Short answer
A competency matrix is usually a grid that maps skills against people, roles, or levels. A competency framework defines the competencies, level expectations, behaviors, and examples used to make people decisions. The matrix can be a useful view, but reviews and career progression need the fuller standard behind its cells.
What is a competency matrix?
A competency matrix places skills on one axis and people, roles, or levels on the other. Teams use it to scan coverage, identify gaps, or compare expected capability across roles.
Its compact format is useful for planning, but short cells often hide the evidence required to decide whether someone meets a level.
What does a competency framework add?
A competency framework defines what each competency means, how it appears in a specific Function, and what changes from one level to the next. Expected behaviors and examples turn labels into criteria a manager can apply.
It also connects the same standard to career conversations, self-assessments, manager reviews, and calibration.
Which one should you use?
Use a matrix when the question is where skills sit or where coverage is thin. Use the framework when the question is what good work looks like, whether evidence meets a level, or what someone must demonstrate next.
You do not need two competing systems. Keep the framework as the source of truth and generate a grid or spreadsheet view from it for planning.
- Workforce planning: use the matrix view.
- Career progression: use level expectations from the framework.
- Performance reviews: use the framework and its pinned version.
How Peasy HR uses these terms
In Peasy HR, a Function owns role tracks, levels, and competencies. Competency framework names the overall feature, while a matrix is one possible way to view or export its content.
Peasy HR calls the assessment picker a rating scale. It does not use the word rubric because that term can blur the difference between a rating scale and the evidence standard.