Many industries need baby boomers to keep working since they strongly rely on their expertise.  Employers need to find ways to keep them happy and productive whether the baby boomers needed to continue working due to financial reasons, or they simply enjoy going to work every day.

Baby boomers have years of experience and knowledge expertise that needs to be passed on to the rest of the workforce.  See if any would be interested in working on a mentoring program to help train new hires in their departments.  They can take this person under their wing and hopefully pass on the expertise your company will need to maintain for the future.  I remember my dad talking about a guy who was riding along with him.  He was a new splicer for the company, and my dad was showing him the ropes.  I know my dad enjoyed this and I’m pretty sure the new splicer did as well.  He still brings his kids and wife to visit my parents and swim in their pool every summer.

Human resource professionals have a unique challenge in the years ahead.  We need to find a way to engage five different generations of workerswith very different expectations.  How can you keep baby boomers engaged and productive?  Think about things as they would, and get your hands a little dirty in the process.  What do I mean by this?  Take a lesson from BMW in Germany.  They got on the manufacturing floor with their staff and turned an entire production line into a baby boomer friendly operation.  It really was simple - new shoes and flooring, special chairs, tool improvements, and new computer screens.  All it took was a little listening to hear what caused stresses during the workday.

Find ways to show baby boomers their knowledge is valued and they are respected.  Then consider ways to make work easier so they can continue passing on their trade secrets to new employees.  Productivity might even increase along the way!

Erica L.

Originally posted at: http://uecubenefit.uecu.org/