Posted 05-16-2012
Employers, brace for a “brain drain”: The Baby Boom generation has started to retire, leaving higher-level positions in management and technical fields unfilled. This group now ranges in age from mid-40s to mid-60s, and there almost twice as many of them as in the Generation X that follows. Every day, 10,000 boomers turn 65. While the Great Recession, with its layoffs, real estate market turmoil, and weak stock market put many retirement plans on hold, the improving economy means that the brain drain has begun in earnest.
Many companies are already feeling the pinch as those on the older fringe of Baby Boom have started to leave the workforce. According to an April, 2012 survey of human resource professionals commissioned by the AARP and the Society for Human Resource Management, nearly three-quarters (72%) described the loss of talent in their industry and in their company due to older workers retiring/leaving in the next decade as a “crisis”, “problem” or “potential problem”. Close to half (45%) of the companies surveyed had increased training and cross-training efforts in order to prepare for the potential skills gaps and/or to retain and recruit older workers.
As younger employees are promoted into management, they must be trained on how to be good managers. For instance, they have to learn how to document employee performance with objective, verifiable facts, which questions to ask-and avoid-during interviews, and what to do when a whistleblower complains about a product or process. Unless new managers are taught these important skills and understand the legal framework within which they must operate in their new roles, they are bound to make mistakes that could be very costly for your organization.
What this means to you:
For 30 years, Fair Measures has been a proven leader in providing strategic, engaging training for managers that gives them practical leadership skills they can use every day. Taught by our attorney-trainers, our dynamic classroom and web workshopshave helped thousands of supervisors to manage fairly, hire the best, use e-mail professionally, act ethically, accommodate employees with disabilities, control overtime, handle family and medical leaves, properly oversee temps and contractors, prevent workplace violence, and more.
Information here is correct at the time it is posted. Case decisions cited here may be reversed. Please do not rely on this information without consulting an attorney first.
