Employee skills are seen as a main driver of competitive advantages of enterprises. This article provides a state-of-the-art overview of research related to skill management in the field of operational research. For this purpose, ‘skill management’ is used as an umbrella term to integrate the different quantitative approaches found in this field. The structured literature review is based on six keywords and includes articles published between 1998 and 2022 in nine major operational research and operational management journals (European Journal of Operational Research, International Journal of Production Research, International Journal of Production Economics, Management Science, Operations Research, Omega, Journal of Operations Management, Production and Operations Management, and Manufacturing & Service Operations Management). Further relevant literature considering skill-related topics and machine scheduling problems is also discussed. The publications included in this review are analyzed in depth with regard to theoretical results on employee skill development. Moreover, a unified notation is introduced that covers different models, machine environments, and objectives. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first review where learning, forgetting, and training aspects are jointly considered. Moreover, the review also highlights substantial research gaps and avenues for future research. •Review of scheduling models in the field of skill management.•State-of-the art overview of models that include learning, training and forgetting.•In-depth analysis of model with regard to employee skill development.•Unified notation covering different models, machine environments, and objectives.