Businesses put more emphasis on talent

Tight labor market fosters emphasis on skills training

With a tight labor market and increased demand for skilled employees, companies must offer more than a paycheck and benefits. Increasingly, they must also offer skills development.

“When people come on board, savvy people, they want to know more than salary and benefit information. They’re asking ‘how are you going to provide me with more skills?'” explained Patrick Hernandez, vice president of organizational learning and development for Time Warner Telecom in Littleton.

But the question does not take Hernandez — who started The Colorado Learning Network in 1998 — by surprise. Originally formed by…