South Shore businesses need employees with basic math and critical thinking skills, better customer service training, and knowledge of technology and computers. Employers have a hard time with reliability, punctuality, and steady work force.

Those were some of the outcomes from a two-day Q&A volunteers had with area businesses last week.

Businesses said a younger work force is drawn to Tahoe for its proximity to snow and adventure rather than career building and development.

The walk was coordinated by the Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce. Three hundred businesses from Meyers to Round Hill were contacted.

The businesses that have had success with employment recruitment and retention said they’ve been able to study the millennial work force and change their efforts to better recruit the incoming generation and retain them by offering a positive work culture, incentives, and flexibility. Most interviewees said business has been good, as the snow has brought in the necessary tourism numbers to meet their bottom lines. Many businesses even those not directly tied to tourism spoke to the importance of sustaining and growing tourism. However, some stated challenges they have with traffic congestion, limited parking, signage, and poor Internet in the basin.

Ideas for creating a stronger work force included offering trade programs at Lake Tahoe Community College, developing partnerships between businesses in a work-share program, creating a central job posting site, and training employers on millennial recruitment and retention.

The survey results will be compiled and shared in the coming months.

The LTCC Adult Education Consortium will use the data to begin planning courses and curriculum related to industry needs in the region.