HR skills matrix template

For an HR or people team

For an HR, people or people-operations team of three to ten. The rows cover the specialist areas a small HR team has to cover between them — law, pay, systems — next to the people work that decides how the rest of the company experiences HR.

The workbook opens in Excel, Google Sheets and Numbers, with 5 example people, a notes column for what the ratings mean, and empty rows to add your own.

Making it fit your team

• Split the areas where the law or the payroll system changes the answer. "Employment law" for one country is a different row from another.
• Watch the specialist rows. A small HR team often has one person who knows contracts or payroll; the matrix shows it before a holiday or a resignation does.
• Rate the team on its own work first. A team that has used a skills matrix itself is the best placed to roll one out to the rest of the company.

The rating scale

Every cell is rated on the same five levels, each defined by something you can watch a person do, and a blank cell means “wants to learn this”. The proficiency levels guide explains where they come from.

0 None

Hasn't done it yet.

1 Beginner

Does it with guidance or a checklist.

2 Competent

Does it alone on routine work.

3 Proficient

Handles the unusual cases; others rely on them.

4 Expert

Sets the standard and teaches it to others.

From HR skills matrix to HR competency framework

An HR competency framework describes the skills each HR role is expected to have and at what level; the HR skills matrix records where the team stands today. Add an "Expected level" column per role — HR partner, specialist, coordinator — and the template becomes an HR competency matrix.

HR usually owns competency development for the whole company, so the same structure is often the start of a competency framework template for other teams. Each team keeps its own rows, in its own words, on the same five-level scale; the framework is what the levels mean, not one company-wide list of skills.

For other teams, start from the template closest to them on the templates overview, and from the guide on competency matrix vs. skills matrix for which one each team needs.

More templates

• Software engineer skills matrix template
• Product manager skills matrix template
• Customer service skills matrix template
• Manufacturing skills matrix template
• Training matrix template
• General team template

All of them, and how to use any one as a competency matrix template, are on the skills matrix templates page.