A new report from Aon plc, a global professional services firm, highlights the escalating importance of skills-related initiatives in shaping the future workforce across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. The firm's 2025 APAC Skills Impact Survey Report, which gathered insights from over 135 organisations, underscores a significant shift towards prioritizing future-ready skills over traditional work experience.

The survey found that a staggering 90 percent of organisations consider skills-related initiatives to be highly important, with 61 percent having already implemented skills-based programs to address their top talent priorities. Career development is emerging as the leading use case for these initiatives.

The report reveals that the value of skills is considered critical for attracting and retaining talent, enhancing workforce agility and resilience, and building strong leaders. Nearly 40 percent of organisations are currently in the crucial stage of developing talent strategies and programs specifically designed around new and future skills. A strong foundation appears to be in place, with 68 percent of organizations having an articulated skills framework guiding such practices.

While 44 percent of organisations are exploring technology tools, assessment platforms, and external benchmarks for skills identification, a majority (56 percent) still rely on traditional methods like job descriptions and manager surveys.

The study identified career development and mobility, learning and development, recruitment and selection, and succession and workforce planning as the top skills influencing talent practices. Notably, organisations are actively leveraging skills information for employee career development, with almost 40 percent of respondents already aligning skills with lateral role opportunities for their colleagues. This strategy not only enhances the employee experience but also boosts candidate success rates. The survey anticipates that within the next 12 to 24 months, approximately 45 percent of organisations will adopt this practice of aligning skills with lateral opportunities.

Despite the clear benefits, organisations face hurdles in advancing their skills agenda. Maggie You, head of people advisory for APAC at Aon, identified the top challenges as “limited budget and resources, measuring program effectiveness, and identifying relevant skills.” To overcome these barriers, You advised organisations to “take small steps by starting with pilot programs, using objective assessments and clear KPIs, engaging business stakeholders, and aligning skills frameworks with job architecture and external benchmarks.”

Puneet Swani, head of Talent Solutions for APAC at Aon, emphasised the paradigm shift. "As businesses face an increasingly dynamic environment, there is a strong need for relevant future-ready skills over traditional work experience to build a resilient and agile workforce," Swani stated. He further advised that "Organisations must prioritise skills development and leverage people analytics to improve HR and business outcomes. By doing so, they can foster a resilient and adaptable workforce ready to meet future challenges.”