With millennials now making up a third of the work force and the post-millennials (those born after 1996) now of working age, some industries and businesses are reaching out for new ways to retain these younger generations.
On the morning of Wednesday, May 30th the Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development hosted the 2018 Industrial Executives Forum in which the retention of millennials in the labor force was the key point of discussion.
Despite inclement weather that left many roads flooded, the TED Center at Blue Ridge Community College was filled with over 130 industrial representatives and members.
The 2018 Forum hosted Dale Carnegie Training Institute speaker Chris Arline who addressed possible problems as well as solutions to a multi-generational workplace. According to Arline, Millennials have not only surpassed Generation Xers but also have become the largest generation in the U.S. labor force.
Through Arline’s interactive training workshop discussed the many ways to engage and retain this large generation in the workforce. Participants also were asked to partake in debating practices that would be effective for intergenerational communication.
According to the Dale Carnegie website their core principles revolve around the idea that real transformation begins within. Concentrating on this idea, the generational stereotypes were cleared away on Wednesday morning as Arline pushed for Henderson County business leaders to interact and share ideas of how they formed an effective work environment.
Arline began working as the Director of Client Engagement for the Dale Carnegie Training of Western North Carolina in 2014. As a certified Dale Carnegie instructor Arline has helped companies and businesses increase team productivity by 35 hours weekly, increase client base by 100, increase sales by 10 percent, and reduce production costs by 2 percent. Arline also works to improve leadership to stop millennial attrition and the hard and soft costs that the attrition can cause. Here you can find the white paper on the discussion.
From hugging strangers to discussing work schedules, the 2018 Industrial Executives Forum sparked interests on what strategies would help to retain millennials but also prepare for the next generation.
As the younger generations become integral to the workforce across the nation, utilizing effective practices to attract young talent becomes a topic of discussion. It is through the valuable insight and interactive dialogue between the leaders from various industries that help to continue to grow and support a strong local economy and workforce for Henderson County.
To continue to grow our connection and support of the workforce of Henderson County we invite you to take this survey. The HCPS jobs skills survey allows the Henderson County Public Schools to see what you most value in the work force from your employees. From the information gathered we can work together to create a stronger intergenerational work environment.