Retaining Older Workers More Important
Forget about Gen Y/Millennials for a second, how about retaining the older generations?
Unfortunately, we can’t all work for a dot com where younger workers and older workers can enter the industry on essentially the same footing. There are many industries where the wealth of experience an older person brings to a company actually does make a real significant difference. And with early retirement being offered in many of those industries (and early retirement being a voluntary option), the time to strengthen your retention strategy is now. Canada focus says:
The study showed mature, large companies to be at greatest risk from the demographic shift, due to their hiring history - rapid growth through the 1970s, followed by downsizing in the ’90s that left them with few mid-career employees today. Leadership, sales and technical positions will be the hardest to fill.
The cost of losing older workers is high. Replacing an experienced worker can cost 50 per cent or more of their annual salary and the cost is higher in jobs requiring specialized skills, advanced training or extensive experience - all more likely in 50-plus employees.
Employers often complain the generation now entering the workforce lack core competencies - which can be counterbalanced by older employees. Many 50-plus workers have experience, dedication, focus, stability and enhanced knowledge.
So not only are people more interested in the older generation, they suddenly find worth (and aren’t anchor weight) in the corporations of today. Couple this with the fact that older workers need some serious help in the job hunt and there is opportunity screaming all over it. Some have taken advantage of this opportunity, will your company?
For the Don Imus in you
Don Imus is, at best, a person that doesn’t think about everything that comes out of his mouth. Which if you’re a shock jock, is probably not that unusual. We can bat around whether he is a racist or not but at this point, at least from where I am taking this post, it doesn’t matter.
You aren’t a shock jock.
How do I know? Well, you’re reading this blog. And even recruiting’s biggest shock jock doesn’t really compare (sorry Animal).
What Don Imus can teach us however are things that we don’t think about when we say them can have long, lasting effects on our careers. What got Imus in hot water took about three seconds to say. To put that into perspective, these last two sentences took 12-15 seconds to read. Not very long.
Imus may survive because his job requires him to be edgy and to feel comfortable pushing that edge. You won’t likely be so lucky. Saying something offensive about your boss’s wife, the new secretary, or the delivery guy, even clocking in at three seconds, can add months of frustration and years of explaining exactly why you were let go from that company. And if you are the boss, you could look for some possible litigation love from your local attorneys.
No one wins when you let your lips loose while on the company dime. This is why I recommend you bring your game face to work and to company social events (including limited, if any, drinking). Sorry to be a buzzkill but a three second joke isn’t worth it. Especially if it isn’t that funny to begin with.
The Stereotype of the Older Worker
The Employment Blawg has a great post about employing older workers.
I personally enjoy employing older workers. I am relatively young in comparison to the rest of the workforce. All of the executives I have recruited are older than me so I guess the difference between a guy who is 38 and 58 is pretty slim from my point of view.
Still, it definitely seems like there is still a lot of bias against old people, especially in younger or more tech savvy companies. As George mentions in his blog, it is a hush-hush thing among HR folks but it is a widely acknowledged problem.
On that same note, I had a comment in my book review about Microsoft’s hiring process from an older person who just doesn’t get the idea of those types of interview questions. I wonder what the demographics of fast moving, entrepreneurial, or tech savvy companies look like.
There is some good advice for older workers looking for resume success in this Forbes article. It is written by the founder of Jobs 4.0, a job board that specifically targets job seekers over 40. Which isn’t the reason it is good, it is just interesting.
Why do people continue working for bad companies?
From the mailbag: Why do people continue to work for bad companies?
Brief answer: because it is easy.
What did I just say? I know, I know, the HR Guy has fallen off his rocker again. The stress at work must be unbearable.
The status quo is always easier though. It is always easier not to change. Change encompasses a whole range of emotions and uncertainties in life. Emotions that are uncomfortable for most people (like am I good enough?). Being rejected. Taking a pay cut. Doing something you really like.
Yes, even the fear of dropping your bad company for the picture perfect opportunity can have its range of negative emotions. After all, failing at the very thing you love is a huge blow. Failing at something you hate is much easier to stomach.
And that’s what keeps bad companies in business. Once you’ve finished a job search, you don’t want to restart it again. The job search being a miserable experience helps a bunch but staying with a bad company is simply easier than finding something else.
Finding something else means extra effort outside of work. It means possibly starting on a new career path. It means possibly taking a pay/benefit cut. And no, that’s not ideal but nobody said it would be. Making a decision to leave a bad company is either made through desperation or through very difficult work and sacrifices.
And while I’d love to believe that every single one of my employees are happy with where there are, chances are that at least a few are resenting their decisions to come to work for us but are putting up with it because it is easy. Possibly one day, they will take the difficult road to leave on their own but for now, they will stay. Because it is easier. And because even bad is safe.
Plan Your Sick Days Accordingly
I’ve been gone for two weeks. So what did I miss? I see some things about jobster but I haven’t decided if I should freak out yet.
James writes in to show me this gem: The Official 2007 Sick Day Calendar
I love it! I am notorious for not taking sick days though so what do I do to combat that?
Change everything to paid time off. I hate unplanned time off, it hurts the company big time and it usually hurts managers (as you have to replace with overtime or stay to keep the joint open). It also forces people to be untruthful in situations where they would likely be truthful. So, I plan far ahead. I just scheduled my time off for 2007 and if I get sick, I’ll have some leftovers to use.
Be wary though: if you do have sick days to use in this way, often times employers have rules regarding unexcused absences before or after a paid holiday. If your employer requires a note to get a sickness excused, you might be out of luck.
The jobacle.com blog is an interesting (if not entertaining) read.
-
About
Your HR Guy is a Human Resources Generalist practicing in the field. But don't let that fool you, this isn't a boring blog. I seek relevance and humor in a place we will spend much of our lives. Everything from workplace issues, job seeking and terrible bosses. Read more...
![View Lance Haun [lancehaun@gmail.com]'s profile on LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/img/webpromo/btn_viewmy_160x33.gif)
Featured on:
HRM Today- 3 Keys to Reducing Defensive Reactions to FeedbackWhen it comes to developing talent providing quality feedback is the most underutilized "tool" in any manager's toolkit. Most managers are able to intuitively assess and describe employee performance issues, but what is difficult is communicating this information to the employee. Nearly all managers dread initiating these conversations and often avoid them, particularly if they have a congenial relationship with the employee otherwise. Frequently, the area for development relates to difficult to quantify behaviors. Discussing these issues with an employee can seem out of the question—after all, what if the relationship between the manager and employee is somehow damaged? The underlying problem is the inability to translate what is “known” into effective words that are both comfortable to say and will have the right effect on the employee.
- Boomer Brain Drain: Not Gonna HappenMaren Hogan sent me a link to a website called Boomer Advisor. Specifically, she wanted her Twitter network to read an article called Companies Must Work to Avoid Boomer Brain Drain. Ugh. The article is disturbing for a variety of reasons — the least of which is because it’s about Baby Boomers. I’m disturbed because the [...]
- Call Center RecruitingMy HR blogging friend HR Minion and I have been talking about call center recruiting lately. Back in the day, at my first HR job, we hired anywhere from 10 to 30 people per month to work as sales/customer service reps for a very popular infomercial product. The job was hard to fill as it was only [...]
- Qualities of Good Presidents and Good EmployeesI love this post from Michael McKinney at Leading Blog. It’s based on a new book from Alvin Felzenberg, The Leaders We Deserved (and a Few We Didn’t): Rethinking the Presidential Rating Game. Felzenberg devised six criteria to best describe various U.S. presidents’ contribution to history. Based on this exercise, he presents a list of what [...]
- If Sales Ran Your Company…If you’re like me, you have heard many references over the years to a “revenue driven organization” or “client facing firm”, all code words for those cultures where sales rules the roost. So what would happen if they ran your entire company? For one, if revenues were down in a given quarter, it would likely [...]
- HR Controversy in the BlogosphereIf you think HR is boring, you’re right; however, we do have a few of our own controversies circling around the blogosphere. No, there isn’t a conflict between those who want to use red personnel folders and those who prefer blue. (Although I’m not saying that the specific color of folders hasn’t been an issue in [...]
- Personnel vs Human Resources: Is There a Difference?A senior human resources executive emailed me to ask whether I still see the term “personnel” floating about in today’s market. She found the term to be a bit demeaning and old school, feeling it reflected an era of lesser value than today’s current HR function. Which begs the question - is there really a [...]
- Flip Flops at Work? Not in this House!That’s it. I’m done. I’m soooo done. The last nerve has been fried and the camels back is officially broken. If you want me I’ll be in a corner pounding my head against the wall. I know I’ve joked about it in the past, but, 1. Is it that hard to tell someone their outfit is [...]
- Paranormal Infestation as Affirmative NLRB Defense?ABS Heating and Cooling was found to be in violation of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) when they stopped paying their employees in accordance with the union contract...however, about that same time, they were being investigated for paranormal activity. Was there any connection?
- Illegal Hiring Practices?Is it “legal” for a public agency to fill a position without advertising it (internally or externally)? My hubby works as an Engineering Technician for a special district in California. To fill a new position of Junior Engineer, the district’s Engineering department head and supervisor went to the college and specific academic department from which the [...]
- 3 Keys to Reducing Defensive Reactions to Feedback
