Skill matrix
A skill matrix is a grid that maps named skills against the people on a team, with a proficiency level recorded in every cell. Read a column and you see one person's capabilities. Read a row and you see everyone who can do one thing, and how well. Teams build one to find coverage gaps before those gaps turn into a staffing problem.
What goes into one
Rows are the skills, named specifically enough to be checkable: "TIG welding", "SAP navigation", "first aid certification" rather than "technical ability". Columns are the people, or the roles you staff. Each cell holds one proficiency level. Most teams group the rows into categories: core skills, job-specific technical skills, leadership, and compliance items such as certifications with expiry dates.
Proficiency scales
There is no standard scale. Published guidance lists three approaches: numeric scales of 1 to 4 or 1 to 5, descriptive labels such as novice, practitioner and expert, and colour coding. One published four-point set runs: 1, understands the basics but needs supervision; 2, can do the task with supervision; 3, can do it independently; 4, can train someone else.
A worked example
Three people, three skills, on the scale above.
| Skill | Ana | Bogdan | Corina |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheets and data analysis | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| Public speaking | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| Project scheduling | 3 | 3 | 4 |
Read across the first row and the risk is visible: Ana is the only one who can train anyone on spreadsheets, so if she leaves the team drops to one supervised level 2 and one independent level 3. Read down Corina's column and you get her development plan: strongest scheduler on the team, level 1 on public speaking.
Skill matrix or competency matrix
The two terms get used interchangeably, but they cover different ground. A skill matrix tracks specific technical capability for near-term decisions: shift cover, task assignment, who is certified. A competency matrix is broader, mapping bundles of skills, knowledge and behaviours against roles, and it is the one that feeds career frameworks and succession planning.
What a filled-in matrix is good for
- Cover: who can step in when someone is out.
- Training plans: clusters of low cells are a training budget with evidence attached.
- Single points of failure: any row with exactly one high score is a risk.
- Compliance: certifications and expiry dates sit naturally in the grid.
How this shows up in Growee
Growee does not ship a skill matrix. There is no employee skills table, no proficiency scale for employees and no grid view in the product, and evaluations carry no score field, so nothing in Growee can produce a matrix for you.
What it does hold is the record a matrix is usually built on top of:
- Position and seniority level on every employee, and evaluations that store the position and level before and after a review, so a progression is dated rather than remembered. Both live on the employee profile in employee management.
- Evaluations with the types you define yourself (technical, salary, or whatever your cycle needs), one or more named evaluators, a notes field, an attached file, and a link to an external document. If your matrix lives in a spreadsheet, that link is where it goes.
- Free-form tags on an employee, which are a label and a colour with no rating attached. Useful for flagging a specialty, not a substitute for a proficiency score.
- Permission-gated visibility. Evaluations are gated on the manage-evaluations permission, which the Admin and Manager roles carry by default: those two see every employee's evaluations, and everyone else, the HR role included, sees only their own until an admin grants the permission.
Keep the grid wherever you keep it today, and use Growee for the dated, permission-controlled record of the reviews behind it.
Sources
Matrix structure, scales and update cadences here are common practice, not a standard: no body defines them, and conventions vary between teams. Growee behaviour is described as of August 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a skill matrix and a competency matrix?
A skill matrix maps specific, checkable skills against people to answer near-term questions: who can run the machine, who holds the certificate, who can cover Friday. A competency matrix maps bundles of skills, knowledge and behaviours, and feeds role design, career frameworks and succession planning.
What proficiency scale should I use?
There is no standard. Published guidance lists three approaches: numeric scales of 1 to 4 or 1 to 5, descriptive labels such as novice, practitioner and expert, and colour coding. Pick one and write a sentence defining each level, so two managers rating the same person land in the same cell.
How often should a skill matrix be updated?
Quarterly reviews suit fast-changing environments; an annual pass is usually enough where roles are stable. Either way, update a cell as soon as someone changes role or completes a certification.
Does Growee have a skill matrix feature?
No. Growee has no employee skills table and no proficiency scoring for employees. It records each employee's position and seniority level, and dated evaluations with notes, attachments and a link field, which is where teams keep the matrix document itself. See evaluations for what a review record holds.