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Small Business Human Resources Workforce Development Your Questions Answered Success Stories

December 2003 — Vol. 81, No. 10

Prepare now for an aging workforce and skills shortages

By Debra Susca

Free-lance writer in Portland

 

With America’s workforce aging and millions of baby boomers beginning to hit their retirement years, businesses need to prepare to deal with the impending skilled-worker shortage and the need to keep older workers in the workforce longer. Below are some steps experts say Connecticut businesses should consider:

  • Assess the age of your workforce to determine when potential worker shortfalls will occur, and plan for future HR and skill needs.
  • Establish succession plans and replacement charts, not just for executives but for key employee positions as well.
  • Train younger workers so they’ll be prepared to take over retiring workers’ jobs. For help with locating training resources, e-mail CBIA’s Judy Resnick or call her at 860-244-1900.
  • Train older workers so their skills remain current.
  • Revamp your benefits package to meet the needs of older workers.
  • Devise incentives to entice the best performers with badly needed skills to delay their retirements until younger people gain the experience to replace them.
  • Step up recruiting of mid-career employees.
  • Improve strategies for capturing technical experience and history now before it retires with an employee.
  • Get involved with local school systems to ensure that young people are acquiring the skills they’ll need to enter your industry. The CBIA Education Foundation, for example, can help you work with schools, students or teachers; see the “Employer Involvement in Education” area at cbia.com.
  • Revamp and increase recruiting efforts if necessary.
  • Take steps to ensure that older workers know they’re valued and not at a dead end in their careers.
  • Educate hiring managers about the advantages of hiring older workers.
  • Conduct awareness training for managers of older-worker issues to help them understand how to manage an aging workforce.
  • Purposely assign younger and older workers to the same work teams to facilitate knowledge transfer.
  • Consider phased-retirement plans.
  • Create “bridge” jobs and job-sharing arrangements.
  • Conduct surveys to find out employees’ needs and job satisfaction so you can tailor benefits and training programs.


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