Opinion Editorial
Workforce Readiness Skills Gap

By Kimberly Rogov

     Business leaders are saying many new entrants to the workforce are inadequately prepared for important skills like teamwork, critical thinking, and communication that are essential for success at work. According to a survey of 431 human resource officials carried out by The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and the Society for Human Resource Management, the growing gap between the skill levels needed in today’s workforce and the skills held by those currently entering the workforce are not only deficiencies in high school graduates’ basic skills like reading comprehension, writing, and math, but also in skills like professionalism, work ethic, and basic work habits. That survey found that while employers expect young people to arrive with a core set of basic knowledge and the ability to apply their skills in the workplace, the reality just does not match the expectations. One reason for this is that the important soft skills employers want from new entrants to the workforce are not currently being taught in high school, leaving the graduates lacking those skills so highly desired by employers. Giving high school students better educational opportunities to learn skills like critical thinking, communication, and teamwork will provide the training they need to enter the workforce as qualified candidates.

     One great way to increase the soft skills that employers require of new workers is to allow high school students to gain exposure to the work world while still in school, and it is already being piloted. The Workforce Readiness article in HR Magazine’s June 2008 issue highlights a work-study program at Don Bosco High School, (part of the nationwide network of Cristo Rey college-prep high schools) in Tacoma Park, Maryland, where they allow their students to attend classes Monday through Thursday, and each Friday go to work for a reputable employers such as Deloitte & Touche, Nike, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Texas Instruments. At those employers, the students gain skills, knowledge, and experiences that will make them more equipped to enter the workforce when they graduate. All the students attend a three-week summer training that includes a "boot camp" teaching the basics for survival in the corporate world, from proper dress to how to use copy and fax machines, to intensive courses in common office software. Employers who participate in the program pay the school $25,000 to $30,000 for each job a student does, thereby covering 70 percent of all tuition costs of the school, which is private. The same idea can work for public schools, and the money contributed by participating employers can fill in the budget gaps that currently hinder those schools from developing exactly these kinds of opportunities for their students. It’s a winning situation for both the employer and the student because the employer gets a qualified worker dedicated to the job for a designated period of time, and the student gets exposure to the work environment preparing them for the future.

     Along with the educational deficiencies that are causing skill gap issues, is the lack of knowledge sharing between the older generations and those just entering the work force. The work-study program being piloted by Don Bosco High School only works if the older generations in the workforce are willing to share their knowledge. All too often, if high school graduates are fortunate enough to be hired, the older generations just aren’t sharing their knowledge, preventing the new workers from developing, learning, and growing. According to a 2008 World of Work survey commissioned by Randstad, lack of knowledge sharing is a very critical factor in the skill gap crisis—not just a lack of workers as baby boomers move closer to retirement. The Randstand survey identifies that important knowledge is not being transferred between today’s multigenerational work force (traditionalists, baby boomers, and generations X and Y) many times because they either do not interact with each other or they just simply do not recognize each other’s skills and work ethic.

     In order to increase the sharing of knowledge from the traditionalists and baby boomers to the younger generations in the workforce, the generations need to have a better overall understanding of each other. A great example of this is the strategy of Electronics & Integrated Solutions (E&IS), a major defense electronics business with more than 17,000 employees in 16 states, the United Kingdom and Israel. E&IS began focusing on peer mentoring for its younger generation employees; is looking at different training programs such as a future senior leaders plan, and designing a set of competencies to model behavior. But it goes beyond what E&IS is doing. Before employers can start focusing on mentoring and workforce planning, they need to help those valuable, knowledge-filled senior workers be more comfortable sharing and passing on their skills. Employers should be providing specialized training to older workers to help them better understand the work ethic and expectations of younger workers, and the public school system should be proving more education to the young entrants to the workforce to better prepare them for working with the older generations. Many times, their total lack of understanding of each other is one of the main reasons the knowledge cannot be passed on. A second reason is due to the cultural differences in the older generations. When the older workers entered the workforce, they were not mentored or trained, and often times they had to figure things out on their own, without any knowledge transfer from their management. These older workers are not accustomed to sharing or transferring their knowledge and skills because that is not how they learned as new workers. Additionally, many of them may feel that transferring this knowledge to someone else makes them less significant to their employers. It is important to provide training to our older generations in the workforce so they may better understand the younger workers needs and work ethic, and understand the importance of passing on their critical knowledge and skills. Additionally, educating our younger workers on the work ethics, needs, and communication styles of the older workers, lessens the cultural divide between the generations which causes the lack of critical knowledge transfer, and increases the workforce skills gap.

     Combining a work-study program that teaches high school students the soft skills needed to enter the workforce, and a training program that teaches the older generations how to pass on their knowledge, can significantly decrease the current workforce skills gap, and increase the productivity, and efficiency of businesses today.