What is causing this crunch? The retiring Boomers, who will exit the workplace in an alarming rate through 2020, will leave a big empty space behind. Enter the next generations of work, a small “replacement” group, unable to accommodate the skills’ requirements, unable to replace the exiting workplace wisdom. Most importantly, they simply will not provide enough “bodies.” Interestingly enough, we are also entering a new baby boom, with more and more parents choosing to stay at home.
You may think that this deficit will only affect the technology sectors; however according the Department of Labor, it will encompass all job sectors at all vocational levels and impact all businesses globally, certainly some much more than others.
You may think…has this happened before? What did we do then? You will have to go back about 600 years to realize the devastating effects of worker imbalance that impacted Europe in the 1300s. As a result of the demographic shifts in that century, the model of work and wealth equity completely changed, resulting in the re-distribution of the wealth from the rich landowners (at the top) to ambitious tenant farmers who actually did the work (at the bottom).
What exactly will it mean for the workplace this time? Here are several short term predictions-
- If you are a business-
You will need to be at the top of your PR game, showing the world that your business or company is the preferred business to work for. Aligned with high profile marketing, you will also do the best you can with the talent that you have, getting much better at taking a real-time look at what is developing within your own doors and learning how to best assign and retain the use of that talent. In addition, most of your time will be spent training and developing the existing workforce. Diversity will no longer be just a “required” training for the employees, rather a prime focal point for both positive PR and for succession planning. Your requirement will be to “pay to stay” and you will pay out dearly for that precious human resource. The term “human capital” will have a real meaning as will “any warm body.”
If you are a skilled worker-
You will have more leverage than ever regarding your relationship with your job: compensation, training and benefits. Your commitment to a model of continuous learning and training in a number of skill areas, including cross-functional skills will place you in great demand for at least the next twenty years. Money, however, will probably be less important to you than the freedom and balance in your career and personal life. Most of your time will be spent fighting off the recruiters wanting to steal you from one position and place you into another. Your game in the world of work will be “play to get pay” as you will cruise in many environments and potentially get paid just to “show up” in others.
If you are a recruiter-
You will need to develop strong and lasting relationships with people and not discount or eliminate job seekers too easily. You will not be able to afford to let the #2, #3 and #4 candidates in line for a specific job to disappear from sight. In this new work world, you will need keep these valued commodities close to you, and even seek to find appropriate positions for all of them or learn to “park” them effectively. Most of your time will be spent wooing individuals away from other work environments. Do not expect large numbers of people in this workplace to come to you. This is the “emerging workforce” according to Harris surveys, and these professionals will be in charge! Consider yourself lucky to have more than a few choices for any open position. You will develop a “pay to get played” business lament where you will pay dearly in your time and effort to play in the rough and competitive game of recruitment with a workforce that is simply just a tease.
If you are a high level executive accustomed to making a great deal of money-
You just might decide to retire. The next twenty years will require that you share more of the wealth, your wealth, with your workers. If the wealth at the top is not pushed down, you may just have to sacrifice your position, because the competitive nature of the world will force that choice. Most of your time at the helm will be in attracting, developing and retaining the next true leaders of the business, rather than filling your own pocket. Your mantra will be “play to stay,” as the only way you will compete to keep your job and the business going is to actively engage in the work of developing other people.
If you are graduating college-
You need to stay focused on the business of global business. Stretching your skills to include knowledge of cultural diversity and global business practices will make you very attractive at the top of the pay scales, as will your willingness to travel, be posted overseas on internships or learn new languages. Already fluent in one or more tongues? You will need to be at the top of your game when it comes to negotiating your best salary. Your rally song will be “play for the biggest pay-off.” In demand, they (businesses) will line up at your door.
If you are retiring-
Think again! Consider “shopping” yourself back into your old work environment or setting up shop as an entrepreneur. Businesses will be in demand for your wisdom and pay for you to re-contribute to the workforce. Not interested in full-time? No problem! Businesses have finally risen out of their stupor of old world structured hours and will pay you for any time you wish to work at any location (even home) and will be thrilled to have your mature and reliable contribution. Your jingle will be “any way, I get paid.” As for retirement, you were looking for something to do with those spare hours anyway.
If you are still unemployed-
It will be your own fault or your own choice. There will be such a shortage of players on this new stage, employers will be rattling the already retired and bribing them to come back to the limelight.