Latest news, weather and high school sports for Albany and Southwest Georgia

ALBANY, GA -- The Governor’s Office of Workforce Development found that 98 percent of employers say their number one problem is retention, and the number one reason they fire employees is because of soft skills – things like showing up on time and working as a team.

“For some ungodly reason, we have lost these skills,” says Kenneth Goseer, Assistant Superintendent for the Dougherty County School System.

Workforce Development want to fix this problem with the help of Georgia communities by teaching soft skills in school by Fall 2012.

It’s a part of House Bill 186 which was signed into law by Governor Nathan Deal in May.

Workforce Development is holding 31 town hall meetings to gather community opinion. Albany was the group’s second stop.

“Based upon the feedback from the communities around the state we will make a determination as to where is best to roll this curriculum out, be it elementary school, middle school or high school,” says Melvin Everson, Executive Director at the Governor’s Office of Workforce Development.

A number of government officials and educators served as panelists at the town hall, taking place at Albany Technical College.

“When I was approached about making these remarks, I have to admit, I was unaware of what soft skills were,” says Mayor Willie Adams. “After looking at my own workplace, I realized that it was the main problem.”

House Bill 186 is a response to a need statewide in the workforce and the lack of soft skills.

“All of the executives are telling us that our workforce is missing a critical component of what’s needed to be a successful employee, and that's soft skills: Reporting to work on time, being appropriately dressed, getting along with coworkers and the right attitude,” says Everson.

Workforce Development officials say 98 percent of employers and executives say their number one problem is retention, and the number one reason they fire or lose employees is because of a lack of soft skills.

“Stats have shown and surveys have shown and data has shown that 45 percent of the individuals that are terminated during their probationary period are terminated due to soft skills, due to a lack of soft skills,” Everson says.

Southwest Georgia is trying to attract more industry; the Georgia Department of Workforce Development says industries first ask about the strength of the area’s workforce, and soft skills is at the top of the list.

“Our goal in being here in Georgia is to say when we hang our shingles out to say Georgia is open for business, we really mean it,” Everson says. “If a company decides to relocate here or expand their operation, they can be guaranteed we have the trained, educated and qualified workforce they can pull from and put to work.”

The soft skills Workforce Development wants to teach in the classroom – punctuality, proper business attire, teamwork -- are skills Albany Technical College has evaluated in students for nearly 13 years.

“Every student in every program -- certificate, diploma or degree -- has an evaluation on work ethics and we like the employers to know which students perform better at work ethics because they make a decision on who to hire,” says Dr. Anthony Parker, President of Albany Technical College.

Parker, like other educators, says anything to enhance teaching students soft skills, he is on board with.

“If a student has technical skills, but he has, or she, has those other things to balance out, they're more likely to be employed and they're be employed at a better rate of pay,” says Parker.

It’s a full circle event Everson says he wants to see in Georgia’s workforce future.

“Our goal and our aim here is to incorporate the soft skill curriculum in our school system to further drive home the point to our students, 'we want you to be prepared when you enter the workforce and when you are prepared, everyone wins,'” he says. “Because the retention rate increase and the turnover rate decreases, and then adds to the revenue stream of that company which adds to the bottom line of tax revenue for that community.”

A point that all of the panelists and legislators that spoke at tonight’s town hall say teaching kids soft skills and manners starts at home.