There seems to be a new buzzword in the training industry — from gamification and mobile learning to HTML5 and MOOCs. One key word that has gained a firm foothold in the industry and is one of the most important buzzwords in corporate HR and training is talent development. While many companies have increased their learning and development budgets to address this issue, there is an overlooked resource in SharePoint that can add value to any talent development program.

Why is talent development so important? Money. Let’s take a look at some intriguing statistics:

Employee turnover is costly and highly disruptive to an organization.

• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the workforce experiences more than four million separations each month which includes 2.7 million of those people quitting their jobs.
• It costs businesses about 1/5 of a worker’s salary to replace them. For example, the average cost to replace an employee in the private industry is $13,996. Some HR experts even estimate it to be as high as 50 percent of a departing worker’s salary.
• Research conducted by Bersin Deloitte estimates that it may take a new employee 1-2 years to reach the productivity of an existing person.

With baby boomers retiring and leaving vacancies in key senior positions, it is getting more difficult to find the right talent. As the effects of the skills gap become more prominent, companies will need to take a skills inventory not only to understand the skills they have with their existing workforce but the ones they need to obtain for the future. This is where it might make better financial sense to develop talent internally versus hiring from outside.

Happy employees are loyal, engaged and productive.

According to the Aberdeen Group, 90 percent of employees make their decision to stay at a company within the first six months. A key factor to their decision is engagement. Numerous polls indicate that employees want to feel like they’re an important and connected part of their organization.

A recent article in Forbes magazine asserts that it isn’t always necessary to spend tons of money on elaborate onboarding programs but rather to consider overlooked resources in your arsenal of tools to develop talent. This includes three areas: peer mentoring, providing tools to be autonomous and positive peer relationships.

One resource that is not only cost effective but a hidden asset for talent development programs is SharePoint. Of course, we are all well aware of its content management capabilities, but the latest version offers enhanced social features and so much more. With over 78 percent of Fortune 500 companies using the software, it naturally makes sense to utilize existing technology and reap the benefits.

Talent development with SharePoint adds business value.

What better way to meet and connect with colleagues than an onboarding program dedicated to peer mentoring. SharePoint offers a number of ways to support peers teaching peers. For instance, with community badges, an organization can give a badge to specific members to visually indicate that they are recognized as an “expert.” New employees can visit a SharePoint community and easily be able to identify who they can go to if they have questions. SharePoint also gives these “experts” even more clout by allowing permission levels to be set specifically so they can help develop training content.  As the saying goes, “The best way to learning something is to teach it.”

SharePoint is a great tool to give new employees the ability to be independent and find the answers they need. No matter how good formal training is, employees will always have additional questions and oftentimes they don’t know how to get answers. In fact, research by TinyHR reveals one in four employees do not have the tools to be successful in their jobs. New hires often don’t want to ask questions for fear of looking inadequate. With SharePoint portals, they can find everything they need right in one central place including company policies, procedures and news.

Lastly, camaraderie and peer relationships are a major factor for keeping employees and motivating them to outperform expectations. The more opportunities employees have to communicate with one another and share knowledge, the more learning will take place. SharePoint team sites, newsfeeds, blogs, community and personal sites help people to connect, communicate and collaborate with each other to share important content and information.

For the first time, millennials will be the majority of the workforce. Tech-savvy but hard to keep, employers will need to appeal to their need for a greater emphasis on people, exciting work and mentors. SharePoint is a cost effective resource that businesses can tap into in order to achieve a work environment that this group of workers want and need in order to stay at their jobs.