Employment Social Skills

Abstract

Although social skills have long been recognized as essential in promoting employees’ employability (e.g., maintaining employment), there has been little research about work-related social skills for the last two decades. A systematic replication of Salzberg, Agran, and Lignugaris/Kraft’s investigation of critical social skills was conducted. Specifically, a national sample of secondary teachers was asked to rate the importance of social skills in employment settings and the extent to which instruction was provided to teach these skills. Among the skills rated as most important were seeking clarification for unclear instructions, arriving at work on time, refraining from inappropriate touching of others, carrying out instructions needing immediate attention, notifying a supervisor when assistance is needed, responding appropriately to critical feedback, and interacting well with customers/clients. Interestingly, the skills perceived to be the most important were not the skills that were most frequently taught. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Employability of Disabled Graduates: Resources for a Sustainable Employment

“…A significant number of studies have been conducted over the past three decades highlighting the capacity and capability of disabled people to perform complex work tasks, including those with extensive disability [50].…”

Enhancing Instruction via Instructive Feedback for a Child With Autism Using a Speech-Generating Device

“…One instance of the type of advanced communication that may be necessary to access a number of environments independently is the repertoire of identifying and explaining problematic situations (e.g., verbal problem solving). For example, one skill that employers have reported as limited in people with ASD in work settings is the ability to identify when assistance is needed from a supervisor or coworker (Agran, Hughes, Thoma, & Scott, 2016). In this instance, the learner is required to identify a problem situation and verbally report why the situation needs to be resolved.…”

Experimental analysis of multi-component intervention to support youth in integrated work settings

“…There are numerous individual, systemic, social, and environmental barriers to employment for individuals with disabilities (Lindstrom et al, 2016). Specifically, a key factor for why individuals with disabilities struggle to gain and maintain long-term, competitive integrated employment is because of a lack of appropriate social behaviors in the workplace (Agran et al, 2016). Employers have rated workbased social behaviors (e.g., asking supervisor for assistance, clarifying ambiguous instructions) as the most important skills needed to be successful on the job (Lindsay et al, 2016).…”

“…Employers have rated workbased social behaviors (e.g., asking supervisor for assistance, clarifying ambiguous instructions) as the most important skills needed to be successful on the job (Lindsay et al, 2016). Unfortunately, individuals with disabilities often fail to acquire these important work-based social behaviors, and employers typically have little tolerance when individuals exhibit problem behaviors on the job (Agran et al, 2016).…”

“…Research indicates secondary schools and teachers are not adequately addressing these behaviors in high school. For example, Agran et al (2016) found that although secondary teachers perceived work-based social behaviors to be among the most important for job success, these behaviors were not the social skills most frequently taught in classrooms. Agran et al also acknowledged that more production-ready, social behaviors could be taught during actual work experiences, so students develop and generalize the necessary skills to be successful on the job.…”