What’s an experience gap (and how do I address it)?

In the context of an aging workforce, experience gaps are a growing concern for many employers. As seasoned employees retire or move to more senior roles, organizations risk losing valuable expertise that isn’t quick or easy to replace. 

In this article, we look at experience gaps and why they happen. Plus, we discuss the strategies you can use to help close and prevent experience gaps in your organization.

What is an experience gap?

An experience gap refers to a talent shortage that occurs when there’s a difference between the experience an organization needs and the experience its workforce has. 

Commonly seen in senior management roles, experience gaps happen when experienced employees leave a company – either due to retirement or a promotion – and there’s no one to replace them. 

Experience gaps don’t pop up overnight. They typically develop due to a lack of planning over several years. 

As a result, there’s no quick fix for experience gaps. A few weeks of intensive training might help junior employees develop the skills they need for a more senior role but not the experience. Instead, companies must introduce several long-term strategies to correct their experience imbalance. 

For this reason, employers should be proactive about addressing potential future experience gaps. 

What are the causes of an experience gap?

Before we dive into strategies for closing experience gaps, let’s take a closer look at why they happen in the first place.

Workforce demographics

The mix of different generations in the workplace is a big reason for experience gaps.

According to the US Department of Labor, as of Q1 2024, the US workforce was divided by generation like this:

• Baby Boomers (born 1946–1964): 15%

• Gen X (born 1965–1980): 31%

• Millennials (born 1981–1996): 36%

• Gen Z (born 1997–2012): 18%

While younger generations are starting to make up more of the workforce, they’re not fully replacing older workers. According to the World Bank, the global workforce is shrinking, with the working-age population (15 –64) decreasing in many developed economies. 

This shift is creating an experience gap, which will only grow as more Baby Boomers leave the workforce and Gen X start to retire. Workplaces with mostly Gen Z and younger Millennial workers could face significant challenges in bridging the experience gap left by older, more experienced employees.

Economic pressures and short-sighted restructures

Recessions, shrinking industries, and economic pressures often lead to quick layoffs. A recent example is the tech industry, where 149,006 US workers lost their jobs in 2024. 

According to Forbes, these layoffs are due to pandemic-related economic issues, like inflation and a predicted recession. Another factor is the over-hiring that happened during the pandemic. Many tech companies expected the demand for digital services to keep growing and staffed up accordingly. 

Of course, companies have to respond to specific economic pressures. However, when hasty layoffs are the go-to solution to cut spending, they can put organizations at risk of future experience gaps. 

Eliminating junior roles cuts off internal talent pipelines and fails to consider more experienced employees leaving due to retirement or promotions. When the market recovers and companies look to expand again, they may find they’ve lost the experience and skills their workforce used to have

Overemphasis on hiring a specific group

Sometimes companies – whether intentionally or not – will hire too many younger employees. 

This often happens when employers focus on bringing in “fresh” talent to gain new perspectives. It’s a common strategy in start-ups, for example. Another reason is cost-saving, as junior employees tend to have lower salaries. However, this can leave companies with a workforce that can’t offer the experience needed to operate effectively. 

The opposite can also happen. Employers may focus on attracting the most senior, experienced talent. But when these employees start to leave the workforce in 5–10 years, companies suddenly find they lack the experience they need. 

High employee turnover

Businesses that constantly lose employees also lose the experience those employees have built up at the company. 

According to Hire’s 2024 Talent Retention Report, which surveyed 3,710 US job seekers, the top four reasons workers voluntarily left their jobs were:

1. Toxic work environment (35.7%)

2. Dissatisfaction with management (28.9%)

3. Lack of recognition (21.8%)

4. Poor work/life balance (21.1%)

By understanding the underlying factor leading employees to leave, employers can develop strategies to address the issue and better retain workers and their experience. 

5 strategies for closing the experience gap

Now, let’s dive into five strategies you can use to eliminate experience gaps.

1. Succession planning

Succession planning is crucial to reducing experience gaps. This strategy involves planning for when senior employees leave by preparing existing employees (or identifying external candidates) to replace them. 

A survey by the Association for Talent Development (ATD) found that 50% of organizations actively use succession planning, while 60% of those that don’t use it intend to start. This still leaves a large number of businesses that are missing out on this helpful strategy. 

While you can’t anticipate every staff departure, you can plan for retirements or promotions. Look closely at the roles senior employees fill, the skills they need, and the nature of their experience, including the number of years and industry. 

This process helps you identify potential experience gaps that may emerge when senior employees start to leave. ​​It allows you to strategically prepare individuals to step into those roles by developing their necessary skills and experience.

Remember, succession planning takes time. Start now, if you haven’t already, to reduce the risk of experience gaps in the next five years and beyond. 

2. Run a skills gap analysis

Skills are the foundation of experience. As Jose Ruiz, CEO and managing partner at Alder Koten, explains in Forbes:

“Knowledge involves theory. It can be well-documented and shared. You can learn it, and you can teach it. Skills involve practice. You master skills through repetitiveness and consistent effort. Experience is when you apply your knowledge and skills to a specific situation or context.”

Experience gaps happen when employees lack the hands-on expertise needed to navigate real-world challenges in the workplace. By proactively identifying and addressing skills gaps, employers ensure their teams have the knowledge they need and the opportunities to apply it, reducing the risk of experience gaps. 

The best way to find and close skill gaps? Run a skills gap analysis. 

A skills gap analysis evaluates your organization’s current skills and compares them to the skills your business needs now and in the future. This insight can inform key strategies we discuss in this article: succession planning, learning and development, and hiring for skills. 

For example, with succession planning, identifying skill gaps enables you to foster internal talent through targeted training and mentoring opportunities. This provides a solid foundation for employees to build the necessary experience over time. 

Talent assessments are among the best ways to support a skills gap analysis. They provide objective insights into your employees’ current skills, guiding workforce planning to help you avoid experience gaps and help employees turn skills into practical experience. 

3. Hire for skills

When you hire for skills, you lay a strong foundation by finding candidates who are ready to contribute immediately and start building hands-on expertise from day one. Since they already have the necessary skills, they can focus on applying them and gaining practical experience.

Job assessments are again a crucial tool for this. They help you identify the candidates who best suit a role and the experience your organization needs, both now and in the future. These assessments also give you an unbiased snapshot of new hires’ skills, which is valuable for planning professional development and succession planning.

The good news is that candidates also love talent assessments. Our 2024 State of Skills-Based Hiring report surveyed 1,100 employees worldwide and found that 68% prefer hiring processes with skills-based assessments. 

Prioritizing skills also offers a practical solution to addressing experience gaps. Hiring experienced workers can be expensive and challenging – especially at senior levels where the candidate pool is typically smaller and offers must be highly competitive to attract candidates.

A more practical approach is to seek out junior or mid-career employees with the right skills. You can then nurture this talent to help them build up their experience over time within your company. 

4. Focus on learning and development

With your succession plan and skills gap analysis in mind, focusing on your workforce’s learning and development is key to addressing experience gaps. 

As Susan Taylor Martin, Chief Executive Officer of the British Standards Institution, explains in the World Economic Forum, “Training staff isn’t just about ensuring they can perform today’s jobs but preparing them for what they will need to flourish in the future and retaining talent and experience while building on it.”

To achieve this, management or HR should work with employees to create personalized professional development plans. These plans outline an employee’s skills, professional development goals, and strategies to help them reach their goals. This structured approach helps identify training opportunities that not only meet current needs but also prepare employees for future roles, helping mitigate potential experience gaps.

Other ways to understand your employees’ training needs include skills gap analyses and professional development questions in your employee pulse surveys. 

Supporting employee development can take many forms, such as:

• Internal training programs

• External seminars or workshops

• Time off for full-time study

• Mentorship programs 

And the best part? Supporting your employees’ professional development also increases retention, further helping you address experience gaps. 

5. Review your retention strategies

Another key aspect of minimizing experience gaps is retaining experienced employees for as long as possible. This approach is especially important considering the aging global population. According to the World Health Organization, the percentage of people worldwide over 60 will almost double from 12% in 2015 to 22% by 2050. 

Workforces are already adapting to this shift. Governments are raising minimum retirement ages, and people are naturally staying longer in the workforce. For instance, in 2002, the expected working life in the EU was 32.4 years. By 2023, it was 36.9 years. 

To turn your attention to retention, start by reviewing your current employee retention rate to identify any issues with turnover. Then, consider strategies to encourage workers to stay longer with your organization. We’ve already covered some key approaches, including investing in employees’ professional development and hiring for skills. 

Other effective strategies include:

• Promote a culture of intentional inclusion. A McKinsey survey of over 2,000 professionals found that employees are almost three times more likely to feel committed to their organization when they feel included. 

• Use talent assessments during hiring. For our 2024 State of Skills Based Hiring report, we surveyed 1,019 employers and found that 90% of organizations that used skills-based hiring improved employee retention. 

• Recognize and celebrate your employees. According to a Gallup and Workhuman study of 3,447 workers, well-recognized employees were 45% less likely to leave within two years. 

Finally, consider strategies that specifically support older, experienced employees to work as long as they want. Offering flexible hours is one approach, with research showing that older workers are more likely to stay longer with an employer when they have greater job flexibility.

Future-proof your business against experience gaps

Every business needs to think about what it will do when its most experienced employees leave their roles or retire. 

To reduce the risk of a significant experience gap, employers should consider strategies such as succession planning, running skills-gap analyses, hiring for skills, and investing in their employees’ learning and development. 

With a strategic approach, employers can close experience gaps and prevent them from reopening, creating a workforce ready for whatever comes next.