Blog

I was up with the sparrows this morning to attend the SA CEDA trustees breakfast to look at the findings of the latest Hudson 2020 report entitled: Talent Tightrope – managing the workplace through the downturn. I suspect that for most, this report confirms much of what we already know. There was one alarming stat for me:

“Fewer than one in five employers report that they are tailoring their approaches by generation (19%), and only a third indicated that ideally they would tailor their approaches, though they currently lack the resources to do so.”

My co-director Alison often says, “Conversations come free!”. A starting point for all employers is to have individual conversations with employees from all generations to work out the drivers for retention and attraction. Focus on your critical resource areas. Focus on employees who hold core business knowledge that you can’t afford to lose. Tailoring doesn’t need to cost an arm and a leg; and it’s far less costly than losing the arms and legs of your organisation.

Top tip from SageCo:

Your window of opportunity for conversations with your baby boomer workforce is even shorter than with other generations due to retirement options. If you want key individuals to extend their working life with you, use some of these questions in your conversation:

• How do you see your career evolving over the next ten years with us?
• What would your ideal role look like?
• What knowledge, skills and rules of thumb do you think we need to retain in our business?

Help your baby boomer employees create a positive and productive future.