Have you documented the wealth of knowledge accumulated over the last few decades?
You may have an office manual, you may have a succession plan in the wings, however, are you truly prepared?
And better still, has your plan taken into account the nature of the generations to come?
Let's take a look at the facts. Baby Boomers were born between 1945 and 1965, so they are now between 41 and 61 years of age. Trends indicate that they are inclined to retire in their 50's. This means we have 9 years left to soak up decades of knowledge and business practices. This fact is amplified by the transient nature of our emerging Generations X & Y. The expectation of a Generation X employee is to stay in your workplace for a maximum of 5 years and for a Generation Y employee this is reduced to 2 years.
Other points you may need to consider with Generation X & Y:
* They have a natural aptitude towards technology in particular their understanding and acceptance of the internet.
* They exhibit a tendency towards flexibility in the workplace.
* Baby Boomers worked long and hard leaving little room for play, Generation X & Y tend to lean more towards a work/life balance.
One major local business that I am aware of is currently facing the issue of a retiring workforce at the management level. In fact, over 65% of their managers will be retiring in the next 8 years. The solution for this organisation is to job share the retiring Baby Boomers whilst they phase out their careers with Generation X & Y. Not only would the capture of knowledge and business processes benefit the managers to come, but also in the instance of job sharing, a record of day to day knowledge allows for a smooth transition between staff.
One thing is for certain, in this new era we will no longer see employees stay in a workplace for 20 years, rather, 2-5 years will be the norm and expectation. In order to minimize the impact on our businesses, we need to capture the knowledge and streamline business processes in a flexible manner.
A systemised business allows you this flexibility but most importantly it allows your business to continue to grow when the Baby Boomer workforce walks away into retirement.
