Baby Boomers are Retiring and It’s Time to Fill the Gap

The pandemic impacted the workforce in numerous ways.  One of the most significant was an increased rate of retirement by members of the baby boomer generation.  Rather than face the risks and uncertainty of returning to work after lockdown, many baby boomers opted for retirement.  This sudden exodus of established professionals has created a giant gap in the workforce.  That gap will only increase as boomers continue to retire.

Unfortunately, many organizations do not have a plan for replacing baby boomers in the workforce.  Hiring managers need to be proactive before the gap intensifies.  Now is the time to address this concern before you’re left scrambling to fill vital vacancies.

Below, we provide three ways businesses can get ahead of the expanding baby boomer gap.

Create Multi-Generational Teams and Departments

Collaboration is key in every successful workplace.  When professionals work together on a project to achieve a desired goal, the results are often positive.  So, it makes sense to form a collaborative team dedicated to overcoming the encroaching generational job gap.

Creating teams composed of Generation Z, Millennial, Generation X, and Baby Boomer staff members is a brilliant way to train the next wave of professional talent.  By blending these generations, companies benefit from the knowledge they’ll share and the new ideas they’ll develop.

Create a Job Knowledge Base

Long-serving employees may know every facet of their position, but that doesn’t help the next generation of professionals—or the employer’s future.  Before they retire, it’s time for businesses to mine the deep resources of baby boomers’ expertise to create a knowledge base.

Working together, junior-level professionals and their soon-to-be-retiring colleagues collect vital information via written, video and/or audio documentation.  When the documentation process is finished, they then use the various pieces to create a knowledge base that current and future employees can access.  Having this knowledge repository in place greatly improves everyday operations and enhances onboarding/training requirements.

Find The Leaders

A majority of retiring employees held leadership positions.  While the most obvious option would be to promote from within to fill these positions, not every employee (even the star performers) is interested in a leadership position.  It’s hard to lead a team to success if the person at the helm doesn’t have the ability or interest to do so.

If no internal candidates exist, businesses can fill these leadership gaps by turning to the job market.  Candidates with leadership qualities and experience often have difficulty landing positions during an employer’s market (mainly due to salary/budgetary constraints), they are having less difficulty during the current jobseeker’s market.  Take advantage of this opportunity to find your next business leaders now before multiple crews lose their current captains.

If your company needs to fill the gap caused by baby boomer generation retirement, it’s time to talk to us.  Contact the staffing experts at Elite Personnel so we can help you find your leaders for tomorrow.