Managing an aging workforce to retirement

Dear Caroline,

I am a new HR middle-level manager with a relatively middle-sized team (15). My team comprises a cross-generation of staff; 25 percent are near their retirement age in two to three years. I also have four recruits in our graduate programme who are now full-time employees. The demographic of my team mirrors that of the organisation. My supervisor believes we should immediately retire the older team members and bring in new blood. I think differently, but how do I influence him?

Patrick

H ello Patrick, welcome to the reality of the world of work and the challenge for many organisations in managing a cross-generational workforce. These challenges only force you to be more innovative. Managing retirement is sensitive, and given the current world of work, many people are happy to leave work and do their own thing. Others may be interested in something other than joining full-time employment.

Your starting point is to first look at your data and understand the people in your team. It is also vital that you fully understand the organisation’s strategy, how your team feeds into the strategy, and what your contribution is. The reason you do this is so you can fully recognise how you contribute and ensure that the roles in your team are linked. You are also doing this review to understand what skills you need in the group. Once you have collected and conducted a skills gap analysis in your team, you can now assess if the older team members need to be retired or whether they need to stay because they have the skills, maturity and institutional knowledge that all contribute to the organisation’s success .

All that data can then be used to influence your manger. If your older team members need to gain the skills for the future, will they want to train? If yes, are they trainable? And if yes, will you get a return on investment ? If they want to retire and are mentally ready, you could utilise their skills by developing a knowledge transfer/mentoring programme for younger team members. While they may struggle with new technology, their leadership and supervisory behaviour competency are valuable and should be passed down to the next generation. Another alternative is to consider working with them on a contractual basis. Another approach is to phase the retirement of the older team members so that it is structured and planned. They need support. You have to be cognisant that you must also prepare them for retirement and the psychology of retirement is a sensitive matter. So while the starting point was to get rid of the old, managing it is also a delicate balancing act. Good Luck

Caroline Mboijana,

Managing Director, The Leadership Team (U)  [email protected]