1. Culture at Work: Communicating In The
Culture at Work: Communicating In The
Global Workplace
Meghann Jones
Meghann Jones
Ipsos Public Affairs
21st March 2013

2. Context to the research
Necessary to
Changing work across
Globalized world,
workplace: international
new economies
new economies
international and borders and in
emerging
multi‐cultural multi‐cultural
teams
What are the skills needed to do this?
What are the skills needed to do this?
2

3. What did we do?
3

4. Survey of employers in nine countries
o Large companies and organizations
o Decision makers
o Responsible for recruitment and skills development strategy
4

5. The countries were...
United Kingdom
Jordan
United States China
United Arab
United Arab
Emirates
Indonesia
India
Brazil
South Africa
5

6. Types of organizations included
Sample size • n=367 (appx. n=40 per country)
Organization Type: •54% Private
54% Private Sector
•23% Public Sector
•23% NGO/Charity/3rd Sector
Private Sector •Mix of Manufacturing, Finance, Construction, Retail Trade,
i f f i i C i il d
Types: Professional Services, Wholesale, Transportation, Health
care, etc.
Public/NGO Sector • Mix of Health, Education, Home Affairs, International
Types: Development, etc.
6

7. Two‐thirds interact frequently with those overseas...
... and English is used extensively day‐to‐day
% organizations where English is spoken day‐to‐day
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8. What did we find?
8

9. The top business challenge is finding qualified employees
% of employers reporting business challenge
FINDING
QUALIFIED
CANDIDATES GOVERNMENT
(29%) REGULATION COMPETING
(23%) GLOBALLY
(20%)
9

10. Top HR challenge is finding and retaining employees
% of employers reporting HR challenge
Finding candidates with right formal qualifications
Fi di did t ith i ht f l lifi ti
Retaining good employees
Finding candidates with good communication skills
Training employees on new processes
Finding candidates who understand the market
Finding candidates with good foreign language skills
g g g g g
10

11. The top challenges for employers in the United States are...
% of employers reporting business challenge in the United States
Finding candidates with the
right formal qualifications is
ECONOMIC also the top HR‐specific
p p f
CHALLENGES
CHALLENGES
challenge in US
(43%)
GOVERNMENT FINDING QUALIFIED
REGULATION CANDIDATES
(20%) (20%)

12. The skills most desired by employers are soft skills
Top Skills Overall
(In addition to formal qualifications)
Builds trust Works effectively in
(26%) diverse teams (32%)
( )
Demonstrates
respect for others
(
(28%))
Collaborative Flexible
(41%) (30%)
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13. And different types of skills are needed for different job types
Internal facing employees need basic communication skills
• Respect, collaboration, flexibility, time management
External facing employees need skills beyond the basic skills
• Foreign language skills, ability to adjust communication to suit cultural contexts
Public sector employees require respectfulness and understanding of
cultural contexts
• Respect, understand cultural contexts, flexibility, leadership
Private sector employees need creativity and trustworthiness beyond
respectfulness
• Trustworthy, flexibility, collaborative, creative 13

14. When we asked employers about “intercultural skills” specifically…
14

15. And they are VERY important to most
Importance of intercultural skills to organization (by country, ranked by very important)
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16. What do intercultural skills bring to an organization?
• Keep teams running efficiently 40%
• Build trust with clients 35%
• Bringing on new clients
g g 33%
• Able to work with diverse colleagues 29%
• Good for reputation 28%
• Communicate with overseas partners 24%
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17. And there are risks to not having them
• Conflict within teams 30%
• Reputation damage 27%
• Loss of clients 27%
• Cultural insensitivity to clients or partners 21%
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18. However, many employers are not screening for intercultural skills
% of employers who screen for intercultural skills during the recruitment process (by country)
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19. Specific qualifications related to intercultural skills in candidates
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20. Do job candidates display these skills?
Specific intercultural skills screened for in the application / interview process
80%
68%
49%
US 33%
11%
Demonstrating Flexibility Open to new ideas Adjusts Communication in
respect and ways of thinking communications to other languages
fit different cultural
fit different cultural
contexts
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21. How should the gap be
addressed?
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22. 57% of employers offer support for employees to develop intercultural skills
% of employers who encourage employees to develop intercultural skills (by country)
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23. Employers offer a range of support to develop intercultural skills
Common intercultural skills training
Events with colleagues from other offices 73%
Financial support to attend training 73%
Statutory in‐house training 87%
Secondment to different team (inside of organization)
Secondment to different team (inside of organization) 47%
Supporting language training 40%
Pay increase upon completing training 33%
13% US
Secondment to different team (outside of organization)
27% ALL
Secondment overseas (inside of organization)
Secondment overseas (outside of organization)
S d t ( t id f i ti ) 7%
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24. But most believe that education must play a role
% of employers who believe education in their country enables job candidates
to meet the intercultural needs (by country)
Average = 35%
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25. Teaching communication skills was #1 suggestion for higher education
Contributions That Education Can Make To Improve Intercultural Skills
Teach communication skills 5%
Encourage/require foreign languages 20%
Encourage/require studies overseas 8%
Develop international research partnerships 5%
US
Teach leadership skills 3%
ALL
Encourage/require classes on international subjects 8%
Bring in international faculty/students 0%
Hire international faculty 0%
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26. To summarize…
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27. Global workplace, significant challenges, skills gap
1. The workplace is becoming more globalized
2. Employers facing significant challenges
2 E l f i i ifi h ll
3. Employers looking for a number of skills beyond formal qualifications
4. In particular, they find intercultural skills very important
5. Employers don t find job candidates with adequate intercultural skills
5 Employers don’t find job candidates with adequate intercultural skills
6. What can be done to meet this intercultural skills need?
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28. Let s discuss… Thank you!
Let’s discuss… Thank you!
Meghann.Jones@ipsos.com