Who is Talent Management more important for? - Generation X or Generation Y?
Reading an article by Kristin Gessaro today made me wonder if companies are actually giving enough credence to the employees they currently have - Generation X and Baby Boomers (the two age groups that span the ages of 28 - 61), rather than focusing on what they haven't got yet - the new Generation Y employees they will soon be recruiting? Yes it is a fact that there is a shrinking pool of skilled workers, but I wonder if companies are just getting caught up in the hype of always looking at the youth and not looking at managing their own talent more effectively?
I appreciate that blogs (like mine) bang on about all the different generations of workers, and how company's need to listen to the future needs of the new generations - Y and Z , but what about the needs of their current employees. I think companies forget, these are the people with actual skills and valid experience, and who can add value to a company very quickly. A new generation Y'er, will need lots of learning, training and development to get close to some of the skill levels of the older generations. Kristin rightfully raise the point that companies, put new young employees on rotation programmes, to give them different experiences of different facets of business, yet do not do the same for older workers.
Surely talent management should be applied to the whole workforce and not just to the new entrants to the business. I know some companies do apply this theory, but many I speak to seem to forget that they have such a wealth of experience and talent already in their business! Do they know what talent management really is?
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