Library
• Group skills using Skill Types and Categories
• Assign and assess skills across users and candidates
• Track proficiency levels, averages, and adoption
• Automatically update skill levels from performance, learning, feedback, or self-reporting
• Visualize skills using Skill Matrices and analytics

‍IN THIS ARTICLE:

1. Viewing and Managing All Skills
2. Creating New Skills
3. Skill Types and Categories
4. Managing Individual Skills
5. Assigning Skills to Users
6. Configuring Skill Level Updates
7. Skill Assessment Configuration
   
   1. Tests
   2. Skill Assessment Agents
8. Access to Skill Library and Employees' Skills
   
   1. Access to Skill Library
   2. Access to Employee's Skill and Skill Levels
   3. Employee Record - Skills Tab display configuration
   4. Candidate Record - Skills Tab display configuration
9. Reporting and Visualization
10. Best Practices for Managing Skills

1. Viewing and Managing All Skills

Go to: Skills & Talent Hub Top Menu >> Skills

The All Skills page provides a centralized list of all defined skills across the organization.

From this screen, you can:

• View skill name, description, and Skill Type
• See the Assessment Scale associated with each skill
• Track the number of users assigned to each skill
• Review the average skill score
• Search and filter skills by name, description, or type

Key actions available:

• Create a new skill
• Import skills in bulk
• Assign skills to users (individually or in bulk)
• Activate or deactivate skills

2. Creating New Skills

When creating a skill, you define:

• Skill Name and Description
• Skill Type (functional grouping)
• Assessment Scale (e.g., Beginner–Expert, 1–10, Agree/Disagree)
• Optional learning or certification associations

Each skill becomes immediately available for assignment, assessment, and reporting.

3. Skill Types and Skill Categories

3.1 Skill Types

Skill Types act as high-level groupings to organize related skills.

Examples:

• Human Resources
• Finance
• Technology
• Marketing
• Interpersonal
• Manufacturing

Each Skill Type:

• Groups multiple skills under a shared domain
• Improves navigation, reporting, and matrix visualization
• Can be linked to Skill Categories for higher-level classification

3.2 Skill Categories

Skill Categories provide an additional layer of organization, often used to:

• Align skills with organizational frameworks
• Separate technical, behavioral, leadership, or compliance skills
• Support analytics and filtering across modules

Skill Categories are optional but recommended for larger skill libraries.

4. Managing Individual Skills

Each skill has a dedicated detail page where you can:

• Review the skill definition and assessment scale
• See top users ranked by proficiency
• Assign or bulk assign the skill to users (See below)
• Designate Skill Counsellors or subject-matter experts
• View linked learnings or certifications

This page becomes the operational hub for skill-level governance.

5. Assigning Skills to Users

Skills can be assigned:

• Method 1: One Skill to specific Users individually or in bulk to multiple Users
• Method 2: Several Skills to specific Users individually or in bulk to multiple users
• Method 3: In bulk via import

Once assigned, users can:

• View skills in their profile (if allowed through the Permission Matrix)
• Complete self-assessments (if enabled)
• Receive skill updates through performance reviews, learning completion, or feedback

Method 1: One Skill to specific Users individually or in bulk to multiple Users

1. Specific User:
   
   1. Go to the Employee Record >> Skills Tab>> Add Skill Manually button>> Select:
      
      1. Skill to Assign
      2. Skills based on the User's Job Profile
2. Multiple User:
   
   1. Go to All Skills >> Select the Skill to Assign
   2. Click on Bulk Assignment button
   3. Select your group of Users based on the provided filters of Org Unit, Job Profile, Location
   4. Confirm your selection

Method 2: Several Skills to specific Users individually or in bulk to multiple users

1. Go to: Skills & Talent Hub Top Menu >> All Skills Page
2. Click on the Add Assignment link to the top right of hte page
3. Select your set of Users based on the filters of Org Unit, Job Profile and Location or based on any Custom Field (clicking on the "Add Filter" link)
4. Confirm or exclude someone from your selection, and click on Next
5. Select the set of Skills that you want assigned to your previously selected Users, and click on Next
6. Review your Selection and Confirm

6. Configuring Options to Update Skill Levels

Configuring Skill Level Updates in ClayHR allows organizations to define how and when employee skill levels are maintained and adjusted over time. Instead of relying solely on manual updates, ClayHR supports multiple automated and user-driven update methods—such as self-reporting, performance reviews, learning completion, and feedback—ensuring skill data remains accurate, current, and aligned with real performance and development activities.

To setup the different update options available, navigate to: Settings → Skills & Learning

ClayHR supports multiple Skill Level Update Methods, which can be enabled independently:

• User Self-Reporting: Users add and update their own skills

• Candidate Self-Reporting: Candidates maintain skills in their candidate profile

• Ad-hoc Level Updates: Managers or HR update skills manually

• Performance Review-based Updates: Skill levels update automatically based on review outcomes

• Learning-based Updates: Skill levels increase when learning targets are completed

• Feedback-based Updates: Skills update automatically from structured feedback using a defined formula

This flexibility allows organizations to design a skill governance model that matches their maturity level.

7. Skill Assessment Options

ClayHR offers flexible skill assessment methods that allow organizations to evaluate proficiency using structured tests or intelligent, agent-driven assessments. These options can be enabled independently or combined, depending on the level of rigor and automation required.

7.1 Skill Assessments Based on Tests

Test-based assessments rely on predefined questions and scoring logic to measure a user’s proficiency in a specific skill.

• Assessments are built using configurable assessment scales (e.g., Beginner–Expert, 1–10)
• Tests can include a defined number of questions and difficulty levels
• Results are automatically translated into skill level values
• Ideal for standardized, repeatable, and compliance-driven skill evaluations

7.2 Skill Assessments Based on Assessment Agents

Assessment Agents provide a more dynamic and adaptive way to evaluate skills using intelligent questioning and contextual evaluation.

• Agents ask skill-specific questions based on configured parameters
• Question count and difficulty level can be centrally defined
• Assessments adapt to the user’s responses for more accurate evaluation
• Skill levels are automatically updated upon assessment completion
• Well suited for complex, behavioral, or knowledge-based skills

This structure aligns with the existing article tone, keeps sections scannable, and clearly differentiates traditional test-based assessments from advanced, agent-driven evaluations. If you’d like, I can also add a Best Practices callout or a comparison table between the two options.

8. Access to Skill Library and Employees' Skills

ClayHR provides granular control over how skills are displayed and accessed across the platform. Visibility can be configured independently at two levels:

1. Skill Library ‍
2. Skills and skill levels of individual Employee records

8.1 Access to Skill Library

Skill Library visibility is set up at the Permissions Matrix level - Skills Section, and controls who can view and manage the organization’s centralized list of skills.

• Defines which users can access the Skills module and view all available skills
• Controls who can create, edit, activate, or deactivate skills
• Determines access to Skill Types, Categories, and assessment configuration
• Typically restricted to HR, Talent, or system administrators

This ensures governance and consistency across the organization’s skill framework.

8.2 Access to Employees' Skill & Skill Level Visibility

Employee-level visibility determines who can view and interact with skills assigned to individual employees within their Employee Record. This is set up at the Permission Matrix level - Employee Record Section

• Controls visibility of assigned skills and proficiency levels
• Determines who can view self-assessments, assessments, and skill history
• Can be restricted based on role, reporting line, location, or organizational unit
• Supports different visibility rules for employees, managers, HR, and leadership

This allows organizations to balance transparency with privacy while enabling effective talent, performance, and development conversations.

8.3 Employee Record - Skills Tab Display Configuration

‍Employee Record – Skills Tab: You can control which columns appear in the Skills section of employee records and matrices, including:

• Years of experience
• Skill acquire date
• Date of last use
• Skill assessment action

8.4 Configuring Skill Display in Candidate Records

Candidate Record – Skills Tab: Similar controls exist for candidate profiles and portals, ensuring consistent visibility during recruitment and selection.

9. Reporting and Visualization

Skill Matrix

Skills are visualized using Skill Matrices that:

• Display users or job profiles as rows
• Display skills as columns
• Show skill levels using numeric values or color coding

This allows HR and managers to:

• Identify skill gaps
• Compare team capabilities
• Support workforce planning and mobility decisions

Career Patways-Skill Matrix

10. Best Practices for Managing Skills

• Define Skill Types and Categories before adding large numbers of skills
• Standardize assessment scales across similar skills
• Leverage automatic skill updates via learning and performance to reduce manual effort
• Regularly review unused or low-adoption skills
• Align skills with Job Profiles and Career Pathways for maximum impact

Summary

Skills Management in ClayHR is not just a repository—it is a dynamic system that connects learning, performance, career growth, and talent analytics. By properly configuring skills, assessment methods, and update rules, organizations gain real-time visibility into workforce capabilities and future readiness.

This foundation enables advanced use cases such as career pathways, succession planning, internal mobility, and strategic workforce planning—all driven by data, not guesswork.

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