Employers have declared their willingness to pay more managers for soft skills

The majority of employers (87%) are willing to pay managers more for upgraded soft skills. More than half of them said they would raise the salary of a candidate with advanced skills by 5 to 15% above the initial salary. This follows from the results of a survey conducted by the Salaries Research Center." and specialists of the RusPartners consulting agency, which Izvestia reviewed on Thursday, November 21.

At the same time, only 13% would agree to increase the stated salary by no more than 5%, one in ten — by 15-20%, and another 6% — by no more than 20%.

According to the survey, employers believe that flexible skills are just as important for managers as hard skills, 82% of respondents said. The majority (85%) necessarily take into account the availability of soft skills during the interview. At the same time, 72% of employers have at least once refused to hire an applicant for a managerial position due to the lack of the necessary level of such skills.

In particular, respondents consider stress tolerance to be an important quality for managers — 70% of respondents chose this option. Employers also pay attention to the candidate's communication skills and his ability to negotiate — 69%. The ability to work in a team was noted by 57% of respondents, and leadership qualities — by 47%.

Respondents also note the importance of the ability to motivate a team (46%), a creative approach to work (43%), emotional intelligence (38%), adaptability (34%), time management (23%) and empathy (19%). For one in five (22%), all of the above skills are important.

As indicated, soft skills are important for the majority of surveyed managers because they allow them to make business more efficient, and thanks to their presence, the head can think "outside the template" (52%). Almost half of the respondents (44%) said that the ability to work in a team and motivate it is often more important than having strong hard skills.

Employers also noted that their business is constantly undergoing changes, so the manager must be able to adapt to the situation (39%). One in five respondents believes that flexible skills allow managers to realize their mistakes and correct them, which makes the team's work more effective.

"Among the part of employers who do not pay attention to the availability of flexible skills when interviewing for a managerial position, the majority (72%) say that soft skills can be easily acquired with work experience, the rest (28%) do not consider it important to develop these qualities in a manager," the expert on search and I will hire top management Anastasia Malakhova.

According to her, some of the "soft" skills are embedded in people from childhood, and some are developed in professional life. The development of soft skills requires time and focus, but with proper motivation, each employee can strengthen those qualities that will help him become more in demand as a leader and specialist.

At the end of October, it was reported that among the employed Russians 37% of respondents positively perceive recycling if the employer pays extra for them. And only 11% of employees are willing to perform overtime tasks for free. This is evidenced by a survey conducted by the analytical center "Console.About". At the same time, residents of Kazan (40%), Krasnoyarsk (39%), Chelyabinsk (38%) and St. Petersburg (36%) are more likely to experience recycling.