Very few employers have begun to strategize about this very real staffing dilemma and may find themselves dealing with any number of organizational issues. Just consider the following:

• Lost knowledge. Do you know the historical perspective of why a product is designed the way it is? Do you have key customers who do business with your organization just because of the career-long relationships that have been established and cultivated by your sales professionals? Do you understand the underlying cultural issues that explain why your organization values certain behaviors and job competencies? If you don’t but your senior employees do, this is a huge area of vulnerability.
• Few strong succession candidates. Who will take the places of your senior leaders when they retire? Do you have a strong team to fill their shoes at their time of retirement? Many organizations are now finding they have much work to do to prepare junior staff for key leadership roles.
• Limited selection of qualified candidates. When your retirement-eligible employees retire, are their skill-sets readily replaceable in today’s job market? Organizations are often finding that new graduates and new workforce entrants have neither the education nor the experience to qualify them to productively handle these roles.
• Overworked and burned-out employees. If you will likely experience difficulty in replacing your senior workers, then it is also likely your existing workforce will quickly become overworked and burned-out as they work extra hours to cover their own jobs and those of retirees who could not be replaced.

What are some of the strategies that organizations might use to overcome these challenging scenarios?

Anticipate staffing needs to avoid being caught unprepared. Identify those in your organization who are close to retirement; then, calculate the rate at which your employees tend to retire. Do all those who are eligible for retirement at age 65 take retirement, or do only about 50% opt out? Also, calculate at what age your employees tend to retire. With this information, you’ll be able to determine what your potential liability might be.

Create strategies to retain/share key institutional knowledge. If you haven’t read David DeLong’s book, Lost Knowledge: Confronting the Threat of an Aging Workforce, you should put it on your short-term reading list. Read a review in the December 2005 Employment Strategist. (Back issues are available for your review at http://www.cathyfyock.com. Click on e- briefing). DeLong suggests such strategies as IT, storytelling, and mentoring in order to improve the transfer of knowledge.

Educate employees about the benefits of continuing to work. Do you only educate your employees on the benefits they are eligible to receive at retirement? Do you ever talk about the benefits of continuing to work for your organization? Many organizations offer educational programs that discuss employment options, such as contract work, phased retirement, or double-dipping options.

Redesign benefits so retirees can afford to return to the workplace. Some organization’s pension plans are designed to offer benefits computed on the last x-years of service. This design can negatively impact workers who might like to take a step down from their current, high-pressure position to a less demanding role, or work part-time instead of full-time.

Focus on development and training of junior staff. Is your junior staff ready to accept leadership roles? Do they have the requisite management and leadership knowledge and experience to move up the ladder? If not, initiate training and development programs to foster their speedy development: mentoring, coaching, and classroom development opportunities.

Re-examine policies that promote retirement and that inhibit return-to-work options. Is it more financially feasible for your employees to take retirement? Are pension benefits negatively impacted when a retirement-eligible individual opts for part- time work or a position earning less salary? Ensure that your policies are designed to meet your specific and changing employment needs.

Create new work options, such as part-time, job sharing, phased and rehearsal retirement. Many organizations are finding their mature workers want work options when all they offer is either full-time work or retirement. Traditional part time work options (part-day or part-week) and non- traditional part time options (part-month or part- year) may better meet employees’ motivations for work. Other unique programs, such as phased and rehearsal retirement are becoming more popular as employers investigate ways to meet the needs of both their employees and the organization to keep experienced and knowledgeable workers. AARP has just initiated a sabbatical program to help reward and retain its high-performance staffers.

Change your culture so working in lesser positions or taking a demotion is not stigmatized. In most organizations today, there is a stigma attached to taking a step down the employment ladder. Yet many harried managers may want to remain in the organization, utilizing their knowledge and experience, in less stressful roles. Organizations may want to explore their internal values, and through focus groups, determine ways to redefine their culture.

The workforce is aging and becoming retirement- eligible. Will your organization be ready?

Cathy provides consulting services for organizations that need to develop strategies to meet the needs of an aging and changing workforce. Contact her at 1-800-277-0384 or through email at cathy@cathyfyock.com.

• First-Timers include women looking for their first job out of high school, vocational school, or college.
• Career Shifters are women currently working in another industry.
• Challengers are those women looking for better opportunities within their industry.
• Returners are women who stopped working to raise a family, care for the home, or go to school, but now want to return to the work world.

First Timers. To recruit First-Timers, place advertisements in high school and college newspapers; list your employment openings on www.monster.com; use recruitment posters on school bulletin boards, or purchase advertising in the school yearbook or directory. Develop relationships with school counselors and teachers. Let them know about careers in your organization.

Attend school career fairs to let First-Timers know you're interested in them. Give talks about your business; sponsor school activities; or hire an intern through a vocational education program.

Career Shifters. To recruit Career Shifters use on-line sources and newspaper advertising. Cross reference print and on-line ads by using a heading under traditional occupations for women (secretaries, clerks, teachers). Direct mail is another approach to target women. Place posters in locations where women are lunching or running errands--grocery stores, banks, department stores. For retailers, turn some of your female customers into employees with point-of-sale advertising that sends a positive recruitment message.

Returners. Returners can be recruited through such activities as open houses. This allows the woman who is uncertain about the job to gain more information before committing to an interview. Open houses can even be designed to appeal to women who need job search skills and information. Several organizations have done just that in co- sponsoring "Back to Work Seminars" for women. By offering an educational program, you entice these women to attend and learn about your opportunity.

Advertise for Returners in community newspapers, women's clubs newsletters, church bulletins, or convenience store papers (Thrifty Nickel, Penny Pincher or Bargain Mart). In major metropolitan papers, stay out of the "help wanted" section. Instead, place recruiting ads next to the grocery store ads on coupon days--where the female homemaker is looking.

Challengers. Employers recruiting for Challengers will need to show opportunities for advancement, training and development offered for growth, and the benefits of a career within the organization.

Recruiting Messages: On-Line and Print

Recruiting messages should say more than "help wanted." Sell the opportunity and stress the benefits of the job. Testimonial messages are a powerful form of recruiting. Use a statement from a woman who had never before considered working in your industry or from a career shifter who is now more satisfied with her job.

Messages appealing to female candidates include information on the work environment, flexibility of work hours and schedules, availability of child care facilities, training programs, and opportunities for growth. Let women know you are tuned into their concerns.

Attracting and recruiting women for today's work environment is essential. A creative, marketing- oriented approach to recruiting is the key ingredient for a successful campaign.

The HR Value Proposition by Dave Ulrich

Cathy Fyock and Whitney Martin are sponsoring an HR Book Club in Louisville for area HR professionals who want to discuss the latest business books impacting their effectiveness. Here are some of the reviews from participants at the first meeting where Dave Ulrich’s newest book, The HR Value Proposition, was discussed.

The best tip I got from this book is how important it is to connect with our external customers. Once we really understand the customers' needs, we can add value to our organization by ensuring our HR practices align with customer needs.

Debra de Doming, PHR

Thank you and Whitney for hosting this club. It is definitely something I will find educational in my transitioning to HR.

I heard the term "theoretical" used when talking about Dave Ulrich's book, but I think his book is only theoretical because the things he advises HR leaders to do, aren't being done.

Bill Coder

The HR Value Proposition provides a pragmatic thinking and development process to learn the business, understand the key stakeholders' value drivers, and design an HR strategic plan that will deliver profitable value to the stakeholders when effectively implemented. The book does not detail the execution of the plan, nor is that the purpose, and I recommend Execution, The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charam, as a compliment to Ulrich's and Brockbank's book. There is a lot of synergy in the authors' collective thinking.

Ulrich’s book is well- organized, starting with the business environment and ending with the HR professional. It offers assessments, information- gathering tools and insights that are very effective. As a graduate of Ulrich and Brockbank's Advanced Human Resource Executive Program, I have used their templates and applied their processes with very positive results. The book reinforces the value of good, insightful questions to understand and deliver measurable results.

This is a must read, even if it is a slow read, for our continuing professional development. It is well worth the investment.

Bob Fritz

The one concept that I found to be a recurring theme and the most valuable information is that it is not what we, as HR managers, perceive as value, but what the receivers’ of our information and training perceive as value that is most important. Reminding oneself of this concept can ensure that HR remains a value-contributing part of the organization.

Sharon Thompson

Attend the next HR Book Club meeting on June 22 at 6:00 p.m. The book selection is The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. Call Cathy at 502 243- 2482 for more information.

CD-ROM $30 + $5 shipping/handling

(audio presentation coupled with Power Point presentation)

Learn how to put key ideas into action to maximize the benefits of an age-diverse work-force. Cathy explores six outdated assumptions about work and offers new strategies to reap the gold in the graying of our workforce.

Praise for Finding the Gold . . .

Cathy Fyock delivers a homerun with her e- Learning products! Cathy couples her HR savvy and years of experience as an Employment Strategist with her keen ability to target the needs of today’s HR professionals. Cathy covers all the basics in a passionate execution of flawless delivery. SHRM’s e- Learning students walk away with tools and tips to immediately help them on their job. Cathy is an asset to the HR Profession.

--Tom Melanson, Manager, SHRM e- Learning

You can now order this and other products from Cathy Fyock directly from her web site at www.cathyfyock.com.

May 10 – 11 HR Generalist Faculty Meeting, SHRM, Alexandria, VA

May 16 Program team, Ulrich presents “The HR Value Proposition” for Executive HR Breakfast Briefing and Luncheon Workshop, Louisville SHRM, Louisville, KY

May 21 Avoiding Sexual Harassment, Summit Heights United Methodist Church, Louisville, KY

June 6 – 8 United Methodist Conference, Bowling Green, KY

June 22 HR Book Club, Louisville, KY

June 23 – 28 SHRM Annual Conference, Washington, DC (Faculty meeting and HR Generalist Certificate Program)

Dates for the SHRM HR Generalist Certificate Program ‘06

June 24 – 27 Washington, DC (SHRM annual conference)

July 10 – 12 Atlanta

Oct 9 – 11 New York City

Oct 30 – Nov 1 Chicago

Nov 13 – 15 Washington, DC

Nov 29 – Dec 1 Orlando

Tentative Dates: Dec 4 – 6, Orlando, Beta HR Generalist Certificate Program 2007

Hold the Date!

May 16 LSHRM sponsors Dave Ulrich for a luncheon and workshop, “The HR Value Proposition,” Louisville, KY. Call Cathy for more information at 1- 800-277-0384!

Cathy Fyock, CSP, SPHR, is an employment strategist—helping organizations develop strategies to recruit and retain top talent in an aging and changing marketplace. For over 15 years she has combined her knowledge of work-force issues and her talents as a speaker to provide innovative and inspirational learning events. She has helped organizations attract top talent, reduce turnover, and improve productivity in a volatile labor market.