Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/468007
20 | January - February 2015 | www.machinerylubrication.com Senior leaders across a broad array of industries continue to highlight retirements, turnover and succes- sion planning as key issues confronting their organizations. Much has been written and reported on the impending retirement wave of baby boomer workers as one of those areas of concern. As new generations enter the workforce and older generations remain at work longer, employers must evolve to meet new employee needs. Most solutions involve recruiting tactics for attracting new, younger talent to industry ranks through collaboration with local colleges and technical schools, but what about proactively managing the actual turnover in the workplace? What's the broader plan for transferring the "tribal knowledge" of departing workers to their replacements? There are two challenges a turnover strategy must address. The fi rst involves the sheer magnitude of baby boomer retirements underway and on the horizon. Approximately 10,000 baby boomers are retiring every day. At many companies, more than 50 percent of the workforce will be retiring in the next three to fi ve years. Most of these personnel are in key management and supervisory positions with extensive tenure, tribal knowledge and the secrets or tricks to keeping the workplace on pace. How will their knowledge make it to their replacements? The second challenge involves the next generation of workers and their perspectives on employment and tenure. Demographic and trend studies show that the future will bring fewer loyal workers who dedicate their entire careers to a single workplace. Portable 401(k)s, the extinction of pensions and other "golden handcuff" benefi ts are among the many factors infl uencing career mobility. Skilled young production and manufacturing industry workers are also in high demand, so the likelihood of more frequent job-swapping is real. Generations X and Y made up more than 60 percent of the work- force in 2012, and that number will continue to rise. Job tenure fell from 9.2 years in 1983 to less than one-half that (4.1 years) in 2008, and the recent recession likely cut that number further. A higher cycle of turnover is the new reality. More than 90 percent of millennials (persons born between 1977 and 1998) expect to stay in a job for less than three years. How will your company manage the turnover of key positions every few years as opposed to every decade? Organizations must understand the dynamics of near and long- term turnover, including how younger generations of workers will impact how you recruit, train and operate, along with the tactics for capturing knowledge from workers approaching retirement before they leave. BY BRUCE WESNER, LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING INDUSTRY FOCUS Strategies for Managing the Wave of Workers Retiring GENERATION X MILLENNIALS Born 1965-1976 51 million Born 1977-1998 75 million - Accept diversity - Pragmatic/practical - Self-reliant/individualistic - Reject rules - Killer life - Mistrust institutions - PC - Use technology - Multi-task - Latch-key kids - Friends aren't family - Celebrate diversity - Optimistic/realistic - Self-inventive/individualistic - Rewrite the rules - Killer lifestyle - Irrelevance of institutions - Internet - Assume technology - Multi-task fast - Nurtured - Friends are family Mentoring Do's Mentoring Do's • Casual, friendly work environment • Involvement • Flexibility and freedom • A place to learn • Structured, supportive work • environment • Personalized work • Interactive relationship • Be prepared for demands, high expectations Source: The Learning Café and American Demographics Enterprising Museum