The researchers' findings confirm what employers have reported in recent months: The demand for soft skills will only increase as automation takes hold. In a Cengage survey released earlier this year, employers said they most needed workers who could listen, pay attention to detail, communicate effectively, think critically, demonstrate interpersonal skills and learn new skills. Similarly, a recent Workhuman report concluded that, despite tech's ever-increasing presence in the workplace, the future of work will be people-focused, not machine centered. In fact, that future will create more opportunities for employers to "leverage the previously untapped creativity and innovation of people -- to prioritize humanity and emotional intelligence at work," Workhuman said. Employers may well be recognizing that opportunity: they identified "soft skills" as their top training priority in a LinkedIn poll last year. Leadership, communication and collaboration are all skills that can be taught, experts previously told HR Dive.