Many businesses say they aren’t ready to deal with baby boomer retirements

[Omaha Steve]

X post in GD & Socialist-Progressive

http://www.omaha.com/money/many-businesses-say-they-aren-t-ready-to-deal-with/article_ab9927ef-fcff-5696-8263-79acee178b85.html

POSTED: MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 1:00 AM
The Kansas City Star

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Every 10th worker in America is eligible to retire this year or next.

Depending on your work situation, that may not be a startling estimate. If you’re in an organization that cut staff more than that during the recession, or in a venture populated by young people, you might shrug off impending retirements.



But in many organizations, the loss of experienced employees — presumably workplace survivors because of their needed skills — could pack a punch.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts that nearly 1 in 4 members of the U.S. labor force will soon be 55 years old or older. That’s up from about 1 in 8 in 2002.

FULL story at link.

[liberal N proud]

1. The company I am working for is...

There have been layoffs every 2 years here, two years ago being the largest with 30% reduction. Another round currently in progress. Just waiting to see if I am still on the bus as the CEO put it.

Most of the talent lost here has been baby boomer aged people.

[Sherman A1]

2. Indeed

When at my Union Hall a few years ago working on a project. The discussion of the aging boomers came up. There is, as I believe indicated above, a huge gap in the Retail workforce. At that point we had people in their 50's and people in the 20's and early 30's with a 10-15 year gap between the groups. We agreed that it had been caused by the multi-tier contracts of the 1980's (something many of us predicted would occur) and that then the next 5 -8 years would prove very interesting as the vast amount of experience retired from the industry.

Even when attending a 40th service anniversary function provided by my company. The CEO discussed the very important need for us old timers to pass along our knowledge to the younger workers before we left.