A brief survey of the Crain's Chicago Business list of best companies to work for in 2015 would create a word cloud with words and phrases such as stock options, ping pong tables, Friday happy hours, free lunch, after-hours poker, employee engagement, flex time, collaboration, philanthropy, chili cook-off, path to partnership, tuition assistance, softball league, Nerf gun warehouse wars, great for people who love to learn, cappuccino machine, and fun atmosphere. What is the best mix for your organization?

The common thread of the best companies to work for is personal growth and being a fun place to work. Add in genuine validation for work performed and you have the essence of retaining talent—especially young talent.

The Benefits Mix: Both Fun and Foundational

Industries that value retention of talent will take the mantra of personal growth and being a fun place to work to heart. They will also find that they do not necessarily need to compensate employees at the absolute top end of the compensation schedule. Employees who change jobs solely for compensation reasons find the short-term joy of increased compensation quickly diminished when their new employer offers a miserable workplace environment.

Employee communication about benefits (especially for young talent) should be based on the phrase, "What does this mean to me?"

The next part of the equation is compensation and benefits. Even allowing that employers do not need to be at the top end of the compensation schedule if they foster professional development and make their professional work more enjoyable than their competition, they need to offer foundational benefits such as 401(k), life and disability insurance, and health insurance as part of the trunk of employee retention. (The branches are personal development, the metaphorical cappuccino machine, and so forth.)

Communicate the Benefit of Benefits

They also need to effectively communicate the benefits (compensation, sick/vacation time, foundational benefits, and other perks), explain the value to the employee, and explain how to obtain the most value from their benefits.

How best to reach out to your talent so they know what you, the employer, do for your employees is the challenge. Communication is the Zen of any relationship. The highest level of interaction that we have is face to face and shows the importance the employer places in those benefits. Communicating the benefits face to face as part of the initial compensation package is essential.

To retain talent, communicating the benefits via mandatory meetings is the optimal strategy. In the absence of face-to-face group employee-benefit meetings, communicating your benefits via the telephonic, electronic, and paper medium works for employers with a decentralized workforce—at the cost of the personal touch that face-to-face meetings provide. For the record, I can attest that one of our employers who rates as a fun place to work even posts employee communications at the men's urinals. (I'm not sure about the ladies room.)

Give Young Talent an Extra Nudge

Besides the fun stuff that has been already mentioned, what needs to be said? Employee communication (especially for young talent) should be based on the phrase, "What does this mean to me?" Why does participating in the company 401(k) plan make sense to me? Why should I purchase disability insurance? Why should I have life insurance? Why do I need health insurance?

Young people do not have the life experience or historical point of reference to understand why these benefits are important to them. They are indestructible, right? They will live forever, right?  While the short-term joy of the corporate ping pong tournament cannot be denied, the importance of communicating all benefits is essential to recruiting and retaining long term talent.

Work with your human resources professionals either internally or externally to formulate the best approach to connect with your talent. Then, make it happen.

Give talent the opportunity to grow within your organization, make the mundane exciting, provide foundational benefits, communicate and promote those benefits, and explain what this means to your talent, and you will be well on your way to toward building your team and attracting talent. Never underestimate the power of the personal touch.