Tips from Angie

The changing face of employment
Tips on how to prepare for baby boomers' retirement

The first of the baby boomers will reach retirement age in 2011, yet 64 percent* of companies who responded to a national Angie's List poll say they're doing nothing to prepare for the impact.

At 79 million people, the baby boomer generation is the largest ever and its actions heavily impact the economy. From an employer perspective, it's imperative to evaluate how these retirees will affect your business. Ask yourself:

• What percentage of my workforce will be eligible for retirement in the next five, 10 years?
  
• Among those eligible, what are their day-to-day responsibilities? Are they supervisors or team leaders?
  
• Who on your staff is a candidate for filling vacancies left by your senior employees?
  
• How will you transition those employees to fill the gaps?
  
• If you don't have employees in the pipeline ready for advancement, can you entice those eligible for retirement to stay on board? What will that cost?
  

Nearly 50 percent of businesses who responded said there is a shortage of new employees who want to enter their field. The biggest reason given was "a lack of interest among young people in my profession," followed by the "perception that this profession doesn't offer long-term security."

In the long term, many business owners agree that young people need to be better educated on the benefits of entering skilled trades. As one electrician in Detroit put it, "the demand for high tech jobs pulls trainable workers away from the building trades. Smaller class sizes in trade school mean fewer new employees, so for the foreseeable future we'll have fewer people doing more work."

Here's how some companies are trying to combat that trend:

• Offering sign-on bonuses to lure already-trained employees
  
• Increasing pay and/or benefits to lure or keep already-trained employees.
  
• Recruiting retired, trained workers to come back to the workforce.
  
• Hiring untrained workers and paying for their training/schooling.
  

What are you doing to prepare? Click here to tell us!