HR Professional - December/January 2008 - (Page 29)

THE MULTIGENERATIONAL WORKFORCE Over the next decade, every worker becomes a precious commodity. “The old corporate pyramid doesn’t work for them,” says Sherry Cooper, executive vice-president and global economic strategist with BMO Financial Group about the gen Y workforce. “They’re not hierarchical. They’re happy to be the boss of one project, but not necessarily all. The worst thing for them is to be bored.” Dave King, executive vice-president of Robert Half Management Resources, says rather than hiring a retiree on a project basis, a good alternative is to have a full-time employee lead a project and hire a retiree to take over that person’s daily tasks. “That way,” he says, “companies get to maintain some of the intellectual property internally after the job is done. It also gives the [younger] employee a chance to try something different and possibly more attractive.” “Those that are astute will begin to build those kinds of bridges where it’s a workplace that’s inviting to all workers,” says Suzanne Armstrong, founder of Life’s Next Steps. “Helping older workers to relate to younger workers is a real dance because you need both.” The biggest struggle for employers as they redefine retirement is finding roles that will continue to open up opportunities for younger workers, says Tamara Erickson, author of Workforce Crisis: How to Beat the Coming Shortage of Skills and Talent. “Forty-year-olds are quite concerned those boomers will never leave.” She suggests that as companies identify jobs that age-50-plus workers can fill beyond their retirement years, it might not be the C-suite positions. IDENTITY CRISIS As employers recruit from diverse mployers recruit f oyer crui verse grou groups to ﬁll the gap, Suzanne oups the ap, S an Armstron says Armstrong says many are failing to mstrong y n a failing o l l verage the intellectua o leverage the intellect al gold of their eh elle thei own retiremen -aged workers. Arm own retirement-aged workers. Armtire e k stro strong is the founder of Life’s Next r the th founder f ife Next Steps, Steps, a resource that helps indiesourc that e rce ndiv d l an organi ation viduals and organizations ﬁnd new and gan d a proac approaches to retirement. A boomer a etireme . ment o me herself, r stro herself, Armstrong insists today lf r si oday’s d retirement-ag peop e aren’t interret rement-aged people a nt-aged p inte ter ested in “ending” anything. What sted endi g an h n Wh d this generation of younger, he ltheneration rt young r healthnger ier 50 lus workers look forward e 50-plus w rker look fo w rd ers to, she s ys, to she says, is a chance to unwind, ac nwind, ind in but bu with but without giving up a life where thou giving ig life here they eel engaged, e evan and they feel engaged relevant and e g a m ni gful meaningful. l “For many people, work has been F an p ople, wo een their li e,” he ays. ight w ong, th r life,” she says. Right or wrong, life g, Armstron adds oomer are tied Armstrong adds boomers are tied mstr n ds, ers ed to the trappings of title, ofﬁce, the trapping of tit e a ings tle ofﬁce, tl , statu and posit on. status and position. She mentions a n itio entions t a client who lamented his recent li lam te his recent ament retireme t “He said that he went retirement. “He said that if he went im back i namepla woul al eady ba k, his nameplate would already plat uld alre be go e and there would be no sign gon n t e woul u sn he had ever been there. He was just e had ever be n there. a been here s ust about about in tears.” tea s.” ears M Many boomers ﬁnd leaving their oom s mers me d eavin t eir i career careers a sad prospect. For others, ree a pr sp ct. o o h rs, ros th timing us i n’ i h for retirethe timing just isn’t right for retire ii et me t “I is ment. “It is a very scary time, espeent er scary im espe p cially i cially with layoffs, and the stock ayoff , ffs, he tock k ma ket plunging,” say Cooper, markets pl nging,” says Cooper, ets y oper who wh recent y ublished who recently published a book, ok The New Retirement The New Retirement: How it Will e ire o ill Change ur utu Change our Future n tur ure. No wonder many are postponing o n m r ostp n n tpon ret r en retirement altogether. Cooper says o her. Cooper a oop boo boomers also realize there s more to al o alize h re’s o a job than pay They are very conjob t ay. T y re ver on ery cer cerned with stayin involved and rned t s a ing i volv d and v r levant relevant nt. “Retirement means social isola Retiremen mean ocial olairem n ans tion an tion and ultimately dependency, ltimately dependency, e n dete oratio a deterioration and degeneration— terioration degenerati n g tion and boomers aren’t bout ha and boomers aren’t about that,” r hat, Coo Cooper says. “ They’re about broadoper ays. “Th r abou broadThey bou d ening their horizons, regeneratning thei h rizons reg e atheir o s, ge ing, ing, making a valued contribution g king alued contributio ontribution to society.” Many, she says, ﬁnd socie ociety any h any, she says, y it difﬁcult to achieve these ideals ic ach eve t ese d a hiev hi without p i ary deavour, withou without a primary endeavour, noting some actually die f etirement. ing some actually die of ret u ent. n “Tho h “Though it see houg eems wonderful to onder derf to neve ne er again have to set the alarm, i av o s the a a be careful what you wish for.” aref areful wha y hat o As companies and 50 -pl works compan d 50 plus ork0- l ers xplor new, reative appr a h ers explo e ne creative approacht proa es t th twilight years of work to the twilight h a ork, retiremen s g ttin retirement is getting a facelift. ment ing facelift. i w ww. H R T ho ug ht L e ad er . c o m w.H h o u g h t a r co oug om D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 8 / J a n u a r y 2 0 0 9 29 http://www.HRThoughtLeader.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of HR Professional - December/January 2008

HR Professional - December/January 2008 Contents Editor's Letter Contributors Leadership Matters Upfront Legal Compensation Human Capital Talent Management The R-Word Speak No Evil On Message Strategy HR 101 Interview with Donna Wilson Off the Shelf The Last Word

HR Professional - December/January 2008

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