Skills Roadmap · method version 2026-09-30
How the roadmap works
Every rule, default and source the roadmap uses is on this page, so any date on a roadmap can be traced back to it. The calculation uses fixed rules only. No AI is used for any number, and nothing is calculated about a named person.
Start your roadmapThe steps
- You pick one to four objectives from your plan and give each a date.
- You describe your teams: a name, the closest ISCO-08 occupation group, how many people, and for teams of 5 or more how many are 55 or older.
- You say how much each objective depends on each team.
- We propose the new skills each objective usually brings; you keep, change or add them (at most 5 per team, 15 in all), and say how many people need each and by when.
- If you know, you count how many people can already do each new skill, or can partly do it.
- The rules below turn this into actions with a start date. Late actions get help borrowed as a bridge.
The steps follow the workforce-planning loop described by CIPD and by Germany's INQA programme: drivers, demand, supply, gap, actions, review.
Which teams are critical
| Measure | How it is set |
|---|---|
| Impact | The highest of your answers across objectives: not needed 0, helps 2, needed 3, can't happen without 4. |
| Hard to find | 3 if you said people are hard to find, 1 if easy, 2 if you don't know. Public shortage lists (EURES) will pre-fill this, with their source and year, once loaded. |
| Supply risk | 3 if only one person holds critical know-how, or 30% or more are 55 or older; 2 if 15–30% are; otherwise 1. |
| Result | Critical: impact 3 or more and the higher of the two risks is 3. Important: impact 3 or more with lower risk, or impact 2 with risk 3. Only critical and important teams get headcount and know-how actions. These thresholds are set by us; no validated weighting exists. |
How dates are worked out
Start by = the quarter it is needed − the time it takes. If that quarter has passed, the action is late: it starts now, and help is borrowed (interim, agency or freelance) from the quarter it is needed until it is ready.
People leaving: team size × the yearly leaving rate. Retiring: people aged 55 or older, spread evenly over the years until the usual retirement age. Gap = people needed − people expected, to the nearest whole person, a year and three years from now. People needed is your number if you gave one; otherwise the team grows with a growth objective that needs it, or stays about the same.
New skills: people who can already do it are used first. Then people who can partly do it are trained; then others in the team are trained from scratch, unless that would be late and hiring would not; anyone still missing is hired.
How sure: sure when no assumption was used; fairly sure with one or two; unsure with three or more, or when a late date rests on an assumption.
Actions, in the order they are considered
- Use who you have: people who can already do the work.
- Pass on know-how: know-how held by one person, or many retirements coming, in a critical or important team.
- Train: people who can partly do it, then others in the team.
- Hire: when there is no one to train, or training would be late and hiring would not.
- Borrow: only as a bridge for a late action.
Where automation or AI frees up time in a team, the roadmap says to use it first to hire fewer people later, then to retrain. It never suggests cutting jobs, and it never decides anything about a person.
New skills we propose
| Objective | Skill | Anchored to |
|---|---|---|
| Automate part of our work | Programming and operating the new equipment | ESCO v1.2: operate automated process control |
| Automate part of our work | Maintaining the new equipment | ESCO v1.2: maintain control systems for automated equipment |
| Start using AI in our work | Using AI tools safely at workShorter training time (one quarter less) | DigComp 3.0: AI is part of all five competence areas; checked by the TalentPath assessment |
| Start using AI in our work | Checking and correcting AI output in your fieldShorter training time (one quarter less) | DigComp 3.0: Information and data literacy |
| Start using AI in our work | Building or configuring AI into your products or processes | ESCO v1.2: utilise machine learning |
| Enter a new country or market | Serving customers in the market's language | ESCO v1.2: language skills (choose the language, e.g. German) |
| Enter a new country or market | Selling in the new market | ESCO v1.2: perform market research |
| Launch a new product or service | Developing and making the new product or service | ESCO v1.2: develop new products |
| Meet a new rule or standard | Understanding and meeting the new requirementsShorter training time (one quarter less) | ESCO v1.2: ensure compliance with legal requirements |
| Meet a new rule or standard | Managing cyber security for the business | ESCO v1.2: apply information security policies |
| Grow what we already do | Leading a larger team | ESCO v1.2: lead a team |
Defaults
These are assumptions, not data. Each can be changed on the last step, and the roadmap marks every number that rests on one.
| Assumption | Default | Note |
|---|---|---|
| People leaving each year, other than retirement | 8 % | Assumption, not data. Use your own figure if you know it. |
| Usual retirement age | by country | Default for your country. Check the current statutory age and your people's own plans. |
| Time to train someone who can partly do it | 2 quarters | Assumption. Time until they can do the work to the standard needed, not course length. |
| Time to train someone new to it | 3 quarters | Assumption. Time until they can do the work to the standard needed. |
| Time to hire | 2 quarters | Assumption. From deciding to hire to the person starting. |
| Time for a new hire to become productive | 1 quarters | Assumption. |
| Extra hiring time where people are hard to find | 1 quarters | Assumption, applied where you said a team is hard to hire for. |
| Overlap needed to pass on know-how | 2 quarters | Assumption. |
- Belgium: retirement age 66. Statutory age 66 from 2025, 67 from 2030.
- Netherlands: retirement age 67. State pension age 67, linked to life expectancy.
- Germany: retirement age 67. Rising to 67 by 2031 depending on year of birth.
- France: retirement age 64. Legal age under revision; check the current rule.
- Ireland: retirement age 66. State pension age 66.
- Another EU country: retirement age 65. General default; set your country's age.
Who could pay or help
From our research in September 2026. Schemes change often; confirm with the scheme before relying on one. Most pay for advisors or training, not for software.
Netherlands
- Planning: SLIM mkb. 60% of the costs of analysing training needs or setting up a way of learning and developing, often with an advisor, up to €24,999. Two short application windows a year (in 2026: April–May and August–September).
- Training: SLIM mkb. Can also fund learning and development activities in SMEs, in the same application windows.
- Hiring: UWV employer services and EURES. Public employment service help with recruiting, including from other EU countries.
Belgium
- Planning: No Flemish subsidy for HR advice. Since 1 February 2026 the KMO-portefeuille funds advice only on cyber security.
- Training: KMO-portefeuille (Flanders). 30% (small) or 20% (medium) of training on one of the approved themes, up to €7,500 a year; 45% or 35% for cyber security training.
- Hiring: VDAB employer services and EURES. Public employment service help with recruiting, including from other EU countries.
Germany
- Planning: INQA-Coaching. 80% of up to 12 days with an authorised INQA coach, at most €1,200 a day. For firms under 250 staff that are at least two years old.
- Training: Bundesagentur für Arbeit (§ 82 SGB III). Under 50 staff: usually all course costs and up to 75% of wages during training; 50 to 499 staff: half the course costs and up to 50% of wages. Courses must run over 120 hours at an approved provider.
- Hiring: Arbeitgeber-Service of the Bundesagentur für Arbeit and EURES. Public employment service help with recruiting, including from other EU countries.
France
- Planning: PCRH through your OPCO. HR consulting for firms under 250, paid by the State and your OPCO: up to 100% for the smallest firms. The State's share is usually 50%, up to €15,000. Rules vary by region; start with your OPCO.
- Training: Your OPCO. Training funding for your sector; some OPCOs also offer a free HR diagnostic for firms under 50.
- Hiring: France Travail employer services and EURES. Public employment service help with recruiting, including from other EU countries.
Ireland
- Planning: MentorsWork (Skillnet Ireland). A free 12-week programme with specialist mentors, including on HR management, run with the Small Firms Association.
- Training: Skillnet Ireland. Subsidised training through your sector or regional network; the business pays a share.
- Hiring: Intreo employer services and EURES. Public employment service help with recruiting, including from other EU countries.
Sources and what is not in yet
- Occupation groups: ISCO-08 (International Labour Organization), as published in ESCO v1.2 (European Commission). ESCO is reused with attribution under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
- Skills: ESCO v1.2 skills and the DigComp 3.0 framework (European Commission Joint Research Centre, CC BY 4.0).
- Not in yet: EU shortage-occupation data (EURES), exposure of occupations to generative AI (ILO), and costs in euros. Until they are, "hard to find" is your own answer and the roadmap works in quarters and people, not money.
Your answers
A roadmap is saved to your free account as your answers only, and only you can open, change or delete it. You can switch on a read-only link for someone else and switch it off again. It is recalculated each time it is opened, so a corrected rule shows up next time. It is deleted twelve months after you last opened it, straight away when you delete it, or with your account. The examples need no account.
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