The Talent4LIFE Project is established in front of two core megatrends which are hitting the European economy and European SMEs in particular - demographic developmemt and digitalisation. For SMEs in Europe these are crucial risks for their survivial since there is the need to employ workers who are able to apply digital skills in practically every economic sector, however, it falls extremely difficult to find talented younger employees within Europe. The "war for talents" has already started and in front of the very obvious demographic challenge with an constantly ageing workforce, the identification and hiring of new young talents is no longer the option or solution. The only solution to tackle this situation is the approach of staff retention through active talent management and development within the company. Moreover with companies we can also clearly see that workers from 45+ experience quite some changes in their whole life environment which has considerable impact on their work motivation, added values and talents. This group of workers has finished their family planning, have all established their lifes with living, housing, leisure, health, interests, work-life-balance and within the companies we can also see that they have managed to grow and develop, got more responsibility, senior jobs, better payment etc. but around this age their growth has somehow slowed down or stopped, they are already supervisors, line managers, foreworkers etc. and there is actually no real or hardly any development perspective anymore within the company. Especially in SMEs there is in fact not much to offer for the best talents who are at their peak of corporate development. If businesses (and SMEs especially because of more limited possibilities) are not able to make an appropriate offer to this target group of workers the consequences are really fatal. Out of this reason SMEs, their staff and managers, HR responsibles, line managers etc. need support with a modern talent management based staff retention approach which is in fact the only solution to manage the change triggered by demographic developments and digitalisation. The main aim of the project is the development of a model (including instruments) for talent management based staff retention for European businesses (especially SMEs) to be able to manage the challenges of the future of work together with the challenges of the demographic development and the all time war for talents. During its lifetime the Talent4LIFE project is going to develop four core intellectual outputs: IO1: Explorative research study: To be able to fully understand and grasp the challenges and frame conditions of the target group (personal needs, talent scopes, challenges and fears etc.) as well as the situations of European businesses and companies on the level of staff retention and adaptation to change and digitalisation / automatisation, a brief explorative research study will be launched IO2: Talent4LIFE Model: This model defines the processes and instruments used for talent identification and management for staff retention and development processes in companies for the target group 45+. The model should be a hands on practical collection of instruments to be able to approach the target group, guide them through a talent identification and management process and elaborate a development and training plan which is developed as IO3 of the project. IO3: Talent4LIFE Development Plan: the findings of the talent management and identification process together with the agreements of future developments, in fact the whole offer that the company is making to the single worker 45+ will be stipulated in a dedicated development plan which has its core function to draw the whole way and process for re-orientation, education and training, mentoring and monitoring of this development process. IO4: Green Paper for Sustainability and Policy Integration: To achieve a best possible sustainability of the project and its outputs it is crucially important to embed the project and especially the findings and outcomes into policy discussions and a whole canon of activities around the future of work discussion, the adaptation needs of businesses and requirements / challenges of modern HR in terms of staff retention and talent management. For this reason the partnership will develop a green paper. The partnership of the project consists of 7 organisations (social partners, training centres, consulting organisations, start ups and SMEs) from 6 European countries (AT, DE, IE, ES, HU and CY). Direct impact will be realised on about 700 SMEs in the partner countries during the course of the project. All project outputs will be made available as open educational resource in all partner languages for further use on a comprehensive dissemination and exploitation strategy.
Talent4LIFE aimed to improve the development and retention of employees. To accomplish this, a model including instruments for talent management based staff retention for European businesses was developed. Being an agile and adaptable company is essential to react to changes and hence master current and future challenges. All developed materials had a strong focus on employees aged 45+ since they were vital for a strong workforce, whereby the results were at the same time inclusive for employees of all ages in order to be actively used by the companies. The project results were developed to mitigate the impact of the lack of skilled workers. Through the implementation of a talent management based staff development in businesses, employee development and growth within a company was improved. Further, the partner institutions benefited from the Talent4LIFE project results. On the one hand, the participating chambers strengthened their role as company representatives and supported regional economic development. On the other hand, the VET centres and development institutions could integrate the developed results into their course offer and expect a higher participation rate of workers aged 45+ in their training programmes.
The Talent4LIFE project supports small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in their talent management and staff retention processes to be able to manage the challenges of the future of work. The project focuses on improving employee retention, particularly of employees aged 45+, to mitigate the negative impact of the challenges arising from the demographic development such as the shortage of skilled workers. The introduced challenges concern various European countries, which is why it is important to find solutions together. The consortium consists of a mix of chambers, VET institutions and SMEs. They use their respective strengths to reach out to companies trying to improve their staff retention processes using a talent management approach. Employees aged 45+ continuously experience changes in their whole life environment which have considerable impacts on their work motivation, added values and talents. This group of workers has already built their private and professional lives. They have managed to grow and develop, but around this age, their growth has usually slowed down. Therefore, SMEs need support with a modern talent management based staff retention approach to manage the challenges of the future of work.