While the business community was previously focused on customers and customer loyalty as the key to success, one of the most important focus points for many organisations today is personnel turnover. The ability to create bottom-line results is closely related to the ability to achieve the right balance between employee attraction, development and retention.

In this article, Joan Bogner, Senior Consultant, sums up the characteristics of the new generation now joining the labour market – Generations X and Y – in order to form an impression of the wide variety of topics that have to be considered when evaluating matters of personnel.

A national survey made by the US Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration has shown that specific skills are now less important than the underlying ability to learn on the job. The other requirements are related to emotional and social aspects like ethics and moral values, traditions, team spirit etc. When hiring new employees, all these matters need to be taken into consideration.