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Today is the Tomorrow You Worried about Yesterday: Meeting the Challenges of a Changing Workforce

By now it is likely that you have heard the statistics, the predictions and the dire warnings. The aging of the largest generation the United States has ever known will affect every social institution from employment to health care. Precisely what the impact will be is, like all future events, still a matter of prediction. That there will be a major impact is not. In the first 58 years of its existence, the baby boom generation has changed every major social institution from education to health care to employment. The "aging workforce," a very common phrase lately, is but the latest phase in the progression of this generation. The aging of the baby boom generation has been a topic of both speculation and serious research for some time now. The "brain drain," "the pipeline problem," even the terms "workforce planning" and "succession planning" have become topics not just for academics and human resources practitioners but also are readily found in the popular media. Many are the predictions about the impact that the "mass exodus" of this generation from the workplace will have. But events yet unknown may change today's predictions. Certainly, the impact of the "aging-out" of the baby boom workforce may be affected by economic, social and political events. One of the larger questions is how this generation will treat retirement. The rocking chair concept was set aside long ago but it still remains unclear how and when the baby boomers will choose to retire. It is commonly assumed that baby boom retirees will be more "actively" retired, but what form will this take? If it is true that "50 is the new 30," can we assume that people will want to work longer than the traditional retirement age? Or will they work longer only if it is economically necessary? If they retire and then return to work, will they stay in the same line of work or choose a "retirement career" different from their previous career? If they choose to work will they do so full-time or part-time? The yet-unanswered question for the employer affected by these trends is, "What can we do about this?" This question is especially relevant for public sector organizations. With a history of fiscal constraints and downsizing, the public sector has become particularly vulnerable to the affects of the aging workforce. Many government jurisdictions are facing the potential loss of 40 to 50 percent of their workforce in the next few years. At the same time, there are too few people at younger ages to replace the baby boomers. Some organizations are missing two generations of employees because they were unable to hire for such a long period of time. And, regardless of whether boomers retire at 55, 65 or even 70 and even if the "mass exodus" does not happen in the next year or two, it is unavoidable that it will happen sometime in the near future. The Argument for Workforce and Succession Planning Awareness of the problem has been the proverbial first step. Some organizations began looking at these issues in the early 1990s but, human and organizational nature being what it is, the issues seemed too far in the future and more pressing issues gained our immediate attention. However, in the past three to five years, a sense of urgency has developed around workforce demographics as academics and practitioners alike have raised the alert and the media has raised awareness. Economic issues such as globalization, worker productivity and outsourcing are closely tied to the availability of a "ready, willing and able" workforce. Similarly, social issues such as the rising demand for and cost of healthcare for an aging population are tied to a productive workforce capable of providing these services and, in many cases, paying for them. And all of these issues are tied to the demographic fact that the succeeding generation of workers is smaller than the baby boom generation. But this is not a story of numbers alone. Rather, it is a story of the loss of experience and judgment gained from those experiences, which add up to a knowledgeable workforce. …