Hiring Millennial – The Benefits and Challenges

The Millennial generation, sometimes referred to as the Generation Y, are those who have reached their adulthood during 2000. They come after the “post peak boomers” or generation X. There has been a lot of discussion regarding the hiring of young talent coming from millennial segment. While some are inclined towards bringing in fresh outlook in to the workforce there are some who feel skeptical about this approach. Hence, we bring forth, the benefits and challenges associated with hiring and retaining millennial in the workforce.

The benefits are as follows.

• The majority of millennial generation are tech savvy in nature. They are the ones who are regarded as the early adopters of computer technology. In most cases it has been observed that, they remain up to date with the advanced technologies which are helpful towards content management and exposure on social media.
• They are regarded as the most cost effective generation in terms of recruitment. Majority of the employers have reported that millennial seek work life balance and flexibility in work environment the most. Compensation is regarded secondary in many cases.
• This generation has the most sense towards community and peer to peer relation build up. Hence they are the best team players. This is beneficial towards grouped mentality and collaboration among team members.
• They are self expressive in nature. This helps in bringing out the creative ideas and positive suggestion which becomes valuable for the business.
• They are aware of the high level competition in the corporate world. This drives them to perform to their highest abilities to ensure that they retain their position in the workforce. Their optimum productivity is useful for business processes.

While there are lot advantages of hiring millennial, staffing solutions may come in handy towards recruiting them. It is also essential to look in to the challenges of hiring and retaining them.

• Since compensation is not the primary deciding factor the millennial it acts as a down side as well. Their demands from the work environment like work life balance and flexibility becomes difficult to provide at certain instances.
• While working with the higher age groups, they tend to develop conflicts in terms of implementing new ideas and policies. Their advanced technology related inputs tend to become difficult for intake by baby boomers and generation x employees.
• They seek for rewards and recognition for their work. It becomes necessary to appreciate their efforts at regular intervals. If not, it grows in a sense of discomfort and aloofness.

Hence there are lot benefits as well as challenges associated with hiring millennial. The staffing solutions provided by recruitment firms look in to these aspects and short list the candidates accordingly. They can carry out the pre screening processes as per requirement and select candidates who can get along with the work environment of the company. Therefore it is essential to seek advice of such firms in this regard.

Women Participation in Technical Profiles - The Figures Does Not Look Promising

According to published sources, the percentage of technical positions held by women in many multinational firms does not look impressive. In case of Microsoft, women constitute around 30% of the entire workforce of the company. But women holding the technical positions are merely 17% and in leadership roles the percentage rises to 23%. In case of Twitter, women in technical roles constitute a mere 10% and in leadership positions it is 21%. In Google, women holding technical positions are 17% with 21% in managerial roles. The figures remain more or less similar for Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Intel and many others. These figures directly point towards the fact that women are least involved in the product development and business strategy formulation processes. Also, the 30% of women employment has a back story as well. Previously, the management and technical aspects were totally handled by men. After the rising concern for the need of workforce diversity, though women were lead in to such positions, the percentage has been stuck at low levels. Specifically it is commonly seen that there is on an average only one women in such teams and people are not paying attention to the issue.

There are certain major adjustments required in terms of perspectives and attitude in this regard. Firstly, women who have MBA degrees do not go for highly technical positions. There is a mindset that the technical positions will be filled in by geeks who are believed to be working round the clock. This creates a lot of pressure on women which puts down the interest and they do not prefer this extra push. Secondly, the most talked about reasoning is the pay gap. In most cases it has been seen that female employees are paid way less than their male peers. The reasoning behind this discrimination cannot be strategically explained till date.

With all these hindrances it is high time that the issue be dealt with proper initiation.

• First and foremost, an in depth analysis is required in terms of women employee density within the workforce. Then a research concerning women in technical roles has to be done to look in to the current stand point. If the situation is on the lower end then, a job consultancy may be helpful in recruiting women candidates.
• It has to be kept in mind that just filling out positions with women candidates would not be helpful. Hence the job consultancy can be useful in short listing worthy candidates with appropriate skill set and professional experience.
• In certain cases an overhaul in the company policies may be required in order to make the work environment favourable for the women employees. This also increases the retention rate.
• Equal opportunity environment should be practiced within the organization wherein every employee irrespective of the gender, gets a chance to showcase his or her skills, creativity and share suggestions from time to time.

Creating a gender balanced work environment does not essentially refer to hiring women employees randomly. It requires high level of analysis and planning for the business benefit in the long run.

Executive Training - A Tool of Learning

Executive training also referred to as executive coaching aims at improvement of skill set or managing changes in business growth. It is considered as one of the most critical aspects of a company. Many companies are now days implementing executive coaching in their business process in order to upgrade the knowledge base of the workforce. It helps in understanding the upbeat market trends and crisis management at a significant level. There are certain prime benefits of executive coaching which are as follows.

• Increasing the knowledge base of the workforce in turn increases the productivity of the employees. This results in business and revenue growth in long term.
• It opens up the insight regarding the areas of improvement in terms of knowledge. It also helps in bringing out the skill set of certain employees to a great extent. 
•  Imparting knowledge through executive coaching helps in faster advancement of business process which gives better outcome in the long term. 
• The executive training can be used for the development of the management skill. It helps in developing decision making abilities and crisis management. The executives can then be considered for the managerial roles and strategic planning.
• It helps in professional growth which is facilitated with the help of feedback system. 
• The company can be benefited with increased brand loyalty and higher retention rate. Employees feel confident about their company and this builds up a dependable professional relationship.
• A well informed and knowledgeable workforce helps in attracting new clientele for the business.
• The executive training programs induces a positive attitude towards daily tasks and work environment.

With all these benefits there are certain factors which have to be kept in mind while implementing executive training within an organization.

• A thorough research has to be done at first in order to understand the current standing of the workforce in terms of skill set and at the same time latest market innovations. Based on these two factors the training program should be designed and developed.
• A consistent standard should be maintained in terms of coaching material, trainer and the entire system so that the process is beneficial both at the employee and the employer end.
• An assessment system should be in place in order to analyze the level of understanding and implementation of the executives. It also helps in recognizing any short falls of the program. 
• The feedback system should be in place in order to understand the executive opinion about the program and any other requirement for additions.
• The program should be intended towards individual knowledge gain rather than the overall impact. This helps in building of skill set at a micro level.
• The final evaluation of the training program should be done to understand the end to end impact on the workforce. 
• Since the executive training program design and implementation requires analysis and planning to a certain level, so an executive search firm can be appointed for the purpose.