As we move into a new economy where there will be considerable changes to the way we manage work after the pandemic, various studies are beginning to focus on the increasing importance of soft skills within the economy.
Certainly, some have suggested that during the lockdown, skills such as empathy, flexibility and self-determination, have become increasingly important in managing not only ourselves during a challenging time but also others who work with us.
This is not surprising as unlike the hard subject-related skills we teach students in schools, colleges and universities, soft skills are more to do with improving an individual’s ability to listen well, communicate effectively, be positive and manage conflict.
They are also about building trust, working well with others and managing time effectively. In other words, these are the type of skills that many of us would assume that most organisations would be developing amongst their employees every day.
The good news is that some organisations have started to appreciate their importance in the workplace. For example, one survey from the US of over 2,000 businesses found that 77 per cent of employers thought that soft skills were just as important as those hard skills needed to perform a specific job function.
Another survey showed that 55 per cent of chief financial officers considered that even within a hard skilled occupation such as accountancy, one of the real challenges was finding applicants with the necessary soft skills beyond the normal competences and qualifications expected of an accounting professional.
Yet despite this encouraging appreciation of softer skills by senior managers, there is little evidence that soft skillsets such as communication and interpersonal skills, decision-making and initiative-taking, time and self-management, teamwork and taking responsibility, are being encouraged within UK organisations as part of the upskilling agenda for their employees.
For example, it is estimated that over half a million UK workers are being held back by a lack of soft skills support. In fact, research published by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills showed that between 30 and 40 per cent of UK businesses report soft skill shortages, especially in occupations such as sales and customer service occupations, administrative and clerical occupations and among elementary occupations.
As a result, this lack of focus on soft skills development may prevent employers from filling workforce vacancies because they cannot find recruits with sufficient skills. More importantly, it may also cause existing employees to be less efficient and effective in their workplace.
In a global economy where the practice of work is changing quickly, it is critical that soft skills are not only an important part of the day-to-day development of employees across the country but are also integrated into our further and higher education institutions as we develop the workers of the future in all sectors.
As The Future of Work Skills 2020 report from the World Economic Forum highlighted, workers will need to acquire a range of new skills over the next ten years and the most important are those soft skills that are critical to future jobs such as communication, collaboration, creativity, self-reliance, and teamwork.
In a workplace where technology-based skills are often obsolete within two years, soft skills such as the understanding of the customer and working with others inside and outside the organisation are vitally important and can be transferred into different positions within an organisation. Such skills can also give businesses a real competitive advantage in the market and, more importantly, add value to the overall economy. One study has indicated that soft skills are worth over £88 billion to the UK each year and will be critical in the development and impact of those sectors that are set to grow over the next few years.
Over a century ago, a study published by Harvard University concluded that 85% of job success came from having well‐developed soft and people skills, and only 15% from “hard” technical skills and knowledge.
Fast forward a hundred years and much remains to be done in ensuring that soft skills are recognised as being as important as formal qualifications in the development of the employee and the business they work for.
Indeed, various surveys have shown that businesses feel that employability should be made a mandatory part of the learning experience within colleges and universities with soft skills embedded into the curriculum.
Given this, it is critical that government works with educational providers to ensure that in addition to hard work-related skills, there is also a greater emphasis on developing those soft skills that can really make a difference to both workers and their employers in the future.