Golden opportunities are here to keep, recruit quality employees

I continue to be surprised by the number of calls and e-mails we get from business owners and managers who are struggling to recruit and retain members of the younger generations. No one seems interested in a technique or two to keep older workers around.

Companies today are so focused on attracting younger people that they ignore one of their most valuable resources ... their senior employees. And, they're in for a rude awakening over the next few years as "traditionalists" (those employees born prior to 1945) and older baby boomers become eligible for retirement and begin to leave the workplace in droves.

How serious is the problem? A 2003 study by McKinsey & Company revealed that during the next 10 years the demand for bright, talented 35- to 45-year-olds will increase by 25 percent and the supply will decrease by 15 percent. There simply won't be enough bodies around to fill key positions.

As employers search for solutions, they are constantly complaining about the quality of applicants. The ironic thing is that they are so busy scanning resumes from the outside they fail to see that the characteristics they are looking for are right down the hall. For example:

Loyalty " Traditionalists are the people who invented the one-page resume. Job-hopping was unheard of, and most stayed with the same employer for their entire career.

Experience " Traditionalists have incredible relationships with their company, its products, and its customers as well. They've experienced every type of economy, and seen all that competitors have to throw at them. Veteran workers have lived a company's history. And, this history is exactly what future managers need to hear, so that mistakes only happen once and golden opportunities are not missed.

Consistency " Seasoned workers can provide much needed continuity for a corporate culture by keeping alive a constant sense of a company's purpose and identity. The good news is that most traditionalists have bigger and better plans than sitting on a porch swing all day drinking iced tea. One recent study revealed that 49 percent of traditionalists who retire plan on returning to work. To take advantage of this, companies need to find ways to identify them.

Companies are good at identifying a 25- to 35-year-old with spunk and potential, but few take time to target the 55- to 65-year-old with the track record, energy, and imagination to blend into a new role.

Training is one of the better investments a business can make. The U.S. Census Bureau has found that 28 percent of 55- to 65-year-olds are enrolled in some form of an educational program. In short, many traditionalists are ready and willing to learn.

It's no surprise that if you want to keep generation Xers on board, you'll have to explore everything from work-at-home policies to flex time to job sharing. But companies are forgetting the one generation that deserves a little flexibility.

Traditionalists have lived and breathed the 9 to 5 concept all their working lives.

Companies that can find ways to break this mold and offer the sort of schedules this generation never dreamed of having are uncovering a wonderful retention strategy.

Many traditionalists can't imagine going straight from full-time work to full-time retirement. Assisting in the transition creates a win-win situation for everybody.

The value of gold cannot be overlooked.

- By Kris E. Holt is the executive director, Nevada Business Connections.