Never Let Them Go

According to a new report released by Statistics Canada August 17, 2011, the Canadian labour force is undergoing a drastic change. Attracting and retaining workers is about to become more difficult and a more competitive process.

While businesses can invest in machinery and automation to improve efficiencies they also need to invest more in retaining their best talent.

Baby boomers feel that retirement no longer means an end to working but a new chapter of life. Pre-retirees say they now intend to delay retirement triggered in part by a longer and healthier mid-life stage and a financial need.

These are reasons for organizations to pay more attention to their grey power. Mature talent is one of the most important assets an organization has.

These are five ways to create an older-worker-friendly organization.

Start Early to build a culture that shouts out “we’d like you to stay”. Employees look for a match in values between themselves and the organization. Create a value proposition for them to stay and communicate it consistently in different ways. Create a purpose-driven environment that supports long-term involvement.

Promote Inter-Generational Collaboration. One client, Urban Systems, encourages all “generations” of employees to participate and collaborate:

• First generation – novice employees - get to contribute what may be called “fresh” ideas. This is a starting point for them to fully understand and “feel” the culture. It gets them off to a good start. But be prepared, it might also weed out employees who are not long term fits for the organization. That’s a good thing. 
• Second generation – mid-career employees – experience greater competence and responsibility in their work and pass this along. It promotes clarity around emerging roles. 
• Third generation – late-career employees – have the opportunity to exhibit more leadership and share more knowledge as mentors.
• Fourth generation – elder employees now retired – can provide the glue to future transitions. Encourage them to become sounding boards to younger generations. Encourage successful transition story-telling in workshops. They may even help attract and influence future hires and finally elders become the institutional memory of a multi-generational organizations.

Flex-Exit Plans: Organizations that offer more than one exit plan for retiring employees have a greater chance of retaining them longer. These exit plans may incorporate part-time, distance-working, contract and even gap-year strategies with varying compensation and benefit programs.

Build the Commitment by encouraging conversation and contribution. Organizations that offer facilitated career-development opportunities have the most to gain. Individual employee succession plans can be established and dove-tailed with others’ plans given sufficient notice.

Involve Life Partners: Retirement is not done alone when a couple is involved. Benefit plans are seldom the subject of conversation in the home. Spouses want to learn more about pension and investment plans offered by their partner’s organization and how they might be integrated with personal financial planning. A couple’s workshop is often the starting point of a more focused look at a soon to be transition.

Leading organizations who invest today in their mature workers will reap handsomely in tomorrow’s labour market while promoting organizational values and productivity today.

Ask about our eight-presenter comprehensive Changing the Way we Retire workshop. It brings 18 hours of insightful, practical, engaging and inspiring information to help employees aged 50-plus, together with their life partner, plan for the next stage of their life.

 

 

 

 

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