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Retaining the Boomer Workforce
INVESTING IN BOOMER GOLD
By the year 2012 approximately 20% of the workforce
will be 55 or older. The
crucial need to delay the projected labor shortages is forcing
organizations to rethink their incentive programs in order to retain
their maturing workers. A
recent survey of older worker’s expectations showed that 79% of older
workers plan to work beyond retirement.
Some
of the incentives cited in a recent Society of Human Resource Management
Research cited incentives like: Flexible work arrangements; Training to
upgrade skills, time off for volunteerism and phased retirement plans.
Boomers hold experience and business knowledge that is like ‘gold’ in
the workplace issues facing today’s organizations. The smart
organizations are figuring out plans to promote internal knowledge
transfer and promote intergenerational learning, such as:
Mentoring programs. These have
been found to be a beneficial tool for training and passing on the
boomer gold. Mentoring
programs will take a mature worker and match him/her with a small group
of proteges’. They meet
regularly to discuss business issues with the mature serving acting as a
sounding board for the younger employees.
Increase retiree recruiting efforts to bring back
as needed for projects.
Providing generational/people skills
training. Give managers
the tools that will ultimately encourage and increase retention of baby
boomers. What I am hearing
from the business organizations I speak to, that many of the mature
workers are feeling ignored in the workplace.
Rather than younger manager soliciting their wisdom, the younger
managers tend to look right past the boomer – as if they have already
retired and left –and continue to carry on conversations with the other
younger workers. This is
generational ‘slamming’ which will cost organizations plenty. There are
two reasons for it: Younger
management is unaware of how their actions affect the generational
dynamics in the workplace and/or they have either never been trained in
generational communication skills, perceptions and expectations.
An generational deprived and
inexperienced management team can actually
recreate a clique- like scenario which actually discourages,
rather than promotes, boomer retentions .
When working to increase the learning
between people with generation differences, look for things they have in
common and use those things to build upon.
For example: The
desire for flexible work arrangements. While they are approaching the
issue from difference ends, the mature workers and younger workers have
the same desire when it comes to flexibility in scheduling. The retiree
would like to still be able to work a little to give him a sense of life
balance; the younger workers would like to be able to incorporate more
life balance time to their work schedules.
In the Gener-Vision™ Special
Reports at our website there is a wealth of information to help
familiarize oneself with the expectations and desires of each of the
generations.
We know that years the years of
experience and wisdom that our boomers hold is like gold.
Losing it could cost organizations a fortune.
Donna “Kinza”
Christenson, The Performance Pro
“Building
leaders & Enriching meetings”
262-567-6317
* kinza@kinza.net
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