Changing Demographics. Before millennials came along, boomers were the largest generation in the nation’s history. Because there were 80+ million of them, they formed a large wave. So when boomers did anything -whether ushering a social revolution or turning gray- the rest of society felt it. Boomers entering retirement is no different. A lot of knowledge and experience will be walking out the door, and industries such as engineering, education, and healthcare -which are knowledge-intensive– will be impacted as the collective institutional memory of many organizations will retire.
What to do?
Companies should implement processes that capture and transfer this knowledge to younger workers. This can be accomplished through technology and by enabling the retired pool of “boomer expertise” to be accessed through part-time work, consulting agreements, or flexible retirement.
Next huge demographic change? Enter millennials. At 90+ million strong there are more of them than boomers, and depending on which study you cite, millennials will make up between 35-45% of the workforce by 2014. So, yes, you could say the millennials will be replacing boomers. And just like boomer waves affected societal, cultural and workplace trends, so will the millenials’ wave.
How? Millenials are all about social equality (74% support same sex marriage) and that includes issues of gender and race. So it’s no surprise that among this group the gender pay gap has practically closed, and will likely disappear as women are becoming better educated than men.
Millennials are also the most technically savvy and connected generation, and this will transform -among many things- how work performance is measured and how we communicate and give feedback. So, workplace practices will adjust to accommodate millennial worker’s strengths and preferences.
Lastly, let’s not forget that in addition to being workers, millennials –perhaps more so than any generation before- are also big consumers. And they sometimes bring a “consumer sensibility” to what they expect from the workplace. This too will cause change.
So get ready, the kids are going to be running the place soon. Hopefully they’ll listen to advice from those boomers still working under a flexible retirement agreement.
© Copyright Eva Del Rio
