Public entity pooling is facing a crisis of future employment that will not be unique and will affect the general American economy. Since their birth into the world, the Baby Boom generation has distorted demographics and expanded the American landscape from schools to manufacturers to housing; surely continuing that trend for retirement communities and healthcare needs.Regardless of skills, personalities or technological proficiency, there simply will not be enough people to replace them.
As the third in a series of articles set to outline pooling in the coming decades, this will explore the nature of who will be working for the pools themselves.Discussed first is the problem of sheer numbers, and second, is the changing landscape of employees’ needs.
Mind the Gap
The Baby Boom generation is best described as those children born after World War II; and, contrary to popular belief, was less a result of more children being born than a result of decreased infant mortality rate. Subsequently, the next group of Americans are named Generation X, a term that was popularized by Douglas Coupland’s 1991 novel.Generation X describes the children born to the Baby Boom generation between the early 1960’s and the early 1980’s.Finally, those persons born between the early 1980’s and 2000 are currently referred as the Millennial generation. These three very different sociological groups will share the stage in what promises to be a very different world from that in which we currently reside.
The most obvious and counterintuitive thought about age demographical statistics is that you can’t grow people faster than they age.In hindsight, a lot of the frustration and angst that will be felt in the next twenty years would have been remedied if Baby Boomers had had more children. As any demographic chart will show, the American workforce will have far fewer employees in the next two decades.
Public entity pooling has bemoaned the lack of succession planning for the soon to retire Baby Boomers.Most executive level management has been with their respective pools for its entire existence.Their drive and motivation stems from the very crisis that created the need for pooling.Couple that with the simple lack of replacements, and public entity pooling could look very different in the years to come.
Employees Enjoying a “Sellers” Market
Succession planning is simply a matter of ensuring that the vision and mission of an organization is carried beyond the employment of certain individuals.The shortage of workers will allow Generation X employees to demand terms and conditions of their employers which would have been unthinkable for Baby Boomers. This has been named a “Sellers” market for employment, and flies in the face of the status quo “buyers” market for employment experienced by the Baby Boomers.Public entity pools have to ensure those selected to succeed are properly groomed and rewarded, because employee retention is more important than ever.
First the problem of numbers:As mentioned above, there simply will not be enough workers to fill the positions vacated by the Baby Boomers.The natural reaction might be to think that immigration will fuel a resurgence of other nations’ citizens filling our employment positions.Unfortunately, most developed countries will be facing similar population problems, and those developing countries with surplus populations do not have the skilled labor force to help American companies.
There are two important things to consider.First, Baby Boomers will not be able to retire as their parents once did.Amidst our currently global economic meltdown, it is now widely known that state and local government defined-benefit pension plans are woefully underfunded.This shortfall will no doubt mean greater taxpayer burden and diminished benefits to retirees.Additionally, it has been estimated that currently the average 55-64 year old only has roughly $69,000 in retirement savings. And, Social Security, given the demographics, will not be able to provide the current level of benefits that have been promised.All these elements will come together to wake Baby Boomers up to the reality that their short-sightedness during their working careers will force them to work longer than their parents’ generation.
Second, technology will help fill the supply and demand gap.Even by delaying retirement, there still will still exist a gap that Generation X will need to fill without the benefit of population.Technology’s exponential growth and efficiency can help fill more vacancies with fewer employees.With Generation X’ers at the managerial helm, and Millennials fully embracing technology, business will (and, actually, has to) run smoother and more efficiently than ever before.Further, the departure of those Baby Boomers who have stumbled and balked at technology as an integrated component of the business model will finally be stepping aside to let more computer-savvy generations take over.
So, to proactively mitigate the retirement of the Baby Boomers, technology needs to be invested in whole heartedly now.There will always be ideas that do not work, and money wasted on projects that do not yield desired results.But, investments in technology now will ensure the long term stability of our industry.There will come a time not too far in the future when 25-50% of the workforce would be termed “programmers” in today’s nomenclature.They will be specialized programmers, no doubt; but wouldn’t it be better to be ahead of the curve on the business trend?
The last issue to address concerns the changing dynamics of the employees themselves.As mentioned above, Generation X employees will be able to dictate terms and conditions of their employment.This leverage comes from the fact that there should be ample employers starving for quality employees, considering the expected shortfall.A critical difference is that Generation X’ers will not likely use their leverage to increase salary or position.Unlike their Baby Boomer counterparts, the succeeding generations are not as much motivated by money and title.They value balance of career and personal life.Listed in Appendix A are some broad attributes about the generational workforce.
There seems to be a lot of press these days wondering how the massive juggernaut known as the Millennial generation will contribute to society.Social media, technology and questioning traditional business practices highlight what promises to come.As this generation enters the workplace, they will cause business to evolve, but will undoubtedly frustrate the established leaders in so doing.These employees have just begun to enter the workplace, and there already exists volumes of concerned employers who wonder how best to tap their creativity, and proclivity towards technology. For purposes of this article, Millennials will be thought of as productive output employees, and not managers and employers. (That will be another article in 20 years).
Generation X is a middle ground of their parents’ traditionalism (hard work ethic/ independence), and their children’s social upheaval (technological connectivity/attention craving).They understand both worlds.Their task is to morph the business model from the status quo to harness the creativity and ingenuity of the Millennial generation.Generation X knows how to manage this.They will never be as intuitive with technology as the Millennials, but they also will be more accepting of it than the Baby Boomers.Gen X knows the unlimited potential of technology and they want to use it.
Current pool management and pool memberships fear recruiting from outside the pooling sector because of the uniqueness of the pooling business model. Some outside influences will be healthy for the industry.Too often stagnant employees can fall behind on business’s ever changing face. Although it is a bane to Baby Boomers, Generation X’ers multi-faceted interest (i.e. short attention span) means there might be outside interest to take the reins of pool management.
Generation Exceed
It is no coincidence that this end date of Generation X coincides with the introduction of the both the personal computer (PC) and Macintosh (Mac).In the coming two decades, there will be a mass exodus of employees from the workforce and it will take a generation of efficient and technologically savvy people to keep business running.Perhaps Baby Boomers will delay retirement for awhile, but the sheer size of the numbers is too great to ignore.
Technology allows business to run extremely more efficiently than it currently runs.If managed properly, less people can do more work.Automation of tasks, database mining and interconnected systems will all lead to smaller expense loads.But, most ingenuity will come from employees just now entering the workplace.Their needs are completely different than more experienced veterans.Their workstations are mobile (laptops/mobile devices) and exist as their lifeblood to the outside world.By now, Baby Boomer employees know how to email, and work within popular software, but they are users.Generation X and the Millennials will make software work for them.And, in their saved time of productivity, they expect to be able to tweet, text and announce to the world that they are having a “bad hair” day.This all comes without the desire to be monitored by Big Brother management.At the dawn of the PC and Mac, there aired an advertisement during the Super Bowl.It only aired once, but it presciently foresaw a Revolutionary challenging the Old Guard.If anything, we owe it to our progeny to prevent the dystopia envisioned by Orwell.We need to refuse to believe this is the best we can do.
·Work-Centric: Baby Boomers are extremely hardworking and motivated by position, perks and prestige. Baby Boomers relish long work weeks and define themselves by their professional accomplishments. Since they sacrificed a great deal to get where they are in their careers, this workaholic generation believes that Generation X and Generation Y should pay their dues and conform to a culture of overwork. Baby Boomers may criticize younger generations for a lack of work ethic and commitment to the workplace.
·Independent: Baby Boomers are confident, independent and self-reliant. This generation grew up in an era of reform and believes they can change the world. They questioned established authority systems and challenged the status quo. In the workplace, Baby Boomers are not afraid of confrontation and will not hesitate to challenge established practices.
·Goal-Oriented: With greater educational and financial opportunities than previous generations, Baby Boomers are achievement-oriented, dedicated and career-focused. They welcome exciting, challenging projects and strive to make a difference.
·Competitive: Since Baby Boomers equate work and position with self-worth, they are quite competitive in the workplace. They are clever, resourceful and strive to win. Boomers believe in hierarchal structure and rank-ism and may have a hard time adjusting to workplace flexibility trends. They believe in "face time" at the office and may fault younger generations for working remotely.
Characteristics of Generation X:
·Individualistic: Generation X came of age in an era of two-income families, rising divorce rates and a faltering economy. Women were joining the workforce in large numbers, spawning an age of “latch-key” children. As a result, Generation X is independent, resourceful and self-sufficient. In the workplace, Generation X values freedom and responsibility. Many in this generation display a casual disdain for authority and structured work hours. They dislike being micro-managed and embrace a hands-off management philosophy.
·Technologically Adept: The Generation X mentality reflects a shift from a manufacturing economy to a service economy. The first generation to grow up with computers, technology is woven into their lives. As employers integrated new technological tools, Generation X has learned and adapted. This generation is comfortable using PDAs, cellphones, e-mail, laptops, Blackberrys and other technology employed in the legal workplace.
·Flexible: Many Gen Xers lived through tough economic times in the 1980s and saw their workaholic parents lose hard-earned positions. Thus, Generation X is less committed to one employer and more willing to change jobs to get ahead than previous generations. They adapt well to change and are tolerant of alternative lifestyles. Generation X is ambitious and eager to learn new skills but want to accomplish things on their own terms.
·Value Work/Life Balance: Unlike previous generations, members of Generation X work to live rather than live to work. They appreciate fun in the workplace and espouse a work hard/play hard mentality. Generation X managers often incorporate humor and games into work activities.
Characteristics of Millennials:
·Tech-Savvy: Millennials grew up with technology and rely on it to perform their jobs better. Armed with BlackBerry’s, laptops, cellphones and other gadgets, Millennials are plugged-in 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This generation prefers to communicate through e-mail and text messaging rather than face-to-face contact and prefers webinars and online technology to traditional lecture-based presentations.
·Family-Centric: The fast-track has lost much of its appeal for Millennials who is willing to trade high pay for fewer billable hours, flexible schedules and a better work/life balance. Older generations may view this attitude as narcissistic or lacking commitment, discipline and drive, Millennial professionals have a different vision of workplace expectations and prioritize family over work.
·Achievement-Oriented: Nurtured and pampered by parents who did not want to make the mistakes of the previous generation, Millennials are confident, ambitious and achievement-oriented. They have high expectations of their employers, seek out new challenges and are not afraid to question authority. Millennials want meaningful work and a solid learning curve.
·Team-Oriented: As children, Millennials participated in team sports, play groups and other group activities. They value teamwork and seek the input and affirmation of others. Part of a no-person-left-behind generation, they are loyal, committed and want to be included and involved.
·Attention-Craving: Millennials crave attention in the forms of feedback and guidance. They appreciate being kept in the loop and seek frequent praise and reassurance. They may benefit greatly from mentors who can help guide and develop their young careers.
