Soft skills and employability: Evidence from UK retail

Abstract

This article contributes to ongoing debates about soft skills in front-line interactive service work in considering employability in the UK retail sector. It recognizes how UK government policy has emphasized the importance of qualifications in enhancing employability. However, it suggests that for front-line work in retail it is soft skills that are required to access entry-level jobs. The article notes how these soft skills have traditionally been dominated by debates about emotional labour. Drawing on a survey of 173 clothing, footwear and leather goods retailers, the article argues for a need to recognize the broadening of soft skills to also include aesthetic labour. The article concludes by discussing the implications of the broadening of soft skills with regard to policy initiatives to encourage the long-term unemployed into the retail sector

The effect of foreign accent on employability: a study of the aural dimensions of aesthetic labour in customer-facing and non-customer-facing jobs

“…This research draws from Moss and Tilly (1996) in conceptualising one's accent as a 'soft skill' (see also Nickson et al, 2012). However, unlike Moss and Tilly (1996), who focus their investigation on the disadvantages that African American men face in the US labour market, the present study examines migrants' experiences in seeking employment in customerfacing and non-customer-facing jobs.…”

A neglected pool of labour? Frontline service work and hotel recruitment in Glasgow

“…Evidence from Skye suggests the ‘classic trio’ (Nickson et al ., ) of advertising, application/screening and interviewing are adopted in the recruitment process. Their HR manager refers to advertising on the hotel's website or in The Caterer (an industry specific magazine) to target those who have a desire to work in the hospitality industry.…”

“…The ‘soft skills gap’ has led to vibrant discussion concerning the nature of skill; questioning whether soft skills that feed into effective customer service are innate or can be developed; asking who might possess such skills and whether they are skills at all (Bolton, ; Bryson, ; Grugulis et al ., ; Hampson and Junor, ; Hurrell et al ., ; Nickson et al ., ). Whilst the notion of skills is contested and may be seen as a ‘blunt instrument’, it opens up lines of inquiry that may not otherwise emerge quite so clearly.…”

“…Whilst the notion of skills is contested and may be seen as a ‘blunt instrument’, it opens up lines of inquiry that may not otherwise emerge quite so clearly. For example, in what is described as a ‘gentrification’ of skill, interactional and aesthetic qualities, essential for customer service, are identified as middle‐class attributes, cultivated through a lifetime's training of the presentation of self (Bolton, ; Nickson et al, ; Warhurst and Nickson, ). It has been argued that ‘middle‐classness’ is inherent in an understanding of soft skills (Macdonald and Merrill, ; Nickson et al ., ), meaning the long term unemployed or those who embody poverty remain excluded from the labour market (Gatta, ; Standing, ).…”

Potential Causes and Outcomes of Communication Conflicts at the Workplace -A Qualitative Study in Pakistan

“…Competition not properly managed can result in employees sabotaging or insulting one another resulting in the creation of a hostile work environment. Unhealthy workplace competition at most of the time, therefore, discourages teamwork and promotes individualism (Nickson, Warhurst, Commander, Hurrell, & Cullen, 2012;Sultana, 2015). In literature, the cost of conflict is divided into hard and soft costs.…”