Old Farts
May 2 2016
In last year’s EFC talent study, we documented that as the workforce ages and heads towards retirement, it could create a serious work and experience shortage in the electrical industry.
I believe that the solutions to preventing this work and experience shortage are two-fold:
• attract and retain young, talented people in our industry. I think that we are off to a great start in this area, with the launch of our Young Professionals Network (YPN). We have regional and national YPN events occurring all over the country.
• accommodate older workers and create succession plans for them.
Gone are the days when workers who hit that 55-65 year old range were forced to retire and drop out of sight from the industry. Many older workers want to keep working. They need the mental engagement and the continuing income. We are all living longer, healthier lives and want to continue to be challenged. We also don’t want to outlive our money and end up in a “crappy” old-age home.
By keeping these older workers longer, we have an opportunity to leverage their industry knowledge and experience. We could create the best of both worlds: have the young Millennials teach older workers how to use the newer technologies, and the experienced workers teach the YPNers the practices and processes within our industry. It’s a win-win for everyone.
So it’s time for our industry to make a better effort at embracing and retaining the services of older workers. Members need to look at offering the following for senior workers:
• training and retooling programs
• better health and wellness benefit programs
• flexible and/or part-time hours of work
• internal/industry-wide mentorship programs
• retention as consultants
I believe that this is another new area that our industry needs to focus on. Let’s not waste the knowledge and experience our older workers can give. Our industry needs more mentors for our future rising stars!
Read more in CEW from Jim Taggart:
– We Need to Engage More Women in the Industry. Me included
– Not Your Typical Industry Association
– Breaking Through the Age Barrier
– Amazon: Friend, Foe or Frenemy?
– Electrical Industry – Mergers and Acquisition
– Understanding and Responding to Disparity
Profile: Jim Taggart: A Steady Hand, A Stellar Career
Jim Taggart is President, Electro-Federation Canada.
