As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly build an employee skills matrix.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open your current competency framework and copy the skill names, definitions and proficiency scale into the prompt.
   2. Gather the latest anonymised employee records, including role, self-assessment, manager assessment, qualifications, work samples and dated observations, and remove unnecessary personal information.
   3. Paste the framework and employee evidence into the prompt, then ask the chatbot to return the matrix in a spreadsheet-ready table.
   4. Copy the generated table into Excel or Google Sheets and compare every employee name or ID, skill level and evidence note with the source records.
   5. Ask each relevant manager to check whether the evidence supports the assigned level and to mark missing evidence rather than correcting ratings without a reason.
   6. Ask HR or the process owner to check that the same proficiency definitions and evidence standard were applied across employees before using the matrix for training planning.
   7. Send each employee their relevant section or summary through the organisation's approved system and record agreed development actions separately from the assessment matrix.

   Prompt

   Build an employee skills matrix from the information below. Use only the evidence provided and do not invent skills, scores, qualifications or performance facts. Treat each employee consistently. If evidence is missing, write "not evidenced" rather than guessing.
   
   Competency framework:
   [Paste the skill or competency names, definitions and any agreed proficiency levels here]
   
   Proficiency scale:
   [Paste the organisation's scale and definitions here, for example beginner to advanced, if one exists]
   
   Employee evidence:
   [Paste anonymised employee names or IDs, current roles, self-assessments, manager assessments, qualifications, work samples and relevant observations here]
   
   Create:
   1. A table with one row per employee and one column per skill.
   2. A level for each skill only where the evidence supports it.
   3. A short evidence note for every level assigned.
   4. A separate list of missing evidence and assumptions, with no assumptions treated as facts.
   5. A team summary showing skills that are well covered, skills with possible gaps and skills that need more evidence.
   6. Individual development priorities linked to the stated framework, without making promotion, pay, disciplinary or redundancy recommendations.
   
   Keep the language neutral and suitable for an internal UK workplace document. Flag any rating that may be inconsistent with the framework or lacks enough evidence. Return the matrix in a format that can be copied into a spreadsheet, followed by the notes and checks.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.