Baby Boomers Back in Business
The Access HR Team | 1 Sep 2007 12:44 AM
We’ve all heard about the Baby Boomers, but did you know that by the year 2020 most will have reached retiring age? What impact does this have on you as an employer?
The obvious answer is the challenge of losing experienced workers. “The Boomer generation is the one that has faced economic downturn when we haven’t been in an expansionary mode. We’ll lose these people who know how to manage in a downturn and if you lose that knowledge it will be a trial and error situation for how to cope,” says Bridget Beattie. Workforce planning and succession planning will become a challenge as the workforce pool dries up, when we reach 2020 there will be more 65 – 69 year olds than 15 – 19 year olds and the Australian workforce will be facing the biggest exodus of workers in history.
As an employer of the Baby Boomer generation the loss of the mature aged work force may have a detrimental cost to your company, although all hope is not lost.
Currently 17 per cent of employers in Australia have strategies in place to recruit older workers and only 29 per cent have retention strategies in place. Talking to your Baby Boom workforce asking them what they value within the workplace and how you can help them is the first step in combating the mass exodus.
The Baby Boomer generation transformed work practices and are most likely to transform retirement. With the assistance of the changes to superannuation fewer people hit 60 and walk out the door, many are now opting for part time work, consultancy or working from home. A 2002 work and career study by the American Association of Retired Persons found that 76% of mature workers said flexible work was essential if they were to be retained longer.
Another option is to partner or mentor the younger generation enabling skills and knowledge to be passed on before they retire. Instead of placing younger workers in positions of support assistants, partnerships capture the knowledge of the manager keeping it within the company well after retirement has come and gone.
Demographic shift is in a way similar to global warming. We can’t see it, but it is happening and will indeed impact the future of our businesses. The retiring years for the baby boomers are creeping up on all of us, ignoring the statistics won’t make it go away.
Source: www.hcamag.com
Human Resource Magazine September 2006