The personification of the service labour process and the rise of soft skills: a French case study

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the consequences of the increasing prominence of soft skills, focusing specifically on the production of these skills and their recognition and recruitment.Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on interviews conducted with managers in the service sector in France. Two types of services are covered: large‐scale retailing and hotel and catering services.Findings – The paper shows that the demand for soft skills has caused the service labour process to become highly personified and underline the risks this entails.Practical implications – The personification of the service labour process encourages the development of specific human resource management practices in the spheres of recruitment, pay and training.Social implications – The results underline the need for institutional mediation in the regulation of the labour market. The personification of skills has many social implications in terms of discrimination and policies on training and skill recog...