Quality, compliance and the skills shortage

Aaron Hoare Date published: May 31, 24

How the lack of skilled professionals is affecting quality outputs and compliance rates.

Widespread skills shortages are having detrimental impacts on many industries and professions around the world – and quality management is no exception.

In fact, across many sectors, quality is one of the most in-demand roles, with vacancies remaining unfilled for long periods of time as hiring managers struggle to find candidates with the right skills. But while recruitment remains stifled by a lack of skilled workers, the profession’s aging workforce is seeing more and more experienced quality professionals entering retirement – further reducing the talent pool and worsening the shortage.

Regardless of the product being supplied or service being delivered, a reputation for quality is almost always a key differentiator, giving organizations a competitive edge. Consequently, a shortage of quality management professionals can have serious and detrimental effects on the organization.

When workforces are reduced and key skills are missing, quality outputs and compliance rates can quickly decline, leading to a number of negative outcomes for the organization. From increased risk profiles to stifled innovation, the ongoing skills shortage is having deep and wide-reaching impacts on both individual organizations and the quality profession as a whole.

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The impacts of quality’s skills shortage

In the rest of this article, we explore the key impacts the skills shortage is having on quality outputs and compliance rates, and what steps organizations across all industries can take to mitigate the damage.

Slipping standards

When quality teams are under-resourced and under-skilled, standards will begin to slip. With fewer workers struggling with a higher workload that falls outside of their skillset, key processes and checks are likely to fall by the wayside or be completed incorrectly. As a result, errors, defects and inefficiencies become more common, leading to an overall decline in quality.

Missed compliance

Many industries, such as manufacturing and construction, are subject to detailed, rigid regulatory standards and compliance requirements. These standards are less likely to be met amidst a skills shortage – not only due to declining quality, but also due to insufficient understanding of complex regulations needed to achieve and maintain compliance.

Heightened risk

When processes aren’t followed correctly and in line with regulations, organizations are exposed to increasing risk. For example, if an employee uses equipment without the correct skills or training, they’re more likely to sustain an injury. In addition to health and safety risks, organizations in regulated industries also face an increased risk of fines and legal issues as a result of declining quality.

Lost customers

Suboptimal quality management, resulting in poorer quality and noncompliance, can significantly damage the organization’s reputation. Quality is a key differentiator for many products and services – and if the business can’t be relied on to deliver quality, customers are likely to go elsewhere. As a result, the skills shortage could ultimately lead to the loss of existing customers, as well as missed opportunities to secure new business.

Reduced morale

With difficulties filling vacancies causing quality workers to face increased workloads and tasks beyond their skillset, employee morale and job satisfaction can quickly deteriorate. Increasingly, workers across many industries impacted by the skills shortage are reporting feeling overburdened and out of their depth, working long hours under high pressure to complete tasks with inadequate training or support. As a result, performance is likely to be impeded – causing productivity to further decline – or employee turnover could increase, further worsening the impacts of the skills shortage.

Stagnating innovation

When skills and resources are in short supply, innovation can often take a backseat as teams struggle just to keep up with demand. Generally, skilled workers are at the forefront of innovations within their field. So, with fewer experienced quality professionals, the quality function is likely to stagnate. Consequently, product and service quality will suffer due to missed opportunities for technological advancement and process improvement, putting the organization at a competitive disadvantage.

Taking back control during a skills shortage

While there are a number of actions quality teams and their organizations can take to support recruitment, many of these initiatives could take months or even years to deliver a return – such as expanding talent pools with apprenticeship schemes and spreading awareness of the profession to attract new talent.

But quality leaders can’t wait that long. With the profession’s global skills shortage continuing to have detrimental impacts on not just quality teams, but organizations as a whole, action must be taken now to begin bridging the skills gap.

The primary method being adopted across numerous industries is to focus on upskilling workers. Where skills can’t be hired externally due to the shortage, organizations should invest in building those skills within existing teams to improve their quality processes. So, despite being short-staffed, quality teams still have the skills they need to maintain high standards and regulatory compliance.

However, training must be treated as an ongoing process – not something that can be achieved in a couple of months and then forgotten about. To take back control of their quality outputs and compliance, organizations must foster a culture of continuous improvement and learning, encouraging employees to pursue new skills and expand their knowledge in order to perform at their best and keep up with quality’s constantly evolving demands.

Additionally, a focus on improving employee wellbeing is also imperative. Workers are unlikely to eagerly engage in training and professional development if they’re feeling burnt out, overworked and underappreciated. In fact, research shows that happier employees are 13% more productive. Organizations must take bold steps to boost morale and create a positive, collaborative work environment that supports wellness and promotes openness within the workforce – whether that’s investing in employee benefits, or reducing workloads by adopting automation and streamlined processes.

Ultimately, reversing and mitigating the damage to quality outputs and compliance rates caused by the skills shortage is unlikely to be an easy or straightforward task. But it’s crucial organizations begin defining effective strategies to address these issues as soon as possible – those who don’t are likely to find themselves at a competitive disadvantage, losing out on customers and facing the consequences of noncompliance.

Arming quality teams with the right tools

The role of technology in resolving the issues caused by the skills crisis cannot be overlooked. It’s vital that quality leaders and their teams have the right digital tools in their arsenal if they’re to maintain maximum performance and outputs while resources are depleted.

Having the right Quality Management System (QMS) in place should be a top priority for organizations across all industries when looking to maximize quality outputs and compliance rates – regardless of whether they’re manufacturing a product or providing a service. With a sophisticated QMS solution, quality teams can streamline processes, improve accuracy and quickly identify and resolve any issues. So, they can perform better while reducing the heavy burden of excessive workloads.

Ideagen quality solutions, including our world-renowned QMS software, can act as the backbone of your organization, seamlessly integrating with existing processes to support workflow automation and document management. Helping quality teams to gain a competitive advantage with enhanced performance, Ideagen’s QMS software makes it easy to identify risks and errors – and take swift action to resolve them. Supporting world-class processes and data-driven decision-making, the solution helps organizations to continuously meet regulatory requirements and quality standards.

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