Betterworks, an AI-native performance management and workforce intelligence platform, has introduced new AI-powered capabilities designed to help organizations identify emerging employee skills, close capability gaps faster and gain a more real-time view of workforce readiness.
The September product release combines Conversational Intelligence, Individual Development Plans and Adaptive Learning & Upskilling to connect signals from everyday work with employee development and learning.
Betterworks is targeting a common challenge for large organizations: information about employee capabilities is often scattered across manager conversations, performance reviews, learning programs and development plans.
That fragmentation can make it difficult for companies to understand which skills employees already possess, which capabilities are developing and where critical gaps may be emerging until those gaps create an operational problem.
Conversational Intelligence is designed to capture more of that information from regular manager-employee interactions.
The technology analyzes transcripts generated by a company’s preferred meeting transcription application and identifies themes, commitments, action items, skills, development signals and goal-related information discussed during meetings.
Those insights can then be incorporated into Betterworks workflows, giving managers a continuous record of what employees are working toward rather than relying primarily on periodic performance reviews.
The system can surface goals and commitments, identify potential coaching opportunities and risks, and track recurring themes across multiple conversations.
Managers can use that context when preparing for future one-on-one meetings, coaching employees or contributing to broader talent and performance discussions.
Betterworks is also introducing Individual Development Plans combined with Adaptive Learning & Upskilling.
Employees can create development objectives tied to specific skills or receive AI-generated recommendations based on their current role, target capabilities and existing skill set.
Adaptive Learning & Upskilling then connects those development priorities with relevant learning opportunities, creating a more direct path between identifying a capability gap and taking action to address it.
For managers and organizational leaders, the system is designed to provide greater visibility into whether employees are actually developing the skills needed for future business priorities.
Together, the new capabilities create a feedback loop connecting actual workplace conversations, performance signals, development planning and learning.
Betterworks argues that this approach can help companies move from reacting to skill shortages after they appear toward continuously monitoring how workforce capabilities are changing.
That issue has become more significant as companies adopt AI and restructure work.
Organizations increasingly need to understand which tasks can be automated, which skills employees need to develop and where human expertise remains strategically important. At the same time, workforce changes can make institutional knowledge more difficult to preserve.
Betterworks is attempting to capture more of that knowledge through the everyday interactions already taking place between employees and managers rather than requiring organizations to create entirely new processes.
The company’s broader platform combines goals, feedback, skills and talent intelligence with performance management workflows, providing executives with visibility into workforce capabilities, manager effectiveness and progress against organizational priorities.
Betterworks is primarily focused on large and fast-growing companies and is backed by investors including Kleiner Perkins, Emergence Capital, 8VC and John Doerr.
The latest product expansion positions the company around a larger workforce intelligence opportunity as organizations seek to understand not just employee performance today, but whether their people are developing the capabilities required for future roles and changing business priorities.
KEY QUOTES:
“Organizations can’t afford to wait until a critical skill gap appears to start developing the capabilities they need. By bringing intelligence from the conversations they’re already having with development and upskilling, Betterworks helps organizations understand how their people are growing, build critical capabilities faster, and prepare their workforce as business priorities change.”
Doug Dennerline, CEO of Betterworks
