How Important are Soft Skills to Employers?

Friday, April 18, 2014

 

According to the results of a WorldatWork survey released on April 14, 2014, soft skills play a significant role in selecting candidates for vacant positions.

 

Typical “soft skills” include: work ethic, dependability, attitude, motivation, team orientation, interpersonal communication, flexibility, and confidence.  What employer would want an employee who lacked these skills?  Image a manager requesting HR recruit employees who had no work ethic, were undependability, had bad attitudes, were not motivated, had no team orientation, lack interpersonal communication skills, had no flexibility, and showed no self-confidence.

 

CarmineGallo, communications coach and a contributor for Forbes recalled a remark by Warren Buffett to a group of business students.  “He said communication skills would increase their value by 50 percent.”  No matter how good an employee’s technical skills are if they are unable to communicate with their superiors, peers, and subordinates, how will they pitch their projects, needs, or results to others?

 

Writing for accountingToday, Danielle Lee relates comments from Tom Hood, CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute, in which he states, “… Big Four firms have historically recognized this correlation, valuing soft skills training along with technical learning."  Clearly, if Deloitte, ‎KPMG, ‎PricewaterhouseCoopers, and ‎Ernst & Young value soft skills integrated with hard skills training, other organizations and individuals may want to sit up and take a closer look.  If technical skills are capable of supporting an employee just so far, what does an employer do when those skills have been exhausted?

 

Amanda Alix commented recently on the Motley Fool website that, in spite of being exceptionally knowledgeable, many young U.S. employees must deal with elevated joblessness, in part because many lack "soft skills".  Employers expect new college and technical school grads to be able to perform the entry level basics of their job.  In addition, employers expect new hires to demonstrate even the most simple of soft skills such as showing up for work on time every day, having a positive “can do” attitude, able to work well with others, having flexibility to adapt to changes in the workplace.  Unfortunately, most schools do not offer a class in “Soft Skills 101”.

 

As concern mounts over the lack of soft skills in young workers, some schools are beginning to rethink the role of such skills in their educational compendium.  In February 2014, the Providence Journal reported the Providence school system won a $3-million grant to teach soft skills.  Sonoma County California schools offer a “Career Readiness Course” for the 2013-14 school year to provide a new semester-long class for high school students.  The University of Chicago Law School has introduced, “The Keystone Professionalism and Leadership Program” which is beginning a third year of programming to highlight the significance of soft skills.  The Colorado Technical University now includes soft skill within its General Education curriculum in an effort to fill gaps between a student’s technical skills and the employer’s expectations.

Is a Human Resource Department Necessary for Today’s Businesses to Function?

Friday, April 11, 2014

 

I routinely see articles questioning whether or not Human Resources is any longer required.  My first thought is that HR is no more necessary than finance, accounting, customer service, marketing, sales, engineering, production or shipping.  There is no legal requirement that a function called “human resource” is named in a company’s organizational chart, however, there are numerous legal activities which are performed by HR.  Many organizations state that “people” are their company’s most important resource, that being the case who should manage that resource and how?

 

Organizations are generally built around areas of expertise and specialization.  There is a reason why finance and accounting are staffed with employees with an understanding of financial management, accounting principles, and business management techniques.  Companies employ persons with these expertise because it is a belief this knowledge will lead to an optimal level of operations of the organization.  The same is true for Human Resources; organizations generally seek out individuals who have knowledge of recruitment, employee relations, labor relations, compensation, and benefits.  Most employers hold a belief these expertise will lead to the best possible level of operations of their human resources.

 

Many see HR as a cost rather than a profit center, others see HR as a barrier to what they want to accomplish, and still others see HR as staffed with individuals who have no business acumen or knowledge of how their business operates.  Granted, HR does not build a product or deliver an external service which produces revenue.  There are times when a member of the organization would like to do something that is illegal and HR must raise an objection.  HR staff come from a wide variety of backgrounds and may lack a detailed understanding of every facet of an organization’s end-to-end production cycle.

 

Organizations do not maintain an HR function to generate profits, which the same can be said for finance and accounting.  HR’s charter is to manage the human resources of an employer is the same manner that finance and accounting manages the fiscal and monetary resources of the organization.  Professional and lay publications are full of stories recounting the inappropriate behavior by an employer relative to this or that anti-discrimination, wage and hour, or labor law.  Often that action was taken in spike of the counsel of some HR manager and even against legal recommendations.  Every employee within an organization should have a basic understanding of the products and/or services their employer produces, this includes the HR staff.  And to the greatest extent possible, HR staff should walk in the shoes of store, plant, and mill managers and line supervisors.

 

To a greater or lesser degree, every organizational unit within a business is co-dependent upon other units.  Sales cannot produce revenue without marketing, which cannot function without a product or service to promote; production cannot produce without the aid of engineering, and finance and accounting must rely on sales and marketing to generate income.  And while great strides have been made in the area of industrial robotics, much of the work is still being performed by humans.

Small Businesses Face Numerous HR Challenges

Friday, April 04, 2014

 

Human Resource issues are difficult and challenging for all organizations, large and small.  However, small organizations face these challenges with limited resources, i.e., money, time, and expertise.  While the classification of a business as “small” is determined by Federal regulations and the U.S. Small Business Administration, their challenges are often large.

 

As a small business, most lack the financial wherewithal to spend tens of thousands of dollars on hired consultants and often must rely on insurance brokers, vendors, and agents for advice.  Time is in short supply for small business owners who often play many parts, business owner, marketer, HR manager, customer service leader, production and engineering manager, facility manager, and the list goes on.  Trained in business, marketing or engineering, many small business owners simply lack the knowledge or desire to become HR, compensation, insurance, and benefits experts.

 

As an integral function of the operations of even a small business, Human Resources require the attention of the organization’s managers.  Errors in hiring, firing, the payment of wages, even the mundane activities such as record keeping and reporting can lead to time consuming and expensive repercussions.  It is a common misbelief that as a small business, there are few if any Human Resource issues which require the attention of organization leaders.  The U.S. Small Business Administration points out Human Resource compliance is on par with financial management, marketing, and manufacturing.

 

Talent recruitment and retention is of unique concern for small businesses.  Limited in their ability to compensate, reward, and provide a clear career path, small businesses must compete with larger well established employers.  Since a small business must rely on a small number of very knowledgeable employees, they often suffer from a lack of a deep talent bench.  The loss of even one or two of these key talent members can place significant strain on operations, production, and product delivery.  While customers may be sympathetic, they too face their own schedules and deadlines.  Missed deadlines can quickly lead to lost orders and a reputation for not being able to delivery services and products when needed.

 

Small businesses can make lemonade out of lemons.  One advantage to small businesses is its ability to offer employees a close working relationship with the top management of the organization.  Unlike a large organization where senior managers may rarely be seen and only heard via e-mails, the top managers of small business are often working in close proximity with employees.  Likewise, small business employees deal with customers and clients at a very inmate level allowing them to gain a detailed understanding of their customer’s business needs.  Often this allows a new employee to gain rapid access to decision makers and witness firsthand how the organization operates.  Due to their vary size, small businesses often allow employees to exercise a greater depth and breadth of job responsibilities than would be found in a large business.  Small business permits owners to wittiness firsthand the efforts of their employees which can lead to rapid advancement for the truly talented.  Likewise, employees deal with customers and clients at a very inmate level allowing them to gain an understanding of their customer’s businesses.