Our Chief People Officer Gillian talks about how hiring managers need to look at soft skills to ensure workforces are happy, motivated and thriving with the ever-changing landscape of work in 2025.
2024 saw a static job market, with hundreds of people applying for roles and companies not hiring nearly enough to keep up with the demand.
The ongoing cost of living crisis in a static job market means people are prioritizing job security over risking a job change in an insecure market. In the US, Gallup have reported how employees are struggling to make the leap into a new organization even if they’re unhappy in their current role. They’ve named it: ‘The Great Detachment’.
But in any event, what we don’t want as a result is people staying in roles they feel they’ve outgrown, or people who aren’t motivated to reach their full potential - as this could lead to a workforce full of quiet quitters. To turn this challenge into an opportunity, HR teams and Managers need to feel prepared to look at role mobility, which can be tricky if you don’t know where to start. Let’s look at an example. If you’re looking to move someone from a finance role to the HR team, one glance at their CV could flare up immediate red flags. They may not have the right qualifications, experience in the role or expertise.
Hiring Managers need to be flexible about what is the perfect match for the role and be willing to invest in the development of their employees initially to get them up to speed, but these skills can be learned. What’s harder to teach is someone’s ability to empathize with a team, their knack for problem solving or their level of creativity. These are skills that come naturally to a person, and they’re transferable. They’re gold dust.
One thing we can all agree on is the rise of AI. It’s already making waves. And who knows what it’ll be able to do in five, ten, fifteen years’ time? Automating processes, supporting with administrative tasks, compiling data… those are just a few off the top of my head.
So, as the future of work evolves and we all start to use AI in our daily working lives, what we look for in an employee will change, as the expertise and skills that were once key to a job role will be assisted by AI. But one thing AI will never be is human, it’ll never have the soft skills that humans have to offer.
With all of this in mind, in 2025 it is more important than ever to weave soft skills into the recruitment process, and into the HR processes already in place within organizations. It’s vital to predicting job success, role suitability, and identifying areas for development.
At Thomas, we’ll be using soft skills to re-look at the gaps within our organization and find the future leaders within our workforce, using role profiling and psychometric profiles to measure the soft skills. We’ll also be putting plans in place to support training and apprenticeships to develop any technical knowledge and skills.
The world of work is changing, it’s innovating, and it’s exciting. But as HR professionals and managers, we need to make sure we’re utilizing the right tools and strategies to keep our teams and workforces motivated, happy and thriving. Looking at soft skills will help us get there, so that’s where we’re going to start.
This is part of our series, Right talent, right role.
