Employees who have developed their skills give an organisation a competitive edge, and in the public sector where this study was conducted, they render an excellent customer service. Prior to this study, frameworks were not integrated. Some frameworks were generic and were developed by academics and training experts. They comprised internal elements (i.e. business, human resource development strategies, performance management, training policy and rewards), but did not integrate with external elements such as training legislation. Therefore, this study was conducted to address this gap in the literature. A qualitative cross-sectional research design was used, and 24 employees were purposefully selected and interviewed at a state-owned organisation. The study revealed that the following factors were critical for developing an integrated skills development framework for Lepelle Northern Water: 1) an organisational strategy; 2) performan