| August 2006 |
| Over the next 18 years, the mass exodus of Baby Boomers from the workplace will cause a significant upheaval. Here’s how to get ready for it…and take advantage of it. |
| By Don Willmott |
It’s starting. Every year between now and 2024, three to four million of the 78 million Baby Boomers born between 1946 and 1964 will celebrate their 60th birthdays. The parties will peak in 2021, when George Clooney—among 4.2 million others—hits the big 60. Yes, we’re getting older. In fact, in just four years, half the American workforce will be over 40. What does this huge demographic shift mean for your career? When Baby Boomers clear the decks, will they open up countless job opportunities for eager younger generations?
It’s not quite that simple. First of all, millions of Boomers aren’t going anywhere just yet. While one of the world’s most famous techie Boomers—Bill Gates (age 51)—has announced his semi-retirement from Microsoft, we can expect his two main Microsoft cohorts—Steve Ballmer (age 50) and Ray Ozzie (age 51)—to keep on going for years to come. Look around your own workplace. What are the 50-somethings thinking?
And even though a Baby Boom retirement brain drain seems inevitable, corporate America doesn’t seem to be gearing up for it to the extent that they should. A recent survey by the Novations Group found that while 60 percent of companies are seeing signs of an upcoming shortage of talent, only 32 percent are actively doing anything about it, such as recalibrating their promotion criteria or rethinking their recruitment strategies.
Other findings: almost a third of companies plan on easing Boomers out by gradually reducing their work hours in their final years of employment. Yet almost 40 percent say they don’t predict a large talent loss when their older workers are gone. Confused? Apparently everyone is. “There’s widespread uncertainty on what's going to happen and when," according to Novations Group VP Tim Vigue. "Some organizations are in a passive mode, while the smart ones are taking a hard look at their recruitment and selection procedures."
Robin Raskin, a Boomer who writes a blog about technology that’s targeted specifically at her fellow 40- and 50-somethings, senses that Boomers will start to feel shoves at their backs. “The winning formula for running an efficient company these days—low-cost labor and minimal benefits—hurts Boomers.” She cites buyouts and layoffs at large companies such as General Motors and Intel as proof that when companies do recalibrate, Boomers are in their sights. Meanwhile, “Young kids are inexpensive, willing to work long hours, and easygoing about change. Bad deals on vacation time and insurance don’t bother them much.”
And yet Boomers clearly don’t want to stop working. Bob Morison, coauthor of Workforce Crisis: How to Beat the Coming Shortage of Skills and Talent, says 75 percent of Boomers intend to work in retirement, but many want a change of role, employer, or industry. “They want to apply themselves in new ways, especially if their pre-retirement jobs have gotten stale,” he says. “Under 10 percent would prefer to work full time. The most popular arrangement (by a small margin over regular part-time work) is cycling back and forth between extended periods of work and not working.”
Morison fears that corporations aren’t preparing for the obvious—loss of institutional knowledge, experience, know-how, customer relationships—by trying to capture and transition that knowledge to younger employees. “They also aren’t preparing to do what it takes to keep key Boomers around a bit longer so that transition can take place: offer flexible schedules and fresh roles and assignments.”
Whether you’re a Boomer planning your final act, a Boomer who wants to stick around at the office, or a youngster who wants to fast track your career, there are some smart workplace strategies that you can start working on today as an investment in tomorrow.
For Boomers:
- Don’t jump on a voluntary buyout offer just because it sounds like a lot of cash. What about benefits? What about your cash flow for the next 20 to 30 years? What about your lifestyle? Ask yourself plenty of hard questions before you willingly rush into early retirement. After all, you may live to be 100.
- Become a mentor. Some companies, such as GE and Northrop Grumman, are building mentoring into their workflows in order to capture some of the valuable knowledge that will evaporate when Boomers retire. See if you can create a mentoring position that evolves into a part-time, semi-retirement gig.
- Start investigating—and posturing for—flex-time positions.
- Join an expert labor pool. Check out what Procter & Gamble, Eli Lilly, and Boeing have done with YourEncore (www.yourencore.com), a service that hooks up retired experts with short-term assignments where their expertise is needed.
- You can also conduct a search on Dice.com and can indicate in your resume that you’re only interested in working on a contract basis.
For Younger Generations:
- Find a mentor. It may sound calculating and cut-throat, but if you absorb the expertise of an older colleague who may be heading for the door in a few years, you can hope to step into his or her position faster. Show your organization that you have been collecting institutional knowledge.
- Look for—or create—a fast track. GE, to cite one example, is well-known for pushing younger workers up the ladder if they show promise. With a brain drain at the top, more companies will have to do this to remain viable.
- Keep your career in motion. Morison says, “Move around the organization, apply old skills in new ways, gain new skills, expand your network of contacts, become ever more valuable.”
- Another Morison tip: “Since the workforce is going to be more multi-generational, gain experience managing older colleagues, including structuring their work and schedules with great flexibility. You’ll be the manager of the future.”
Don Willmott is a New York City-based journalist who focuses on internet and technology trends.
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