At InnoShare’s company gathering on September 10, Katri Lindgren, founder of Erigo, gave a lecture on competence lending – from surplus to value. The discussion focused on how organizations can address today’s challenges by sharing and mobilizing skills across organizational boundaries.
Why Competence Lending?
Many small and medium-sized enterprises face pressure from multiple directions: rising recruitment costs, increasing ESG demands, and market volatility. At the same time, stress-related ill health is growing rapidly, both in Finland and internationally. Competence lending becomes a concrete tool to create security, development, and sustainable career paths, instead of layoffs.
According to a recent barometer, 68% of Finnish SMEs plan staff reductions, while 24% of employers report a shortage of skills, the Finnish competence paradox (PK-yritysbarometri, 2025).
Five Practical Steps
The lecture introduced a simple model for getting started with competence lending:
- Inventory: collect data on roles, projects, and available capacity.
- Make visible: create an open showcase of available skills.
- Match & contract: connect surplus to demand with short agreements.
- On-/offboard: appoint a mentor, set learning goals, and follow up.
- Measure & improve: track KPIs such as coverage, time-to-staff, and learning points.
Proof from Reality
Three international examples illustrate the effects of internal competence lending:
- Schneider Electric: internal gig marketplace launched in 2020, filling 200+ projects per year internally, resulting in million-level savings and greater mobility.
- Unilever: global platform with 10,000+ gig matches, leading to higher retention in Flex-teams.
- Fujitsu: 8,000 gigs in 18 months, 30% shorter staffing times, and no layoffs in two downsizing programs.
The result: fewer layoffs, increased internal mobility, and significant cost savings.
People at the Center
For competence lending to succeed, three guiding principles are key:
- Transparency: open criteria and clear timelines.
- Participation: early dialogue with teams and unions.
- Development promise: lending as an opportunity, not a threat.
When employees grow by being lent out, both individual security and organizational resilience are strengthened. At the same time, stress levels can be reduced, today 64% of sick days among knowledge workers are caused by stress or mental health issues, costing societies billions every year (Heltti Work Health Report, 2024; Ministry of Finance, Finland, 2024).
Where We Are Heading
The future of work is shifting from job security to competence security. Industrial skills now have a half-life of less than four years, which means competence must move quickly to where it is needed most. It is no longer only about individual career ladders, but about talent clouds and mobility within ecosystems.
International analyses indicate that 70% of all value creation by 2030 will occur in ecosystems, rather than within single companies (McKinsey, 2025). To succeed, organizations must build structures where competence is mobile, traceable, and measurable, and where lending is seen as a strategic resource.
InnoShare provides a platform to make this a reality. By working across silos, companies can build a sustainable future where resources are used more wisely and people develop in line with organizational needs.
A warm thank you to InnoShare for the kind welcome and to all participants for the valuable conversations.
Learn more at innoshare.fi
This article is based on Katri Lindgren’s lecture for InnoShare 2025. Event photos will be published shortly.
Sources
- PK-yritysbarometri, Spring 2025 (n=4,553) – yrittajat.fi
- ManpowerGroup Talent Shortage Survey 2025, Finland
- SHRM Human Capital Benchmarking Report 2025
- WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025
- EK Suhdannebarometri 06/2025
- Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH), Work and Health 2024
- Heltti Work Health Report 2024
- Ministry of Finance, Finland, Analytical Unit, 2024
- McKinsey, 2025 – Ecosystem and Value Creation
