Will baby boomers retire at 60? Will there be a massive
employee shortage in a few years? What can companies and
government agencies do? This is a very important topic,
given demographic trends worldwide. Let me provide an
overview with these 10 points.
1) The Conference Board published a good report in 2005
titled America's Aging Workforce Posing New Opportunities
and Challenges. Quotes:
"Some 64 million baby boomers (over 40 percent of the U.S.
labor force) are poised to retire in large numbers by the
end of this decade. In industries already facing labor and
skills shortages, forward-thinking companies are
recruiting, retaining, and developing flexible work-time
arrangements and/or phased retirement plans for these
workers (55 years of age or older), many of whom have
skills that are difficult to replace. Such actions are
putting these companies ahead of competitors who view the
aging workforce largely as a burden putting strains on
pension plans and healthcare costs."
"More older workers want to remain in their jobs for both
personal fulfillment and financial reasons. In a related
forthcoming study from The Conference Board, more than half
(55 percent) of older employees surveyed said they were not
planning to retire because they find their jobs
interesting. Significantly, 74 percent also cited not
having sufficient financial resources as a reason they were
continuing to work, and 60 percent cited the need for
medical benefits."
Not only in the US: the largest single group within the UK
workforce in 2006 was comprised of people between 45 and 59.
2) Some consulting companies like Accenture seem to be
betting that the solution will be to improve technology for
knowledge transfer and train younger employees as soon as
possible.
3) And the market for Talent Management and Succession
Planning solutions such as Taleo (whose VP of Research led
us to some of these reports) has been growing steadily, and
has more room to grow.
4) Preparing for an Aging Workforce: A Focus on New York
Businesses, is a survey of 400 HR managers sponsored by
AARP. One interesting tidbit I found in the report: when
asked about "Strategies to help employees work past
traditional retirement age", the top answer was "Training
to Upgrade Skills (out of 8 such as "easing into the
retirement" or "working part-time").
5) In the Talent-Shortage Myth article, Workforce
Management editor John Hollon he tries to debunk the myth
of a massive, simultaneous worker shortage, highlighting
that many baby boomers will want to remain in the workforce
for many more years.
6) Many people are asking "Does your organization have-or
need-a baby boomer exit strategy?"
7) Companies need a comprehensive strategy, more than a
baby boomer "exit" strategy: hiring and training younger
employees, ensure knowledge transfer, manage talent and
sucession planning, AND training baby boomers who want to
stay. I tend to agree with John Hollon that there won't be
a massive shortage. Many baby boomers will want to, and
need to, keep working. But it will be important for sectors
like government, communications, energy, utilities, to
manage their worforce of people over 50 and ensure flexible
and appropriate workplace arrangements, and start planning
now for those arrangements.
8) An important component of that strategy, that seems to
be overlooked so far, is how to Train those Employees to
ensure maximum Productivity and Health. We have been
discussing the growing research behind brain fitness and
cognitive training and the increasing number of tools.
Won't companies incorporate them in their Corporate
Training initiatives? won't an employee with top attention
span, processing speed, memory and executive functions be
in a better position to keep adding value, to be more
healthy and productive?
9) Which is why we have started to help educate companies
and professionals with articles such as Ten Important
Truths About Aging: How we age is at least partially under
our control, By Elkhonon Goldberg and Alvaro Fernandez,
published in The Complete Lawyer.
10) At a glance, those Ten Truths are:
- Neuropsychology Indicates That We Can Control Our Aging
- Aging Means Lifelong Development, Not Automatic Decline
- Some Skills Improve With Age
- Some Skills Need To Be Continuously Nurtured And Trained
- Not All Instances Of Forgetting Are Of Equal Concern
- We Are In Control, To A Large Extent
- There Are Four "Pillars Of Brain Health"
- Cross-Training Our Brains Builds Up Cognitive Reserve
- Computer-Based Brain Exercise Programs Can Help
- Embrace "Good" Stress; Eliminate "Bad" Stress
- Retirement Is Overrated
So, let me ask, does your organization have-or need-a
comprehensive baby boomer strategy? Does that strategy
include a Brain Fitness Training component? Is your HR
department taking proactive steps in this area?
----------------------------------------------------
Alvaro Fernandez is the CEO and Co-Founder of SharpBrains,
which provides the latest science-based information for
Brain Fitness and Brain Exercise, and has been recognized
by Scientific American Mind, MarketWatch, CBS, Forbes, and
more. Alvaro holds MA in Education and MBA from Stanford
University, and teaches The Science of Brain Health at
UC-Berkeley Lifelong Learning Institute. Learn more at
http://www.sharpbrains.com/
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