How to make the young not so restless
Groups form around the state to retain Virginia’s younger work force

by Jessica Sabbath
for Virginia Business
July 2007

It’s becoming harder for young professionals to feel alone in Roanoke. Take the third Thursday of any month, and an area bar or restaurant will be packed with 50 to 100 younger workers mingling in their ties and heels over appetizers and drinks.

Two years ago, however, it wasn’t this easy to connect the region’s younger generation in the Roanoke Valley. That was before NewVaConnects, an organization designed to put Roanoke’s young workers in touch with each other — and all the area has to offer. “I think that’s been the biggest problem in Roanoke and the region,” says 34-year-old John Griessmayer, a member of the group’s board of directors. “There’s so much going on politically, culturally, socially, and people don’t know about it. That was our goal: Let’s connect these people together, and let’s connect them to what they’re interested in.”

Griessmayer, a creative director and vice president at a Roanoke advertising and public relations firm, was tired of seeing his co-workers and friends move away, complaining about the lack of things to do. So Griessmayer and a group of young professionals worked with the local chamber of commerce to create NewVaConnects.

Today the organization offers monthly socials and quarterly professional development seminars. Its member list has grown to almost 500 employees.
With the looming retirement of the baby boomers expected to cause a labor shortage, communities around the state and country are forming young professional groups. In Virginia, in addition to Roanoke, groups uniting young professionals are popping up in Lynchburg, Danville, Richmond, Winchester, Hampton Roads, Harrisonburg and Charlottesville.

The trend is catching on because there aren’t enough younger workers to replace the aging boomers. So naturally cities want to hold on to their younger, educated labor pools. Currently, estimates show there are about 78 million baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964), compared with 51 million from Generation X (born between 1961 and 1981). The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that by 2012, two workers will leave the work force each year for every one that enters.

As the U.S. population ages, the race is on to attract and keep young talent. U.S. Census Bureau statistics show that between 1990 and 2000, 90 percent of the country’s metro areas saw population declines in the 25- to 34-year-old age range. “The reason why you’re seeing these young professional organizations pop up in communities is because of their work-force needs,” says Molly Foley of Next Generation Consulting, a Madison, Wis., firm that works with businesses and communities to attract and retain young talent. YPOs, or young professional organizations, have become so popular that Next Generation Consulting’s national network of YPOs includes more than 300.

The groups help communities showcase themselves to the younger generation. Foley adds that they are important not only in retaining young talent, but companies as well. “If you don’t have enough experienced young professionals to fill those voids for companies, they are going to take a look at that and potentially leave,” she says.

Research shows that workers are two to three times more likely to stay in a community if they’re involved. “[YPO organizations] understand they need to be a new type of community organization,” says Foley. “Younger workers aren’t looking to join Rotary or a Kiwanis-type organization.”

The activities of Virginia’s YPOs are a far cry from those of traditional civic organizations. Most YPOs offer a mixture of social, professional and community service-related events. For instance, events range from beer tastings and business luncheons to kickball tournaments, Habitat for Humanity projects or something purely recreational such as tubing on the James River.

Some YPOs are founded by local chambers of commerce, and others are run independently. In April, the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce started HYPE — Helping Young Professionals Engage — after a study suggested that Richmond needs to do more to engage younger workers. “This really was a compelling argument of how we should get people tapped in and anchored in the community,” says Stephanie Kirksey, executive vice president of programs and services for the chamber. “In Richmond, we know that there is a need for young people to be engaged, and there was a time when the chamber wasn’t a place they thought was cool.”

RSVPs poured in so fast for the 150 spots at HYPE’s launch party at a local bar that the group had to hold a second “launch” party that attracted 497 people. “For the first event we thought ‘I hope enough people show up,’” says Antony Coukos, marketing and communications manager for the Richmond chamber. “But it’s just blown through the roof.”

While HYPE focuses more on established young professionals in the area, YRichmond was formed to show off the city to summer interns and newcomers. A program of the local Creative Change Center or C3, YRichmond is supported by about 12 companies in Richmond.

The program showcases the Richmond area with about two events a week, such as bus tours of the city, scavenger hunts, professional development seminars and Shakespeare performances. About 250 interns signed up for the program this summer. “As a city, Richmond has to work harder than say, D.C., Atlanta or New York,” says Brian Cannon, director of YRichmond.

"Richmond is a great place to live. We’ve just got to show them that.”

The work can be even tougher for some of Virginia’s more rural regions. As new career opportunities develop in Southside, the local chamber of commerce for Danville and Pittsylvania County, hopes to create a social environment for younger workers with a young professionals network.

Area businesses host social events for the group each month, and members have seen positive results. “Seeing some of my cohorts leave to go to college and be able to persuade them to come back and be involved in the community has been pretty successful,” says Shannon Hair, who sits on the steering committee of the group.

Other young professional groups have taken on their own identity. The Young Professionals of Central Virginia group in Lynchburg started when a study showed the region was losing young workers.

The group has evolved over the past six or seven years and is now independent — it incorporated last year — but works with five other local organizations to attract young professionals. Earlier this year it hired a full-time executive director, Jamie Quetglez. “One of the rationales we had for hiring Jamie was that communities that are the most successful in attracting and retaining young talent have dedicated staff working for the organization,” says Christine Kennedy, whose term recently ended as chairman of the board of directors.

The group is going beyond offering social, professional development and community service events. It’s taking a more active role in attracting workers, helping local companies create recruitment and marketing packages with an ambassador program.

Other organizations, however, remain centered around social activities.

Charlottesville Young Professionals, founded in 1998 as a way for businesses to retain their employees, has evolved into a primarily social group, offering members two to three events per week. A survey found that the group’s members were more interested in social connections because they could find professional seminars at other local organizations, says Cathy Wolfe, the group’s president. “We weren’t really looking to become the junior chamber of commerce,” she says.

Beyond providing social activities, however, a major problem with retention can be connecting young employees to potential employers. Stuart Mease, special projects coordinator for the City of Roanoke, says the difference of technological skills between generations often means employers and potential employees never link up. In response, Roanoke has created a Web site (www.roanokeva.gov/connect) that allows those interested in the Roanoke region to submit their résumés. “The baby boomer generation may be going to chamber of commerce events to network, but what are the 23-year-olds doing? They’re on Facebook.com chatting.”

But while competition may be fierce for keeping younger workers, the state YPOs are vowing to work together rather than fight one another. “From a competitive position, we want Virginia to be considered as a whole a great place for young professionals,” says Kennedy with the Lynchburg group. “We want to make sure Virginia is a destination for younger workers.”