Jetrader - March/April 2009 - 19

TACKLING BRAIN DRAIN • During the past decades companies have proven that you can’t win the talent wars just by spending more. When it comes to ﬁnding and keeping employees, pay is secondary for top talent. But if a company builds an outstanding reputation, people will line up to work at that organization. For the transportation industry, this will involve a degree of investment in branding efforts and workplace changes that will appeal to the younger Generation Y. • One of the most important issues for reputation will be to promote a cause. The 2008 Adecco USA Workplace Insight survey found that 69 percent of Generation Y wanted the company they worked for to be more environmentally conscious. That demographic was even willing to sacriﬁce, on average, 6.2 percent of their salary to work for an environmentally friendly company—more than double the amount any other generation of workers would be willing to give up. This is clearly an issue that would motivate top young talent since they would be eager to work for an industry that could make a signiﬁcant environmental contribution. An equally signiﬁcant issue is the transfer of knowledge from the seasoned industry professionals to new employees. It is crucial that the mentoring relationships be managed properly so that both sides will feel comfortable and work together effectively. • The big question is how do we get individuals who know technical operations, equipment and ﬁeld needs to share the “tribal knowledge” that they have acquired over decades of being on the job? One way is to help them to understand how to mentor and coach the new hires. For example, companies can offer incentives that can supplement their retirement incomes in exchange for coaching the newbies. A train-the-trainer program is an essential ﬁrst step so they can properly transfer some of that valuable information in their heads. Since effective mentoring and cooperation is so crucial to the impending transfer of knowledge, personality assessments will be vital in matching the right workers to the right tasks and team members. • In my recently published book, Cracking the Personality Code, I discuss how using an in-depth work style and personality assessment during the hiring process and for current staff allows the employer to manage more effectively. This data can reduce the learning curve for the inﬂux of new hires necessary in your industry. • In addition, personality assessments are vital in building mentoring partnerships and teams that will be productive and run smoothly. By understanding how different members of the team work, managers can help guide them to appreciate each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Since so much of the industry-speciﬁc knowledge for your industry is in the minds of the impending retirees, organizations must act quickly to effectively capture it. B ye-bye, Baby Boomers. Will the last exye perienced person in the transportation industry please turn the lights out when you leave? From a human capital standpoint, the state of the transportation industry t is not good: i According to the United States Department of Labor, nearly one-ﬁfth (19.2 percent) of workers are within ﬁve to seven years of retirement. In addition to the high price of doing business, the transportation industry is facing another kind of crisis—much dust of the industry’s workforce is nearing retirement age. Unfortunately, over the years, little effort has been made to attract young, fresh talent to replace them. This is more than a decrease in head count; it is a loss of know how. The industry is at risk of losing crucial intellectual capital. Ten years ago McKinsey & Co. declared that better employee talent is worth ﬁghting for, and the news quickly spread from the boardroom bunkers to the cubicle trenches. The reasons for the coming talent wars were demographics and the retirement of the Baby Boomer generation. The battle cry was to not only improve hiring practices, but to work harder to retain your best employees. Jetrader 19

Jetrader - March/April 2009

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