Editor's Note

Millennials will be dominating the workspace soon. So have you made plans to address the unique elements of this demographic? If no, start today. Their needs, levels of engagement, commitment levels, idea of work-life balance, recognition expectations are different from the older generations. If you do not spend time investing in their requirements, you stand a chance to lose some great talents. In this issue, we have a handful of articles that focus on retaining millennials, training employees and some useful tips for leaders and managers.

Retaining The Growing Millennial Workforce: Is there an app for that?

It’s no secret that millennials rely heavily on technology and social media in their everyday lives. It is therefore no surprise that seventy-two percent of Consero survey respondents believe social media to be an effective tool for finding and recruiting top talent. But the talent officer’s job is hardly done once he or she finds the necessary talent. Rather, once new employees are in the door, talent managers must ensure that those new employees stick around. Close to two-thirds of Consero’s survey respondents prioritize talent retention over talent acquisition as their primary focus in the year to come. Yet a majority of companies have not changed their culture or practices to meet the needs of the new generation. Through both its recent forum and survey, Consero has identified the following key approaches to retaining millennials:

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Are You Investing In Your Talent?: If not, here is what you lose

In the Association for Talent Development (ATD) 2015 report, Bridging the Skills Gap: Workforce Development Is Everyone’s Business, ATD defines a skills gap as “a significant gap between an organization’s current capabilities and the skills it needs to achieve its goals and meet customer demand. It is the point at which an organization may not be able to grow or remain competitive because it cannot fill critical jobs with employees who have the right knowledge, skills, and abilities.”

The Future of Training: Invest in your employees and they’ll invest in you

Several factors are driving this change. For one, the workforce has become skewed to the young professional, with millennials beating Gen Xers as the largest generation in the workforce, according to the Pew Research Center. In combination with this multi-generational workforce is the increasingly technological society in which formerly standardized business processes are subject to change annually. It’s difficult for professionals, whether new to the workforce or not, to stay on top of skills that quickly become obsolete.

Coach Individuals And Not The Generation: 3 tips for leaders

There are presently four generations working side by side — Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millennials — and a fifth generation, Generation Z, is just starting to enter the workforce. Each generation typically displays distinct priorities and approaches when it comes to the workplace. However, that doesn’t mean managers should paint employees with the same broad brush just because of when they were born.

Why Millennial Women Are Leaving Your Company?: How to get them to stay

After the percentage of working women trended upward decade after decade in the 20th century, it peaked in the year 2000 at nearly 60 percent, and has been declining ever since. Now only about 57 percent of American women age 16 and over are part of the labor force or actively seeking work — about the same percentage that were working in the 1980s. And among the women that are staying in the workforce, many are dissatisfied with their jobs and/or are looking elsewhere. Millennials in particular are much more likely to change jobs than their baby boomer counterparts, with workers between the ages of 25 and 34 staying at a job for an average of just 3 years. So why are these millennials — particularly women — leaving their jobs, or the workforce altogether?

Before The Divorce Is Final: Separating employees with dignity

Can you remember the feeling that you felt when you first met? Perhaps it was love at first sight; you knew immediately that this was the one that you’ve waited for for so long. Maybe it took a little longer to get to the point where you knew it was kismet. However, you had a feeling that it was a match.

Change Management: It is not a choice

Only 30% of change programs succeed. The statistic is nearly ten years old, yet so believable and supported by far newer surveys. That’s right, even in a world where we can accept our operating systems are outdated in less than a year, we somehow cannot seem to update our business or organizational processes successfully or unscathed. Chalk it up to human nature’s hatred of change or downright obliviousness, but don’t kid yourself: we needed to master change management and we needed to yesterday.

Hiring And Retaining Best Customer Service Employees: Tips to follow

According to a report by SDL, a staggering 45% of customers can’t even remember the last time they had a positive customer service experience. This is a staggering number that explains why so many businesses are forced to go under each year – when most of the communications with customers are negative ones, it’s difficult to expect success in the long term.