We have always been effected by demographic shifts, but they usually don’t come quickly. So we don’t notice until they have crept so far that they stare us in the face. COVID changed all that. Trends changed rapidly and many are permanent.You know what happened: everything shut down or went remote that was not considered essential. US alone: almost 900,00 people died, over 3.5 million baby boomers retired. Working Moms and some Dads have not returned to work to take care of kids at home, and we now have way more jobs open than unemployed.
Attitudes about work have changed, too. Since I entered the work force at the tail of the baby boom I’ve had to compete for every promotion and take what I could get. Seniority was heavily weighted because there was just too many of us to sort fairly and we were rewarded for working hard and long. We have dominated the work force for over 50 years and our era is ending.
Listen up. There are more jobs than workers. We have cut off legal and illegal immigration. Able workers are still at home and not even looking for work. Yes, we can and will outsource work to the Philippines and Armenia and India, but there is more to do.
We should plan for more turnover just because workers have more opportunity to change jobs. So they will. We should incorporate constant hiring and training as the new normal, including training for retention of good folks. If people are our greatest resource, we must finally act as if that is true. Be clear about career paths and other learning opportunities you offer. You might hate this but think of your team as customers. They have choices and they are taking them.
Mostly, we must get over ourselves. What got us here, won’t make us winners in this new normal. Where do you need to shift? Demographics win….again.
Image courtesy of the Guardian.