MetroWest495 Biz

Business and education leaders in MetroWest say a so-called "soft skills gap," encompassing a lack of commu- nication skills and business etiquette among recent college graduates, is as confounding to professional services firms as the manufacturing skills gap is to employers in that economic sector. Bob Fields, owner of Framingham marketing agency CommCreative, has been shocked several times by this gap. A young employee might send a text message in the middle of a meeting with a million-dollar client, he said. Once, a member of his staff eschewed silverware during a dinner with a major client and instead ate with his hands. "I mean, it's amazing that you can come out of grad school and not have basic business etiquette," Fields mused. Lest Fields be called a curmudgeon, it's important to note that he's doing something about what he views as a major problem for him and other com- panies. This month, Fields planned a meeting to address generally accepted business behavior with the junior members of his staff in a way that doesn't target specific employees. And outside the office, Fields is involved in a career skills training program that teaches workplace etiquette to students at Framingham State University. "You want them to have basic busi- ness etiquette and skills," Fields said. With several staff members in their 20s and 30s, and a couple of young family members of the same genera- tion, Fields is sympathetic. He believes pervasive technology (read: iPhone ad- diction) has eroded traditional commu- nication, dragging down with it general business acumen. Research measures tech toll on social skills It's a topic that's been studied at length by researchers attempting to measure how technology impacts the development of social skills among children. One such study conducted at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) was published this summer. It measured the ability of two groups of sixth-graders to read social skills. One group, of 51 students, spent five days at overnight camp with no access to television, computers or mobile phones. Meanwhile, a control group continued using those devices as they normally would. Following the stint at camp, the first group showed significant improvement in reading non-verbal facial emotions compared with the second group. Given that today's 20-somethings are technology "natives," having learned it from childhood, a fact that benefits companies in many ways, area employers may also be experiencing the downside of their digitally-driven young charges. A dose of workplace reality for students Dawn Ross, head of career services at Framingham State, said anecdotal evidence supports the research. She sees the way technology reduces human interaction on campus. If students are waiting in a hallway for a class to begin, they're glued to their smartphones, Ross said. For this reason, FSU has worked with the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce and area employers such as Fields to introduce students to the reality of the workplace, where bosses have a more traditional approach to communication. That may clash with recent graduates' relationship with technology, Ross said. "They're more apt to think that it's OK to type notes while the boss is talking," Ross said. "Students need to know that you really have to recognize the audience you're dealing with." Mock interviews reveal that some students have trouble maintaining eye contact, according to Ross. Others struggle with the idea of rigid work schedules. Still, Ross believes students, by and large, possess a strong work ethic, and have already honed custom- er-service skills at retail jobs. Plus, she said, they have an honest desire to learn about workplace etiquette. Bonnie Biocchi, president of the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce, agreed. But she thinks today's gradu- ates are a little misguided. This is evident when chamber leaders meet with students a few times each semester to teach classes on professionalism. According to Biocchi, many students think that typing on a smartphone dur- ing a meeting is a form of multitasking that a boss will view favorably. "What we were hearing from the millennials was, 'We think we're doing it right,'" Biocchi said of students in one of the classes. Perhaps they are. Workplaces rely on social media as part of their market- ing strategies today, and clients and business partners often expect instant communication, both of which young tech-savvy workers are well-suited for. Biocchi recognized that technology has revolutionized the workplace, and that some of the differences between older and younger workers are purely genera- tional. But there are certain business traditions that she doesn't expect will be easily deleted. "I don't think anything is really go- ing to replace the personal relationship, because all humans crave some degree of that," Biocchi said. "Young people who are successful are out there meet- ing people and growing relationships, and they're the ones that are leading companies." Has the gap been around a while? While the recent proliferation of technology may be compounding the soft skills problem, it's actually been around for a while, according to Catherine Usoff, dean of the Gradu- ate School of Management at Clark University in Worcester. While she was teaching accounting at Bentley Uni- versity in Waltham in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Usoff studied the need for better communication skills among accountants. Prompted by calls from accounting professionals, Usoff and a colleague, Dorothy Feldman, published two papers on the subject. The papers cite complaints from the accounting world about young gradu- ates' lack of communication skills dat- MetroWest495 Biz | October 2014 13 s page 22 Simply Beter. saversbank.com 800.649.3036 Member FDIC Member SIF Equal Housing Lender You can follow, or be the leader that makes things happen. With the support of our Commercial Services Team, your business can be the leader. Make things happen, choose Savers Bank today. "you want them to have basic business etiquette and skills." Dawn Ross, head of career services at Framingham State Bonnie Biocchi, president of the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce Catherine Usoff, dean of the Graduate School of Management at Clark University in Worcester

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