Skills-led careers with Commonwealth Bank Australia

With the shift away from traditional career pathways, Commonwealth Bank Australia (CBA) has transitioned its focus to empowering employees with the ambition to have a skills-led career.

“We introduced the concept of a ‘skills-led career’ late-2023 to help our people understand their current skillset, what skills they may need in future, and how they align with future opportunities,” says Jane Adams, Domain Lead HR Business Partnering Learning and Skilling, CBA.

“Career development needs to be fluid. We know customer expectations, types of jobs and the ways in which we do those jobs are evolving. It's about the skills you build along the way and being ready for the future of work and the opportunities that brings,” says Jane.

Jane Adams (Left) and Kathryn Howard (Right)

SKILLS TO OPPORTUNITIES

CBA’s introduction of a skills-led career approach was driven by organisational skills needs outlined in their workforce plan, as well as the imperative to prioritise employee skill development.

"We are encouraging and supporting our people to self-reflect and ask themselves: ‘What is a skill? What skills do I have and want to acquire? How do I articulate them? And how can I connect that to a micro-skilling, upskilling or reskilling opportunity?’

“Beyond that, we're also delving into new and diverse work experiences we can offer when individuals and their leaders have a solid grasp of their skills and where those skills can take them,” adds Jane.

Kathryn Howard, Product Owner Community Skilling, CBA, echoes this thinking.

“Leveraging our internal skills-led career ecosystem and insights we hope to also be able to engage in a more systematic way in supporting the community with skills development for now and the future,” says Kathryn.

CBA has a range of initiatives that champion skills-based learning and careers, leveraging insights on current and future skills to shape activities for both CBA employees and the broader community, including their Career Comeback Program.

As a Women in Banking and Finance award winner, the program is a paid 12-week initiative designed for experienced professionals who have taken a career break of two years or more and are seeking to re-enter the workforce.

The program emphasises skill development and offers re-entry support, training, and networking opportunities. Upon completion, those who have demonstrated their skills and motivation to succeed may be eligible for a permanent position.

SKILLING TECHNOLOGY

CBA is leveraging machine-learning platforms including Workday and Degreed to help employees understand and develop their skills.

Skills and skill interests are captured from the platforms’ skill libraries and inferred from the descriptions on job profiles. Although the approach is relatively new, employee sentiment has been positive.

“Employee engagement with the learning platform has been really positive. A lot of general learning happens on the platform, which has significantly increased employee adoption,” says Jane.

“The integration with our move to new ways of working, clear leadership endorsement and personalised learning content have been key. It’s something we'll need to keep refining as we aim to empower people to take charge of their learning.

“For us, it’s shifting our mindset to think about skills as a currency which will enable us to continue to refresh and incorporate skills into our approach as we learn more.”