Home / News / Boomers No More Eager to Retire Than Predecessors
May 15, 2008
Boomers No More Eager to Retire Than Predecessors
BOSTON, May 15, 2008 — Baby
boomers are no more eager to retire than their
predecessors, according to a survey of more than 2,500
senior HR executives in North America by Novations Group, a
consulting firm based in Boston.
"Like preceding generations approaching retirement
age, boomers seem to have mixed feelings about leaving the
workforce," said Novations Executive Consultant Tim
Vigue. "They’re not so anxious after all to
leave the job, at least according to HR staff responsible
for monitoring such trends."
How would you characterize the attitude toward
retirement of the baby boomers in your
organization?
|
Our baby boomers seem eager to retire.
|
14%
|
|
Our baby boomers seem no more eager to retire than
previous age groups.
|
42%
|
|
Our baby boomers do not seem eager to retire.
|
19%
|
|
Not sure
|
25%
|
But boomer ambivalence has left many employers in an
awkward and vulnerable position, warned Vigue. "If
boomers are giving ambiguous signals to management, then
it’s easy to see why employers may find themselves in
a quandary. A majority of employers, 56%, either don’t
expect a large loss of talent, or just aren’t
sure."
With respect to retiring baby boomers, how would
you describe the situation at your organization?
|
We’re taking steps to mitigate our loss of talent
(for example, by creating ways for baby boomers to
gradually reduce their hours).
|
26%
|
|
We anticipate a serious loss of talent and institutional
know-how, but currently do not have any steps in place to
mitigate this loss.
|
18%
|
|
We don’t expect an unusually large loss of talent
with baby boomer retirements.
|
36%
|
|
Not sure
|
20%
|
The widespread uncertainty has contributed to indecision or
inaction by employers," said Vigue. "Companies
seem to be all over the map in dealing with possibly
soon-to-retire boomers. Since organizations are not able to
anticipate how many vacancies they’ll need to fill, in
what critical areas or when, they are leaving a great deal
to chance. Succession planning, internal development
planning, and recruitment and hiring processes are all
compromised as a result."
According to the survey, only 26% of employers have plans
that will allow them to control the flow of talent into,
within or out of their organization. "Well-run
companies wouldn’t dream of handling the flow of
products and services they sell in such a haphazard
way," observed Vigue. "These 26% are probably
best-practice organizations that will have a competitive
edge over other companies that don’t have plans to
address the issue."
Equation Research conducted the Internet survey of 2,556
senior HR and T&D executives in December 2007.
Novations Group, Inc. is a leading provider of consulting
and training services on four continents. Novations is
recognized for its expertise in diversity & inclusion,
employee engagement, talent management, employee selection,
leadership development, organization communications, sales
training and customer service. For more information, visit
www.novations.com.
Contact: Pat FitzGerald, Novations, 617-787-2163, pfitzgerald@novations.com,
or Phil Ryan, Ryan Public Relations, 845-339-7858.
back to News
