Friday, June 07, 2013
It is no secret; many employees approaching retirement are postponing their withdrawal from the workplace for several reasons. Economics is certainly one reason, confusion over the availability of health care is another, and even coordination of retirement with a spouse may be a factor? For employers, hard pressed to find highly skilled, talented, and knowledgeable workers, being able to retain some workers past their normal retirement age can be a competitive advantage.
In a recent article in the Spring 2013 issue of the ISR Sampler from the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, Susan Rosegrant describes what the new retirement may look like for Baby Boomers. Titled, “The New Retirement: No Retirement?” Rosegrant depicts the world of retirement populated by reluctant participants, delaying and deferring retirement. Rosegrant cites retired college professors returning to work without pay who continue to contribute.
Chris Farrell, a contributing editor for Bloomberg Businessweek, recently noted, “The footprints of an aging America are everywhere”, in his August 07, 2012 article, “It's Time to See Older Workers as an Asset”. Farrell points out that unlike the US, Europe is just now beginning to pass age discrimination laws and is struggling to keep older workers on the job. In effect, Europe is missing out on the talent war by failing to tap into some of its most valuable resources.
Philip Moeller, writing for U.S. News & World Report points out that, “… prospective labor-force shortages mean many employers simply cannot afford to let older workers retire or walk out the door.” So if there is a labor shortage, why aren’t employers aggressively recruiting older workers? Well, apparently some are according to Donna Fuscaldo, writing for FOXBusiness. Organizations are seeking older workers for their “gravitas that … younger counterparts may lack”. Employers are opting to take advantage of the older worker’s managerial and project experience in mentoring and other roles.
When Trevor Stansbury, the president of Supply Dynamics', a Loveland, Ohio based professional services company specializing in OEM “Supply CHANGE Management”, needed engineers to support his organization, he found that new college graduates simply lacked the experience he needed. Instead, he turned to retired engineers from the transportation industries. Even though working part time, Stansbury found that these engineers understood the concerns of Supply Dynamics' customers, at times better that the customers themselves. Stansbury values his retired engineers for what they possess, "They bring a wealth of knowledge."
What Stansbury did not speak to, was the inter-generation dissemination of that “knowledge” among the several generations of workers at Supply Dynamics. As organizations continue to struggle with domestic and global competitive forces, decade’s worth of business knowledge is often lost as skilled workers exit employment. While many underlying manufacturing, communications, and transportation processes have changed in the last several decades, much of the basic inputs into the supporting infrastructures have not. It is the passage of information from one generation another, which has brought our economy from an analog to the digital realm. That journey’s foundation is knowledge.
It is no secret; many employees approaching retirement are postponing their withdrawal from the workplace for several reasons. Economics is certainly one reason, confusion over the availability of health care is another, and even coordination of retirement with a spouse may be a factor? For employers, hard pressed to find highly skilled, talented, and knowledgeable workers, being able to retain some workers past their normal retirement age can be a competitive advantage.
In a recent article in the Spring 2013 issue of the ISR Sampler from the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, Susan Rosegrant describes what the new retirement may look like for Baby Boomers. Titled, “The New Retirement: No Retirement?” Rosegrant depicts the world of retirement populated by reluctant participants, delaying and deferring retirement. Rosegrant cites retired college professors returning to work without pay who continue to contribute.
Chris Farrell, a contributing editor for Bloomberg Businessweek, recently noted, “The footprints of an aging America are everywhere”, in his August 07, 2012 article, “It's Time to See Older Workers as an Asset”. Farrell points out that unlike the US, Europe is just now beginning to pass age discrimination laws and is struggling to keep older workers on the job. In effect, Europe is missing out on the talent war by failing to tap into some of its most valuable resources.
Philip Moeller, writing for U.S. News & World Report points out that, “… prospective labor-force shortages mean many employers simply cannot afford to let older workers retire or walk out the door.” So if there is a labor shortage, why aren’t employers aggressively recruiting older workers? Well, apparently some are according to Donna Fuscaldo, writing for FOXBusiness. Organizations are seeking older workers for their “gravitas that … younger counterparts may lack”. Employers are opting to take advantage of the older worker’s managerial and project experience in mentoring and other roles.
When Trevor Stansbury, the president of Supply Dynamics', a Loveland, Ohio based professional services company specializing in OEM “Supply CHANGE Management”, needed engineers to support his organization, he found that new college graduates simply lacked the experience he needed. Instead, he turned to retired engineers from the transportation industries. Even though working part time, Stansbury found that these engineers understood the concerns of Supply Dynamics' customers, at times better that the customers themselves. Stansbury values his retired engineers for what they possess, "They bring a wealth of knowledge."
What Stansbury did not speak to, was the inter-generation dissemination of that “knowledge” among the several generations of workers at Supply Dynamics. As organizations continue to struggle with domestic and global competitive forces, decade’s worth of business knowledge is often lost as skilled workers exit employment. While many underlying manufacturing, communications, and transportation processes have changed in the last several decades, much of the basic inputs into the supporting infrastructures have not. It is the passage of information from one generation another, which has brought our economy from an analog to the digital realm. That journey’s foundation is knowledge.
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