AI-powered skill mapping

Empuls AI surfaces soft skills from recognition data, helping you spot skill gaps, identify strengths, and make data-backed talent development decisions.

AI-Powered Skill Mapping gives HR teams, managers, and admins a new lens into workforce capabilities — without adding new surveys or assessments. Empuls analyzes the recognition messages employees send and receive and uses that data to identify patterns in soft skills across individuals, teams, and the entire organization. The result is a set of reports that reveal where your team excels and where development opportunities exist.

How it works

Every time someone writes a recognition message — a peer award, a manager citation, or a nomination — the message contains signals about the behaviors and qualities being celebrated. Skill Mapping reads these signals at scale and categorizes them into four core competency areas. The more actively your team uses recognition, the richer and more accurate the skill insights become.

AI Skill Mapping must be enabled by a Super Admin before skill reports become available. See AI Settings for instructions on turning it on.

Skill categories

Skill Mapping identifies soft skills across four main categories:

Communications

How well individuals or teams express ideas, share information, and engage others. A high score reflects strong verbal and written communication observed in recognition patterns.

Interpersonal skills

Relationship-building behaviors — empathy, collaboration, and the ability to work effectively with others. Useful for assessing team cohesion or identifying strong collaborators.

Critical thinking

Problem-solving, analytical reasoning, and the ability to evaluate situations thoughtfully. High scores signal readiness for roles requiring independent decision-making.

Leadership

Leadership indicators such as initiative, influence, and the ability to guide others. Use this to identify potential leaders for internal mobility or succession planning.

Each category is further broken down into specific sub-skills, giving you a detailed picture rather than just a broad category score.

Use cases

Upskilling and learning path design

Before investing in a learning program, use Skill Mapping reports to understand where individuals or teams have gaps. If critical thinking scores are low across a department, you can tailor training content specifically to that area rather than running generic programs.

• Identify gaps and strengths to guide upskilling decisions
• Assess talent readiness with a clear skill profile
• Shape personalized learning paths with real-time data

Internal mobility and hiring decisions

Looking to fill a leadership role internally? Scan leadership and interpersonal skill scores to find employees who consistently demonstrate initiative and influence across their recognition history — people who might not appear on the shortlist based on title or seniority alone.

Performance development conversations

Use the My Reports and My Team tabs to add data-driven context to one-on-one check-ins and performance reviews. Instead of relying solely on manager observations, bring concrete skill trend data into the conversation.

Team capability analysis for projects

When assembling a project team, use team-level skill views to identify strong communicators, critical thinkers, and collaborators across departments. Compose teams with complementary skill profiles rather than defaulting to availability alone.

Accessing skill reports

Navigate to Reports and Admin > Reports, then select the My Organization tab.

Locate the Soft skills exhibited in award messages card. Switch between the Communications, Interpersonal Skills, Critical Thinking, and Leadership tabs to explore detailed insights in each area.

1. Open Reports

   Go to Reports and Admin > Reports.

2. Select My Organization

   Click the My Organization tab to view org-level skill data. You can also view data scoped to your own profile under My Reports, or your direct reports under My Team.

3. Find the skill card

   Scroll to the Soft skills exhibited in award messages card.

4. Explore skill categories

   Click through the Communications, Interpersonal Skills, Critical Thinking, and Leadership tabs to see breakdowns by category and sub-skill.

5. Apply filters

   Use the filter panel to narrow the report by department, designation, grade, business unit, location, or cost center.

Reading your skill report

When reviewing skill data, look for two key patterns:

• High-performing areas — Skills consistently reflected in recognition messages, indicating established strengths in individuals or teams. These can be leveraged for project assignments, mentoring, or public recognition.
• Absent or low scores — Potential skill gaps that may not be visible in standard performance data. Use these to inform development conversations or targeted training investments.

Skill Mapping is most valuable when your recognition program is active. Encourage managers to write specific, behavior-focused recognition messages rather than generic praise — richer message content produces richer skill signals.

Filters available

You can slice the skill data across the following dimensions:

• Department
• Designation
• Grade
• Business unit
• Location
• Cost center

This lets you, for example, compare communication skill profiles across two departments, or identify leadership indicators within a specific grade band.

Things to keep in mind

• Skill insights are derived from recognition data only. Results reflect the language used in award messages, not formal performance assessments.
• Employees who send and receive fewer recognitions will have less data, leading to less complete skill profiles.
• Review your core values and award structure periodically to ensure they are set up in a way that generates meaningful skill signals — vague award categories produce less specific skill data.

Can employees see their own skill data?

Yes. Employees can view their own skill profile under the My Reports tab. They see the same four categories and sub-skill breakdown that managers and admins can see for them.

How often is skill data updated?

Skill data is updated continuously as recognition messages are submitted. There is no fixed refresh cycle — new recognitions contribute to the skill model in real time.

Are hard skills tracked?

No. The current Skill Mapping feature focuses exclusively on soft skills across the four categories: Communications, Interpersonal Skills, Critical Thinking, and Leadership. Hard skills are not analyzed from recognition messages.

What if I have very few recognitions in my organization?

Skill Mapping produces more reliable insights with a larger volume of recognition data. If your recognition program is new or underused, consider launching a recognition activation campaign before drawing conclusions from skill reports.

Next steps

Once you have reviewed your first skill report, use the insights to:

1. Define targeted learning paths for teams with identified gaps
2. Shortlist internal candidates for open roles based on skill fit
3. Bring skill data into your next round of performance reviews
4. Identify potential mentors or team leads based on leadership indicators

For questions or support, email [e-mail].