Don't Give Up on Your Aging Boomers Just Yet

Adapted from their new book, "Generations, Inc."

Despite the recent headlines about the record number of boomers nearing the age of retirement, many aren’t planning to retire any time soon. According to AARP, 27 percent of workers aged 45 and older said the economic slowdown had prompted them to postpone retirement and 76 percent said they intend to keep working in retirement.

However, another recent survey says that Boomers aged 53 to 61 reported significantly less support from their supervisors to get additional training to further their careers and fewer flexible work options than those younger.

This can be a mistake. Since most Gen Xers and Yers view their jobs as temporary assignments, paying to train older employees may be the safer bet. Even if the Boomer retires before you get a return on your investment, you may be able to recover that investment with some creative planning.

One Baby Boomer telecommunications engineer oversaw the installation of large phone systems for big corporate customers. Six months before her retirement, her company significantly upgraded these systems, which required extensive new training for installers and the completion of a certification process. Her boss made a deal with her; he would send her to the training so she could be certified if she would agree to be on call for one year after retiring at her regular salary, prorated to a daily fee. It was a win/win. The company got the benefit of her certification for the last year she was there, plus a full year of being an on-call contractor. She got the benefit of being able to charge other consulting clients more after she retired because she had this certification.

Whether or not you can work such a sweet deal with your Baby Boomers, it would serve you well to think twice before automatically writing them off for training, no matter how close they are to leaving.

Baby Boomers have had long careers to hone skills that can very often be put to use in new and innovative ways. Give them the opportunity to do so; it will help them restart their motors and renew their commitment to the organization.

Take, for example, Kathy Deel. The medical records department at her hospital had poor turnaround time that which impacted accounts receivable days and unbilled discharges. Patient and physician satisfaction were poor because the department was not timely in releasing medical records for continuity of care. Employee morale and satisfaction were extremely low and turnover was high. Internal customer satisfaction was also very low. To make things worse, the department had recently implemented an electronic medical record system, and users had not been trained to use it. The department director had resigned and the hospital was looking for a replacement.

Deel, the Director of the hospital's quality management department, suggested she run medical records, as well as quality management which she had done successfully at another hospital.

The executive committee gave her the go-ahead. Kathy, who was 55 years of age at the time, said the challenge was like a shot of adrenalin for her.

Under her leadership, the newly combined department was prospering within a year. Medical record turnaround time was reduced from four days to 24 hours. She focused the staff on eliminating waste and revamping processes, which improved efficiency so much that she did not fill the vacancies that occurred with attrition or letting underperformers go.

Today, the department operates with one-third fewer employees, patient and physician satisfaction is up, and the department is recognized as one of the best medical records units by its electronic medical record vendor. Most of all, says Deel, the staff members that remain have an attitude of pride and team spirit that was missing before she took over.

The lesson here? Your oldest employees may be your most loyal, knowledgeable, wise, motivated, and the hardest working among those in your organization. If you give them a new look, you may be very surprised at the return you get.

Larry and Meagan Johnson, a father-daughter team, are the Johnson Training Group. They are leading experts on managing multigenerational workplaces, and coauthors of Generations, Inc.: From Boomers to Linksters—Managing the Friction Between Generations at Work.