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Oil and gas production contributes 7.5 percent of gross domestic product and supports 9.2 million jobs nationally. With a booming industry that continues to rise, it is imperative for the executives to curtail tunnel vision on profits and realign its focus on another essential element of the business: the wants and needs of employees.

With Baby Boomers on the brink of retirement, one of the impending issues facing organizations today is the ability to identify leaders. This could be partially blamed on the fact that less than half (48 percent) of UNC’s Leadership Survey respondents reported that their companies have a formal process for developing high-potential employees. Companies looking to accelerate employees to leadership positions should seriously consider developing a formal process.

It’s always tough to lose a good employee especially when it’s a member of your executive leadership team. However, over the next five years losing top talent will become nearly impossible to avoid as 20 percent or more of senior leaders will be eligible for retirement. So how do businesses move forward and what can be done to hang on to these valuable employees, even if it’s only for a little while longer?

For years now, members of the Baby Boomer generation have been running operations at major corporate entities, but recent data suggests that the workforce is changing and so too is its leadership. According to a recent Gallup poll, 31 percent of today’s workforce is approaching or reaching 61 years of age – the average age of retirement – or 65 – the traditional retirement age. With impending retirement threatening the frontlines, businesses need to prepare for new leadership to take reign. Enter Generation X.

From workplace politics to government compliance issues, businesses are presented with a slew of challenges, but one that often times goes unnoticed is the health of your workers. Did you know that the Health and Safety Executive reported around 27 million working days were lost in 2011 and 2012? Of those missed days, 22.7 million were due to work-related illness and 4.3 million were due to workplace injuries. How is a business supposed to stay in the black, improve their bottom lines and increase employee retention?

Do you know what your employees really want from your organization? You should, and it pays to find out. A 2013 Gallup study shows that companies in the top quartile for employee engagement outperform their bottom 25% competitors with: 147% higher earnings per share (no, that’s not a typo), 22% higher profitability, 21% higher productivity and 41% fewer quality defects.

A new generation will soon be entering the workforce, specifically referred to as, Gen Z (those born between 1995-2009) or the connected generation; whatever you call them. This group of digital wiz kids is a new breed of employee, never knowing life without high-speed internet, smartphones and unlimited access to media technologies. If you’re down and out trying to manage millennial workers, just wait until Gen Z starts knocking on your door.

Recruiters use a variety of tactics to find new hires, but one still trumps them all: employee referrals. While online job boards and career sites remain top sources for applicants, referrals often go overlooked as a hiring resource. From a recruiter’s vantage point, employee referrals equal gold. As you may imagine, recruiters have to exhaust all the tricks of their trade in order to stay competitive in the market. With a ratio of unemployed persons to job openings sitting at 3-to-1, employee referral programs (ERPs) are an easy way to build your talent pipeline, because you don’t have to look very far.

With stiff competition at every corner, finding a job is a daunting process. To increase your chances of being selected, you should understand the hiring funnel.

Released concurrently with Feb. 10’s changes to the employer mandate, the Affordable Care Act’s shared-responsibility regulations offer guidance to employers in two areas: non-assessment periods and transitional relief. The non-assessment portion allows for specific periods of time when employers will not be held accountable for fines levied for failure to offer qualifying health insurance to a full-time employee. Additionally, employers entering their first year as an applicable large employer (ALE) were given details on a transition rule, giving them a specific time frame to comply fully with ACA mandates without being penalized.

Has your nonprofit recovered from the impact of the recession? For many nonprofits the time period following the 2007 recession was challenging as many experienced a decrease in donations and increased competition for what funding was available. Fortunately, charitable giving has begun to rise, with a reported 4.9 percent increase in 2013 alone. However, a new trend has arisen: donor accountability. Now more than ever, the nonprofit sector has to juggle not only achieving its mission goals, but also showing good financial stewardship.

In growing numbers, businesses are experimenting with the concept of allowing their employees to use their own mobile devices (laptops, cellphones and tablets) at work, for work. Since 2007, the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) craze has seen an increase in popularity because it reduces employer costs while increasing productivity by giving employees added flexibility, both personally and professionally.