Social Networking Enters HR World with Mentor Scout 2.0

Web-Based Software Adds MySpace-Style Features to Connect Workers, Reduce Turnover

Mentor Scout, a division of Nobscot Corporation, has released a new edition of its talent management software that adds broad social networking capabilities designed to help nurture and retain the 75 million Generation Y/Millennial workers currently entering the workforce. The program is the first to use social networking tools --- a vital part of everyday life for younger people today --- to promote employee interaction, collaboration, recognition and self-expression.

Mentor Scoutís new Talent Networking Edition enables employees to create MySpace-style profiles about their professional and personal lives as a means of engaging them with the organization. The social networking functions are arranged in tabs such as ìProjectsî (for posting information about current work projects, challenges or ideas); ìApplauseî (for praise or thank-yous from colleagues); ìFavoritesî (for listing preferences on issues such as websites, books, blogs, classes, lunch spots and productivity tools); and ìGet Togethersî (for arranging social meetings).

These tools are intended to help employers address the retention challenges posed by the up-and-coming generation of workers who are more likely to job-hop, require constant praise and seek a work/life balance than their Baby Boomer counterparts. By adding social networking to talent management, Mentor Scout is pioneering a new ìtalent networkingî strategy aimed at speeding employee onboarding, increasing job satisfaction, encouraging cross-departmental cooperation, and reducing turnover.

ìThe new generation of workers has a completely different work style, including an intended one- or two-year tenure per job that could paralyze employers as well as result in billions of dollars in productivity losses,î said Bruce H. Daly, President of Nobscotís Mentor Scout division. ìKeeping these employees happy in the workplace is becoming a top priority, and social networking offers a practical vehicle that fits their habits, preferences and reliance on technology for connecting with other people.î

Mentor Scoutís Talent Networking Edition also includes all of the features available in the earlier edition of the mentoring and networking platform, including a self-service mentor matching function that has facilitated more than 650 mentorships between senior and new or high-potential employees in the last two years for organizations from Best Buy and Home Depot to General Mills and the Magazine Publishers of America.