The Workforce Soft Skills Gap: Why It Matters and How eLearning Helps
Written by: Phillip Carmichael
Table of Contents
The modern world of employment demands your staff have two types of skills — soft and hard skills. Hard skills are the ones most people focus on when applying for their job of choice, as they're often highly specified for the role. Soft skills are more general, and they're tools that everyone should have. Still, there is a growing soft skills gap in nearly every industry, and it may be related to a lack of training to develop these traits and behaviors.
The solution, then, is simple — implementing eLearning soft skills programs in your workforce meets each of your staff members where they are and helps you identify which areas you can readily rectify. Still, as with many challenges in business, reducing the skills gap is easier in concept than reality and may require you to look further into the benefits of eLearning programs.
What Are Soft Skills?
Soft skills are defined by Indeed as “interpersonal and behavioral skills that help you work well with other people and develop your career.” These skills are referenced as distinct from “hard” technical skills, which Indeed defines as “abilities [acquired] through education, training, and experience that often pertain directly to a specific job or industry.”
Soft Skill Examples
Soft skills are the unwritten rules of life. While hard skills are specific to the job — like coding and research for computer programming or copywriting, for example — soft skills are the tools you use on and off the job to make life easier. You learn hard skills in the classroom and soft skills everywhere else. Some of the most well-known soft skills include:
Time management
Creativity
Teamwork
Empathy/emotional intelligence
Organizational skills
In a recent Indeed survey of 1,000 hiring managers, respondents stated that the most important soft skills of high performers at their companies were:
Problem-solving
Effective communication skills
Self-direction
Drive
Adaptability/flexibility
While the importance of soft skills is often overlooked by many organizations, these are incredibly valuable skills for employees to possess, as they allow for effective communication and collaboration, which in turn increase efficiency and productivity. Research from the Stanford Research Center, the Carnegie Foundation, and Harvard University has found that soft skills contribute overwhelmingly to job success. Employers cite soft skills as the defining point for 85% of wins, while only 15% are related to hard skills. In fact, 89% of recruiters stated that when a hire doesn’t work out, the cause is usually a lack of soft skills.
Soft Skills: A Growing Need
According to recent research, leading soft skills are requested four times more than leading hard skills in employer job postings. More than 29 million job postings (36% of the job postings analyzed) required at least three soft skills. And more than half of all job postings analyzed sought applicants with leadership and communication skills.
Additionally, a poll from Morning Consult found that 65% of employers cited soft skills as the most in-demand skills, and of these soft skills, the employers polled said the ones they looked for most are:
Listening skills
Attention to detail/attentiveness
Effective communication
Critical thinking
Interpersonal skills
Active learning/learning new skills
Unfortunately, almost 75% of employers say they have a hard time finding candidates with the soft skills their companies need. Additionally, the Wall Street Journal found that 92% of almost 900 executives surveyed said soft skills were just as important, or even more important, than technical skills, yet 89% said they experience a “very or somewhat difficult” time finding employees with these soft skills.
A McKinsey study found the top three areas of missing soft skills were:
Problem-solving, critical thinking, innovation, and creativity
Ability to deal with complexity and ambiguity
Communication
In order to ensure that team members and employees have the soft skills needed to thrive and increase organizational efficiency and productivity, business leaders and executives should look at two effective methods of upskilling for these skills, both of which are timelier than ever: eLearning and virtual training.
eLearning for Soft Skills Training
eLearning, which incorporates digital media to more efficiently transfer knowledge to learners, tends to take 40% to 60% less employee time than learning in a traditional classroom setting, and every dollar spent on eLearning results in a $30 increase in productivity. An eLearning soft skills program does more than give employees the technical information they're looking for — it brings these skills to life, providing effective examples and exercises to help students internalize what they're learning through:
Videos
Quizzes
Assessments
Discussions
Other interactive methods
The most powerful programs combine many of these options and pair them with traditional learning styles to deliver as many learning styles as possible. eLearning is especially useful for organizations with geographically dispersed workforces, as eLearning can be self-paced and accessible from anywhere with an Internet connection.
Virtual Training for Soft Skills Gaps
Virtual instructor-led live training can also be used to teach crucial soft skills. With the same face-to-face collaboration and live interaction as in-person training, virtual training can help team members and employees understand when, where, why, and how to use soft skills, empowering them to excel in their roles. Virtual live training can also be customized based on the exact soft skills workers need to learn and acquire for their jobs.
Intellezy’s Approach to Soft Skills Development
We strongly recognize the need for soft skills in today’s business environment, and for this reason, Intellezy has created a wide variety of expertly designed, engaging, and interactive eLearning courses and videos that focus on these important soft skills. Given the increasing presence of remote work and hybrid work arrangements, we’ve also developed courses centered around soft skills specific to these types of working arrangements, including courses on leading virtual teams and online meeting etiquette, among others.
Additionally, Intellezy offers custom training services that can help improve your employees' skill sets with the specific soft skills they require for exemplary performance. Whether you’d like a blended learning approach or strictly virtual live training, we creatively design, develop, and execute all stages of training, partnering with you to ensure your goals and vision are met.
Contact Us for Soft Skills eLearning Courses
A focus on soft skills can benefit any company, but it may be especially useful if you're exploring ways to improve client retention and increase professional networking success. Soft skills should shine in these areas, and if you're falling short, it's likely due to the need for soft skill development. Intellezy offers various methods for reducing the soft skills gap, ensuring engaging and exciting learning modules that can benefit your staff in and out of the office.
By emphasizing the importance of soft skills throughout every aspect of their lives, you can motivate an entire workforce to take your curriculum seriously. Visit our YouTube channel to view some soft skill eLearning examples, and contact info@intellezy.com to discuss how we can help you empower your team with the people skills they need to succeed. Our eLearning soft skills program will put your people on the path to holistic success and benefit your brand in ways you've never imagined.