Mobile-area employers say the biggest threat to keeping new hires on the job isn’t a lack of technical know-how, it’s a shortage of what workforce trainers call “soft skills,” the everyday habits like showing up on time, following instructions and working well with others.
At the AIDT Maritime Training Center in Mobile, project coordinator and master trainer Tony Hopper said tardiness and absenteeism remain the leading cause of turnover across the maritime trades, where industry-wide turnover runs near 38 percent. By contrast, roughly 87 percent of the center’s graduates are still employed by the same company six months after being hired, a retention rate Hopper credits largely to the program’s emphasis on soft-skills training alongside technical instruction.
Soft skills are generally described as the personal habits and attitudes that shape how an employee interacts with coworkers and approaches the job, distinct from the more easily measured technical or “hard” skills tied to a specific trade. Ryan Lee, workforce development manager for Mobile shipbuilder Austal USA, said his short list of must-have soft skills includes work ethic, dependability, basic comprehension, the ability to follow instructions, critical thinking and leadership. He described the gap as a systemic issue affecting employers across Mobile and beyond, not one confined to shipbuilding.
A September 2014 survey of 27 area employers conducted by the Southwest Alabama Workforce Development Council found that fewer than 20 percent of respondents cited a lack of technical skills as the main reason for terminating young employees between the ages of 18 and 24. The employers, spanning aviation, healthcare, construction, maritime and manufacturing, instead pointed overwhelmingly to tardiness, absenteeism and an inability to function as part of a team, according to the council’s executive director, Laura Chandler.
The findings have pushed local training institutions to respond directly. Kathy Thompson, dean of technical education and workforce development at Bishop State Community College, said employers consistently emphasize that new hires need to do more than simply show up, they need to engage and function as team players. Bishop State plans to launch a required “Workplace Essentials” course this fall covering problem solving, workplace conduct, goal setting, interpersonal skills, teamwork, time management and decision-making, and will fold the material into existing technical programs as well.
Similar coursework has recently been added at the Alabama Aviation Center and at Enterprise State Community College’s Mobile satellite campus, and soft-skills instruction already makes up a substantial share of AIDT’s statewide training curriculum. At the Maritime Training Center, industry coordinator Heidi Kearton has taken to informally counseling students on her own time about interview attire, resume writing and follow-up etiquette.
The gap extends beyond the trades. Margaux Kaynard, an HR and recruiting executive for an outsourcing firm expanding its Mobile operations with more than 100 open positions, said the company looks for candidates who combine strong technical ability with the communication skills to explain their work clearly to clients, a pairing she said is often harder to find than raw coding talent alone.
Workforce officials say the push toward soft-skills training reflects a broader statewide effort, with the Alabama Community College System and the Alabama Board of Education both working to address the gap as part of the state’s workforce development priorities.