Just one-fifth of employees say their companies are effective at training and developing soft skills, according to “The New Skills Gap: Building Tomorrow’s Workforce Today” report from Achievers Workforce Institute (AWI), the research and insights arm of Achievers, a global provider of employee recognition and reward software.

The term “soft skills” was introduced by the U.S. Army in the 1970s to differentiate interpersonal skills from the technical skills, or hard skills, needed for combat.

As the global workforce has evolved in the last 50 years, the skills matrix must evolve, too, the report stated.

The survey, intended to reveal insights into critical workplace skills, training, and development priorities and gaps, reviewed responses from 3,800 employees and 1,400 HR leaders from the UK, Australia, Canada and the U.S.

The study also provides insight into the success of internal mobility programs, described by AWI, as a trending strategy deployed by employers to bridge talent shortages, boost retention and enhance performance. The responses showed that just 50 percent of human resource leaders and 24 percent of employees say their internal mobility programs are effective. Of the managers who responded, 51 percent are concerned about losing talent to a different team internally.

“The study finds that employees who say their companies have excellent internal mobility programs are two times more likely than average to be productive, engaged at work and loyal to their jobs,” said David Bator, managing director of AWI. “These initiatives unlock unparalleled competitive advantages that employers cannot overlook. However, much work remains before companies can effectively recruit from their existing talent pools. Important steps include cautioning managers against hoarding talent and equipping employees with powerful, transferable skills for excellence across several teams.”

According to the report, the future of internal mobility hinges on employers moving beyond the binary of hard and soft skills and effectively training on three skill categories:

Technical skills: Hard skills, rebranded. Formally taught, specific training required (e.g., coding, surgery).

Transferable skills: Historically overlooked set of skills. Mix of formal and informal learning that can apply to many roles (e.g., professional writing, project management).

Essential skills: Soft skills, rebranded. Necessary for success in almost any career but often learned informally on the job (e.g., communication, accountability).

The survey revealed that transferable skills are a blind spot for managers.

Nearly two-thirds (60 percent) say they want to hire for these skills, but only 18 percent of managers are confident in finding candidates with transferable skills.

Essential (soft) skills prove to be HR’s downfall, as half of HR leaders (48 percent) strongly believe they can effectively upskill employees for essential skills, but only one-in-five employees agree. Moreover, only half of HR leaders say they can quickly identify current employees with high-priority skills.

Predetermined, “traditional” career paths are a thing of the past, AWI said.

Companies must unveil hidden talent within their existing workforce, or they risk losing loyal talent.

To remain agile, HR leaders must provide people leaders with the tools needed to identify, upskill and transfer the right people into high-priority roles, the report found. Those that do will invigorate their workforce with the versatility needed for long-term success.

One essential skill that often flies under the radar is the ability to use recognition to drive positive behaviors. AWI research finds that employees who receive monthly recognition from their managers report two times more productivity and engagement and trust their managers three times more than employees who receive recognition quarterly or less.

Unfortunately, most HR leaders (66 percent) don’t rank positive reinforcement as a top-five skill for effective managers, which may explain why less than one-third of employees say their manager is good at recognizing them.

In addition, only one-third of HR leaders leverage data from their recognition platforms to track and validate skills, which is a missed opportunity as this method can boost their ability to identify individuals with high-priority skills by 38 percent, the survey found.

“HR leaders need to create an airtight alliance between their skills identification and employee appreciation strategies,” said Hannah Yardley, chief people and culture officer at Achievers. “An employee’s track record for recognition is an indispensable performance indicator. By examining trends across the tools that they use daily — like their recognition, HRIS and L&D platforms – HR leaders can identify where an employee shines and hire them to a team where they can do their best work.”