Communication is one of the most consistently requested workplace skills, but employer expectations are not limited to speaking clearly. Recent surveys measure writing, verbal communication, listening, presentations, conflict resolution, digital messages, English proficiency and the ability to communicate data. The figures below cover graduate hiring, workplace behavior and global employer expectations; their geographies and measurement periods differ.
Contents
- Employer demand for communication skills
- Written, verbal and interpersonal skills in graduate hiring
- Presentation, listening and digital communication priorities
- Communication skill gaps among graduates and new joiners
- Communication time, meetings and workplace productivity
- English proficiency and communication at work
- Future-facing human communication skills
Employer demand for communication skills
Communication ranked as a near-universal requirement in NACE’s Job Outlook 2024. Employers rated it 4.55 out of 5 for importance to college graduates entering the workforce, and 99.5% considered it very or extremely important. These figures describe employers hiring college graduates, not every employer or worker in every occupation. NACE, Job Outlook 2024
The same survey shows a gap between demand and perceived readiness. Only 55.2% of responding employers rated recent graduates very or extremely proficient in communication. On NACE’s five-point scale, employers rated recent graduates’ communication proficiency 3.62 out of 5 on average. In other words, communication was highly important while fewer employers saw new graduates as highly proficient.
Job-advertisement data points in the same direction. Communication appeared in about 50% of Victorian job advertisements in 2024, compared with about 40% in 2018. This is a measure of advertised demand in Victoria, Australia, rather than a global estimate. Victorian Government, “Employability skills are in high demand”
In the United Kingdom, 41% of employers that cited a recruitment skills barrier said they faced a lack of soft or personal skills such as communication in 2024. The percentage applies to employers reporting a recruitment barrier, not to all UK employers. DWP, Employer Survey 2024
Communication also matters when the subject is technical. In a 2021 UK data-skills study, 84% of employers said data communication skills were important to their company’s day-to-day functioning. Globally, 61% of employers surveyed for the World Economic Forum’s 2025 report considered leadership and social influence a core workforce skill. UK Government, Quantifying the UK Data Skills Gap; World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report 2025
Written, verbal and interpersonal skills in graduate hiring
NACE’s 2024 employer survey separates several communication signals that are often grouped together on a résumé. Written communication skills appeared on the résumés employers sought from 72.7% of candidates, while verbal communication appeared on 67.5%. Interpersonal skills describing how well candidates relate to others appeared on 58.2%.
Less frequently requested signals were still meaningful. Tactfulness appeared on 21.1% of the résumés employers sought. Fluency in a foreign language appeared on 5.2%. These percentages describe the share of employers seeking each item on candidates’ résumés; they do not measure how many candidates actually possessed the skill. NACE, Job Outlook 2024
| Communication signal | Share of NACE employers seeking it on résumés, 2024 |
|---|---|
| Written communication | 72.7% |
| Verbal communication | 67.5% |
| Interpersonal skills | 58.2% |
| Tactfulness | 21.1% |
| Foreign-language fluency | 5.2% |
The UK data-skills study found a similar difference between what employers wanted and how students viewed their future performance. UK employers rated communication 89% important for data workers, while students rated their future performance at 80%. The study described this as a 9-percentage-point gap between employer importance and student performance expectations.
For data communication specifically, 84% of UK employers said the skill was important, compared with 69% of students expecting good or excellent future performance. That is a 15-percentage-point importance-to-future-performance gap. The study concerns UK data workers and students in the cited 2021 research, so it should not be read as a universal estimate for all graduates. UK Government, Quantifying the UK Data Skills Gap
Presentation, listening and digital communication priorities
The Corporate Recruiters Survey 2026 offers a more detailed view of communication priorities among communication-concerned employers recruiting business-school graduates. Presentation skills and verbal communication were each important to 51% of these employers. Active listening followed at 33%, and conflict resolution at 32%.
Digital communication, including email and Teams or Slack messaging, was important to 30%. Writing was important to 27%, negotiating to 25%, and cross-cultural communication to 18%. Nonverbal communication, such as body language and facial expression, was important to 12%, while multilingualism was important to 9%.
| Skill | Share of communication-concerned employers, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Presentation | 51% |
| Verbal communication | 51% |
| Active listening | 33% |
| Conflict resolution | 32% |
| Digital communication | 30% |
| Writing | 27% |
| Negotiating | 25% |
| Cross-cultural communication | 18% |
| Nonverbal communication | 12% |
| Multilingualism | 9% |
These results show why public speaking is only one part of communication competence. Presentation is tied with verbal communication at the top of this survey, but listening, disagreement management, written messages and digital channels are also distinct employer priorities. The sample is specifically communication-concerned employers recruiting business-school graduates, not the entire labor market. GMAC, Corporate Recruiters Survey 2026 Report
Communication skill gaps among graduates and new joiners
The 2021 UK data-skills study measured reported gaps among people entering organizations. Twenty-three percent of employers said their graduate hires lacked communication skills, compared with 19% who said other new joiners lacked communication skills. Among UK students, 18% rated themselves adequate or underperforming in communication.
The study also separated general communication from communication used with data. Employers said 14% of university graduates working with data lacked data communication skills, while 11% of other new joiners working with data lacked that skill. These are employer-reported figures for the groups and study scope described by the UK research; they are not independent assessments of every graduate or new joiner.
The expectation gap is especially visible in data work. Employers said 84% of data communication skills were important, versus 69% of students expecting good or excellent future performance. That 15-point difference is larger than the 9-point gap reported for communication overall, where employers rated it 89% important and students rated their future performance at 80%. UK Government, Quantifying the UK Data Skills Gap
Communication time, meetings and workplace productivity
Microsoft’s 2023 Work Trend Index combines survey responses with observational Microsoft 365 data, so its measures should not be treated as a single representative global time-use study. Among surveyed workers, 68% lacked enough uninterrupted focus time during the workday, and 62% struggled with spending too much time searching for information at work.
In Microsoft’s observed employee data, people spent 57% of their Microsoft 365 time communicating in meetings, email and chat. They spent the remaining 43% creating in documents, spreadsheets and presentations. The communication share therefore includes multiple channels, while the creation share covers the listed productivity applications.
The heaviest email users, the top 25%, spent 8.8 hours per week on email. The heaviest meeting users, also the top 25%, spent 7.5 hours per week in meetings. Microsoft further reported that, since February 2020, people were in 192% more Teams meetings and calls per week in its analysis.
Meeting quality was another measured concern. Fifty-eight percent of survey respondents said brainstorming in a virtual meeting was difficult. Fifty-seven percent said catching up after joining a meeting late was difficult, and 55% said meeting next steps were unclear at the end. Microsoft, Work Trend Index: Will AI Fix Work?
English proficiency and communication at work
English proficiency remains a major workplace communication requirement in the 2026 TOEIC Global English Skills Report. Ninety percent of surveyed global employers said English proficiency was critical to organizational success, and 92% said it was more important in 2026 than five years earlier. The report is based on a 2026 survey of more than 1,300 HR decision-makers across 17 countries.
The same survey found that 81% of employers said integrating AI tools increased the need for workplace English proficiency. About 60% said AI could not make up for a lack of English proficiency across reading, writing, listening and speaking. Ninety percent said English skills were needed to use AI interfaces, write effective prompts and evaluate AI-generated information.
Employers also reported using English assessments at several points in the employee lifecycle. Seventy-eight percent used them for recruitment, 71% for pre-training evaluation and 66% for promotion readiness. These figures describe reported employer practices in the 2026 survey, not a forecast of future assessment rates. ETS, “81% of Global Employers Say AI Is Increasing the Need for English Skills”
Future-facing human communication skills
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 forecasts that 39% of workers’ core skills will change by 2030. It also reports that 63% of employers cited skills gaps as a main barrier to business transformation. Half of the workforce had completed training as part of long-term learning strategies in the 2025 survey.
Upskilling is the leading response in the forecast. Eighty-five percent of surveyed employers expected to adopt workforce upskilling as a 2025–2030 strategy, and 77% planned to upskill workers in response to AI-related change. These are employer expectations and forecasts, not observed outcomes.
Human communication skills remain part of that future-facing mix. The WEF ranked empathy and active listening as a core skill for 50% of surveyed employers in 2025. It ranked multilingualism as a core skill for 23%. Alongside presentation, writing and digital communication, these figures point to a broad definition of communication: conveying information, understanding other people, managing interaction and adapting across languages and contexts. World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report 2025