Think tank expert says employers want better communication skills from staff
Many housing associations are providing tenants with the wrong kinds of skills for work, an expert will tell a major conference this week.
Alan Sinclair, visiting fellow at employment think tank The Work Foundation, said many associations were providing their tenants with qualifications and vocational skills. But employers wanted to see an improvement in “soft skills” such as communication, team work and problem solving, he will tell the National Housing Federation conference on Thursday.
Speaking to Regenerate, he said: “Generally housing associations have tenants who are at the lower wage end of society and employers say it is that part of the labour market they are most dissatisfied with. They were unhappy that those people weren’t good at talking and listening, working with eachother and with customers, or elementary planning and problem solving.”
He thought housing associations were tending to make the same mistakes as the education system in tackling the problem. He said: “What housing associations are doing is an extension of the prevailing mood which is either you have to get someone straight into a job or improve their vocational skills. But that is not where employers say the problem is; they say it is the softer skills.”
Sinclair said many of these so called “soft” skills were developed in early childhood so more help needed to be given to pregnant women and parents to bring their children up to acquire these skills.
