School leavers need better "soft skills"

An employer survey by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) found that 80% of school leavers require "significant training" in what is known as "soft skills" before being put to work. The top areas of weakness for new recruits are people skills and business skills, followed by technical skills. More than 90% of those surveyed said that their workload had increased as a result of skills shortages, with 66% agreeing it had increased the stress levels of staff and 44% that it had caused a fall in departmental performance.