Boomer retirement and the looming talent shortage

Tips to attract and keep talented employees engaged and committed.

Marsha Murray, CPC, Murray Resources, Houston

It’s no secret that the first wave of baby boomers is rapidly approaching retirement. Of the 82 million people born between 1946 and 1964, a significant number of boomers have been or will begin exiting the workforce over the next few years. There are only half as many Gen Xers coming up the ranks to take the place of the retiring boomers, which will result in significant talent shortages across all industries throughout the nation.

The energy industry is anticipating an unprecedented technical brain drain as engineers, geologists, geophysicists, accountants, lawyers, operators, and others begin to leave their full-time careers. The competition for talent will only grow fiercer as more companies fight to recruit a smaller pool of available, highly skilled talent. What should your company be doing today to plan for an inevitable mass exodus tomorrow?

Know your company’s situation

How many people in your organization are eligible for retirement over the next 5 to 10 years? Of those eligible, how many are senior-level managers and executives, key supervisors, and company technical experts?

Experts are the people employees in your organization go to as a constant source of technical expertise or company knowledge. Keep in mind that in-house experts may not necessarily be managers, but will need replacing all the same.

Create a year-by-year analysis of your anticipated retirement levels and staffing replacement needs over the next five years. You may want to break the analysis down by department, company location, or by professions. Identify your most pressing future talent gaps to budget for and plan your replacement strategies appropriately.

In anticipation of increased recruiting activities, evaluate your current human resources practices. Decide if you need to modify your existing recruiting, training, retention, and succession plans. You may also need to make changes to policies and procedures to help speed up your hiring and promotions processes. Your traditional recruiting practices may not be enough.

Consider expanding the reach of your existing college and technical school recruiting and employee referral programs. Make contact with local military organizations to find out more about recruiting returning veterans.

Set up mentoring programs for knowledge exchange

Once you have identified what positions will be opening up, you need to identify those members of your organization who are best qualified or can be groomed to fill those future vacancies. Help these up-and-coming employees with personal and career development, especially growth assignments, so they’re ready for increased responsibilities when the time comes.

Create a mentoring relationship between your future retirees and their successors. Place successors in positions that work directly with future retirees to ensure as much knowledge is exchanged as possible.

Stretch boomer retirement out in stages

Explore developing a staggered timeline to schedule boomer-aged retirement throughout the company in stages. Talk with your prospective retirees today to find out their retirement goals over the next three to five years. Offer boomers the option to stay at work past their official retirement date or to return to work after retirement. Or, consider offering part-time positions or job-sharing. This option can be very appealing to those who aren’t quite ready to retire completely but would like to cut back from their full time hours.

If you choose to offer any of these options, you need to consider what this means for your company’s pension and retirement policies. Can boomers retire and then return to work without losing benefits, especially healthcare benefits?

Be proactive in retaining your existing employees

Satisfied employees have a good idea of what is expected of them from day to day. Communicate clear job roles, responsibilities, and performance goals. Employees also need regularly scheduled performance evaluations to receive fair and equitable feedback and encouragement.

Talk to employees about their long-term career growth goals and provide professional development opportunities to expand their knowledge and experience. Create work assignments that stretch employees’ skills and abilities, such as serving on inter-departmental teams for larger projects within the company. Don’t keep superstars in the same position forever, or they will move on. If the company can’t promote a top performer within one area, encourage them to apply for other positions within the company.

Give supervisors the training they need to retain their direct reports

People work for other people. Good supervisors motivate and praise top performance and create enthusiasm and loyalty. Bad supervisors often make employees feel undervalued and unappreciated.

One of the most frequent reasons employees give for leaving a company is to get away from a bad supervisor or manager. Exit interviews reveal a lot about the health of your organization and provide a great opportunity to correct problems and avoid additional turnover. Pay attention.

Competitive salaries and benefits are a must

Is your company offering the appropriate level of compensation to attract and retain the right talent? Tie bonuses to individual and company performance to reinforce the important roles individuals play in the company’s overall success. Two-career families juggle to balance their work life and home life.

With that in mind, does your company offer flexible working hours so employees can arrive and depart at the times that best meet their families’ needs? Do employees have the option to work from home as needed? Flexible working conditions can be as important, if not more important, than salary level in attracting and retaining valuable, committed employees.

About the author

Certified Personnel Consultant Marsha Murray [[email protected]] is president and founder of Murray Resources, a staffing and placement firm based in Houston that provides temporary, temp-to-hire, contract, payroll, and direct hire administrative/clerical and professional-level placement services for a number of industries, including the oil and gas industry.