80% of people ‘no longer have necessary soft skills’

Nick Elvin

Eighty per cent of people no longer have the necessary interpersonal skills for business life, according to new research by alldayPA.

While almost 100% of candidates interviewed by the organisation have the necessary technical and computer skills, very few pass tests designed to assess softer skills, such as good verbal communication, effective listening and empathy. AlldayPA has interviewed 1,000 applicants in the last 12 months and only one in five candidates demonstrated the necessary skills.

Reuben Singh, chief executive officer of alldayPA said: “We are seeing the first generation that has grown up with automation entering the workplace. They shop online, talk to friends through social media and even play online games in their leisure time – and crucially, as a result, have less experience of verbal communication, and are instead becoming overly reliant on digital communications. This generation isn’t exposed to a enough positive examples of good customer service either face-to-face or over the telephone.”

According to Singh, the situation is particularly acute over the telephone, where a higher level of communication skill is required.

“Increasingly in business telephone calls are used in more complex situations,” he added, “with many simple customer interactions now handled through email or websites.

“For example, 70% of customers choose to use the phone when making a complaint or trying to resolve a problem. In these circumstances, we find an increasing number of applicants aren’t able to listen effectively, get to the heart of the matter or empathise with how the customer is feeling.”

Singh believes that the real loser in this situation is the customer and that the situation is going to get worse before it improves, while automation could also potentially put customer service jobs at risk in the years ahead.

“More value needs to be placed on these softer skills, both in education and in business,” he said. “Failure to do so will see a continued decline in levels of customer satisfaction and worsening customer service.”