Indicator 22 — Developing staff competencies

Indicator 22 complements indicator 21: having proven your contributors are competent today, you must show they will remain so tomorrow. The framework expects genuine competency maintenance: needs identification, training or professionalisation actions, and delivery evidence. It applies to all staff — trainers, administrators — and to the owner personally when they deliver the training.

What the auditor checks on the day

The auditor looks for a living system, not a theoretical document. They examine:

• how you identify needs: professional interviews, self-diagnoses, session evaluation feedback, regulatory changes in your sector;
• a competency development plan, however simple, listing planned actions per person per year;
• delivery evidence: training certificates, webinar attestations, invoices, followed programmes, professional subscriptions;
• the variety of recognised formats: formal training, conferences, trade shows, communities of practice, co-development, documented specialist reading;
• for employers, compliance with the Labour Code's professional interviews;
• the full loop: a need identified, an action delivered, an effect observed on the services.

At an initial audit, the auditor accepts a recent plan, but wants at least one action already delivered or under way and a credible calendar.

Achieving compliance, step by step

1. Create a competency development table: one row per person, with identified needs, planned actions, dates and delivery status.
2. Feed it from concrete sources: an end-of-course evaluation flagging a delivery weakness, new sector regulations, a new teaching tool to master.
3. Plan at least one professionalisation action per person per year: a course, a certifying webinar, a trade show, active membership of a professional network.
4. Archive each proof on receipt: attestation, invoice, digital badge, programme. One "professionalisation" folder per person prevents pre-audit panic.
5. For employees, keep the professional interview calendar and the signed summaries: the auditor may request them as needs-identification evidence.

Field advice

If you are an independent trainer, this indicator concerns you first and foremost: your own upskilling is the expected evidence. A train-the-trainer course, an attested MOOC, a renewed trade certification or documented active participation in a professional network all qualify. The classic mistake is declaring "I read a lot" with no trace: turn that watch into evidence by logging the conferences attended and keeping the attestations.

Systematically connect this indicator to your other obligations: needs spotted in beneficiary evaluations (indicator 30) and your watch activities (indicators 23 to 25) are excellent inputs for the plan. This cross-indicator coherence impresses auditors, because it shows an integrated quality system rather than a collection of binders.

On subcontractors: you do not have to fund their training, but if you work with them regularly, show that you periodically verify their competencies are current — for example by requesting an updated CV and recent attestations every year.

Finally, size the system to your structure. A two-person organisation needs no HR software: a shared table and an evidence folder suffice. What triggers a non-conformity is the total absence of documented professionalisation over the audited period, not the modesty of the plan.