IMPACT OF SOFT

SKILLS TRAININGS ON BOTTOM LINE

SKILLS GAP

• SKILLS GAP IS A SIGNIFICANT GAP BETWEEN AN ORGANIZATION’S CURRENT CAPABILITIES AND THE SKILLS IT NEEDS TO ACHIEVE ITS GOALS

• DESPITE A LARGE POOL OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS, EMPLOYERS CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE TO FIND SKILLED TALENT TO FILL THE GROWING NUMBER OF JOB OPENINGS IN THE COUNTRY.

WHY DOES SKILLS GAP EXIST?

• A MASS OF RETIRING EMPLOYEES, COMBINED WITH THE YOUNG WORKFORCE’S WANING INTEREST AND DEFICIT OF TRAINING PROGRAMS IN GENERAL, HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE INDUSTRY’S GROWING SKILLS GAP

• THE TOP REASON FOR THE SKILLS GAP IS THAT THE SKILLS OF THE WORKFORCE DON’T MATCH COMPANY STRATEGY, GOALS, MARKETS, OR BUSINESS MODELS.

Soft Skills Ranked 1

Ranked 2

Ranked 3

Leadership/executive-level skills 54% 18% 24%

Basic skills (the traditional building blocks of business-level competencies that are most commonly associated with elementary language arts and mathematics)

5% 14% 7%

Profession- or industry-specific skills 37% 32% 19%

Managerial/supervisory skills 38% 48% 28%

Customer service skills 8% 13% 20%

Communication/interpersonal skills 16% 26% 33%

Technical/IT/systems skills 17% 16% 13%

Sales skills 9% 12% 5%

Process and project management skills 17% 27% 44%

Other 6% 1% 14%

What are the specific skills gaps that your organization is experiencing now?

Respondents were asked to rank their top three choices. N=377

Reasons for Soft Skills Gap Ranked 1

Ranked 2

Ranked 3

Skills of the current workforce do not match changes in company strategy, goals, markets, or business models

58% 40% 46%

Not enough bench strength in the company's leadership ranks 55% 48% 22%

Recent merger/acquisition where the organization brought in new employees or current employees are not up-to-speed on the new industry

8% 12% 9%

Training investments have been cut or there is a lack of commitment by senior leaders to employee learning and development

41% 36% 46%

When hiring for certain types of jobs, there are too few qualified candidates (i.e. a gap in the pipeline)

30% 35% 38%

Lack of skilled talent in one or more of the company's lines of business

18% 39% 49%

Why is there a skills gap in your organization?

Respondents were asked to rank their top three choices.N=377

Impact of Soft Skills Gap Ranked 1 Ranked 2 Ranked 3

Lower productivity 77% 40% 38%

Slower time-to-market 16% 8% 6%

Less profitable 10% 24% 20%

Challenges to recruitment 17% 9% 14%

Less efficient 42% 69% 38%

Unable to expand or grow 16% 12% 23%

Less new product development 4% 8% 8%

Harder to compete 8% 25% 22%

Higher expenses 7% 13% 38%

Missed opportunities 31% 26% 14%

Other 9% 3% 17%

What are the business impacts of having a skills gap?

Respondents were asked to rank their top three choices. N=377

IN DEMAND SOFT SKILLS• ORGANISATIONAL SKILLS (87%), 

• VERBAL COMMUNICATION (81%), 

• TEAMWORK AND COLLABORATION (78%),

• PROBLEM-SOLVING (60%),

• TACT AND DIPLOMACY (59%),

• BUSINESS WRITING (48%), AND

• ANALYTICAL SKILLS (45%).

SOFT SKILLS VS PROFITABILITY• THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF RESEARCH PUBLISHED RECENTLY THAT SHOWS

THERE IS A DIRECT CORRELATION BETWEEN PROFITABILITY AND EMPLOYEES' PERSONAL EXCELLENCE.

• RESEARCH ON MORE THAN 200 000 MANAGERS AND WORKERS AT MULTIPLE COMPANIES DURING A 10-YEAR PERIOD LINKS EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION WITH FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE. ACCORDING TO THE DATA, COMPANIES THAT EFFECTIVELY RECOGNISED PERSONAL EXCELLENCE TRIPLED PROFITABILITY IN COMPARISON WITH FIRMS THAT DIDN'T.

Soft Skills

Training Costs

Impact Improved Performance

Writing Skills

$ 390,000 Reduced average bug fix from 21 days to 12

Access to online writing courses including time to take and complete 5 courses each and successfully complete writing evaluations to prove increased skills. 2 HR reps needed to administer program and build writing evaluations.

Collaboration Skills

$ 660,000 Reduce release cycle of new products to 90 days from 180

$1,200,000 in new sales with 90-day product release target, plus payroll gains and cost savings of $144,000

Delegation Skills

$ 1,720 Goal to reach 100% productivity in 8 weeks compared to 12

Managers reached full productivity by learning to effectively delegate tasks and assume manager’s role in 8 weeks

Problem Solving Skills

$ 340,000 Goal to reach 4.5 rating or better from 3

In the 12 months after the training program really began to show modifications in behavior as proven by reaching 4.5 customer satisfaction scores 85% of the time

EXAMPLE

SOFT SKILLS VS LEADERSHIP• LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT HAS BEEN THE TOP PRIORITY IN A SURVEY FOR

THE PAST THREE YEARS, AS MANY ORGANISATIONS HAVE BELIEVED THAT THE SECRET OF GREATER SUCCESS LIES IN MORE EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP.

• ISSUES OF PERSONALITY, ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOUR HAVE A BIG IMPACT ON PERFORMANCE IN THE WORKPLACE BECAUSE THEY AFFECT HOW WELL PEOPLE ARE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE FACE-TO-FACE AND WORK EFFECTIVELY WITH OTHERS.

• OTHER KEY AREAS OF FOCUS ARE CUSTOMER SERVICE TRAINING, PROFESSIONAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AND COMPLIANCE TRAINING.

THANK YOU