Anti-Aging Skin Care Product Reviews

What would happen in your organization if a large percentage of your retirement-eligible workforce decided to retire?

Very few employers have begun to strategize about this very real staffing dilemma and may find themselves dealing with any number of organizational issues. Just consider the following:

• Lost knowledge. Do you know the historical perspective of why a product is designed the way it is? Do you have key customers who do business with your organization just because of the career-long relationships that have been established and cultivated by your sales professionals? Do you understand the underlying cultural issues that explain why your organization values certain behaviors and job competencies? If you don’t but your senior employees do, this is a huge area of vulnerability.
• Few strong succession candidates. Who will take the places of your senior leaders when they retire? Do you have a strong team to fill their shoes at their time of retirement? Many organizations are now finding they have much work to do to prepare junior staff for key leadership roles.
• Limited selection of qualified candidates. When your retirement-eligible employees retire, are their skill-sets readily replaceable in today’s job market? Organizations are often finding that new graduates and new workforce entrants have neither the education nor the experience to qualify them to productively handle these roles.
• Overworked and burned-out employees. If you will likely experience difficulty in replacing your senior workers, then it is also likely your existing workforce will quickly become overworked and burned-out as they work extra hours to cover their own jobs and those of retirees who could not be replaced.

What are some of the strategies that organizations might use to overcome these challenging scenarios?

• Anticipate staffing needs to avoid being caught unprepared. Identify those in your organization who are close to retirement; then, calculate the rate at which your employees tend to retire. Do all those who are eligible for retirement at age 65 take retirement, or do only about 50% opt out? Also, calculate at what age your employees tend to retire. With this information, you’ll be able to determine what your potential liability might be.
• Create strategies to retain/share key institutional knowledge. If you haven’t read David DeLong’s book, Lost Knowledge: Confronting the Threat of an Aging Workforce, you should put it on your short-term reading list. Read a review in the December 2005 Employment Strategist. (Back issues are available for your review at http://www.cathyfyock.com. Click on e-briefing). DeLong suggests such strategies as IT, storytelling, and mentoring in order to improve the transfer of knowledge.
• Educate employees about the benefits of continuing to work. Do you only educate your employees on the benefits they are eligible to receive at retirement? Do you ever talk about the benefits of continuing to work for your organization? Many organizations offer educational programs that discuss employment options, such as contract work, phased retirement, or double-dipping options.
• Redesign benefits so retirees can afford to return to the workplace. Some organization’s pension plans are designed to offer benefits computed on the last x-years of service. This design can negatively impact workers who might like to take a step down from their current, high-pressure position to a less demanding role, or work part-time instead of full-time.
• Focus on development and training of junior staff. Is your junior staff ready to accept leadership roles? Do they have the requisite management and leadership knowledge and experience to move up the ladder? If not, initiate training and development programs to foster their speedy development: mentoring, coaching, and classroom development opportunities.
• Re-examine policies that promote retirement and that inhibit return-to-work options. Is it more financially feasible for your employees to take retirement? Are pension benefits negatively impacted when a retirement-eligible individual opts for part-time work or a position earning less salary? Ensure that your policies are designed to meet your specific and changing employment needs.
• Create new work options, such as part-time, job sharing, phased and rehearsal retirement. Many organizations are finding their mature workers want work options when all they offer is either full-time work or retirement. Traditional part time work options (part-day or part-week) and non-traditional part time options (part-month or part-year) may better meet employees’ motivations for work. Other unique programs, such as phased and rehearsal retirement are becoming more popular as employers investigate ways to meet the needs of both their employees and the organization to keep experienced and knowledgeable workers. AARP has just initiated a sabbatical program to help reward and retain its high-performance staffers.
• Change your culture so working in lesser positions or taking a demotion is not stigmatized. In most organizations today, there is a stigma attached to taking a step down the employment ladder. Yet many harried managers may want to remain in the organization, utilizing their knowledge and experience, in less stressful roles. Organizations may want to explore their internal values, and through focus groups, determine ways to redefine their culture.

The workforce is aging and becoming retirement-eligible. Will your organization be ready?