Recruiting, Managing, and retaining Millennial Employees: It is common knowledge that today’s college graduates are different from those who came before them. The distinctive traits of “Gen Y” or “Millennial” employees have been well documented. Your boss, the owner of a small but growing software development company (you can decide what type of software), thinks his managers and recruiters need a better understanding of this generation. He asks you, one of his more accomplished young employees, to review the literature on Gen Y employees and write him a report in which you describe the main traits of this segment of the workforce and recommend ways to recruit, manage, and retain them. He’ll share this report, or parts of it, with his managers, who are Gen Xers and Baby Boomers.

Problem-Solving Research Reports: The Process

The purpose of problem-solving reports is to provide decision makers with data to solve business problems (Rentz 274-275). Some problems are recurring and call for a steady flow of information; other problems might be unique and call for information on a one-time basis (Lehman), focusing on helping decision-makers figure out a course of action to take (Rentz).

Following are the steps used for finding a solution:

Recognize and define the problem and purpose.
Select the method of data/information collection.
Collect, organize and objectively analyze the data and document the sources.
Arrive at a conclusion and/or recommendation for action.

Planning Phase:

Recognize and define the problem and purpose. Use the Problem-Solving Approach for planning your communication strategy (Exhibit 1-5, page 18) to define the problem/opportunity/need related to your chosen topic. In your completed report, the problem and purpose statements will be an essential component of the report’s introduction and executive summary; they will orient your readers and let them know where your report is headed.
The problem statement provides a clear description of the situation that is to be solved by the research. Problem statements are generally written as declarative statements (Rentz 201).
The purpose statement is the goal of the study and includes the objectives you want to accomplish. Write this statement as an infinitive phrase (Rentz 201).
Example: The topic of your report requires you to evaluate the effectiveness of an online education for business majors. The problem statement might read “Effectiveness of online education for business majors.” Your purpose statement may be written like this: “The purpose of this report is to determine if an online education can be effective for business majors.”
Select the method of data/information collection. The research methods you use to collect the necessary information can be secondary, primary, or both (Chapter 8).
Secondary research provides information that has already been published in resources such as periodicals, brochures, books, digital publications and Web sites. Conduct this research to determine if you need to engage in primary research.
Primary research is new information you gather firsthand through the use of experiments, surveys, interviews, and other methods of direct observation.