RATHDRUM — The generation gap was a lively topic Friday at the Coeur d’Alene Economic Development Corporation’s Business Summit. The inaugural event hosted by North Idaho College’s Parker Technical Education Center brought together human resource experts and business owners to discuss the best ways to recruit, retain, and engage the right personnel.

Business developer Joe Alfieri of Express Employment Professionals said that with more generations in the workplace than ever before, employers struggle with the lack of “soft skills” in their younger employees. Those skills include showing up on time for work, dressing professionally, and calling in when you’re going to be sick. The soft skills gap is partly due to different working environments, said Alfieri.

“At age 20, we had been working for years,” he said. “We knew what was expected in terms of dress and showing up. The youngest generation just hasn’t had the experience, so they show up in jeans and a T-shirt at a bank expecting to be hired as a teller.

“It’s not necessarily that they’re being offensive,” he added. “They just don’t have the experience.”

Craig Hampton, supervisor of employment services with the Idaho Department of Labor in Post Falls, agreed.

“They haven’t been raised the way a lot of younger generations have. The norm for Millennials is not the same as the norm for Baby Boomers,” Hampton said.

Panelists also spoke about differences in communication styles between older and younger workers. Geoff McLachlan, founder of Professionals at Play, has worked with youths in Idaho and Washington for 14 years as a teacher and speaker. He explained that younger employees need to be clearly told how things are done at the company. Use face-to-face meetings to deal with difficult issues in a caring way, and electronic devices for more mundane matters, he suggested.

“Texting is for information, not communication,” he said.

Use whatever form of communication the intended audience uses, said Eve Luppert, vice president of talent management at Pipl in Post Falls. WhatsApp, Slack, and Discord are how younger generations communicate, not phone calls or face-to-face meetings. Sylvia Hampel, founder of Clearview Cleaning in Boise, said she uses texts for just about everything with her clients and employees. “I’m not going to be that person who grows older and says ‘We shouldn’t do this, it’s wrong.’ It’s not wrong,” she said.

Tim Komberec, CEO of Empire Airlines in Hayden, said his company reaches out to younger employees by various electronic means, but is also glad to pay for postage to reach older workers who may not have a personal computer at home.

He joked, “I’m kind of archaic in that way.”

Communicating across the generation gap is one way to make a company a desirable place to work, said Colleen Krajack, director of human resources at Raycap in Post Falls: “It’s not about attracting the right people, it’s about creating the right space.”