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John Sumser presents the interbiznet Bugler
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interbiznet presents The Bugler
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June 11, 2007
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Lying or Selective Truth
You might
imagine that the series on
resume lies
spawned some interesting feedback. I took the position that the resume process
causes job hunters to lie as a part of doing business. Louise Kursmark, the
guest author of today's article, took me to task. She said that it wasn't really
lying but selective truth telling. I told her that I didn't understand the
distinction and asked her to write a piece explaining the difference. (Read More)
New from John Sumser:
A new presentation hot off the presses from John Sumser, Recruiting Is A Conversation available for download.
Reveille and Hyperbole:
Arbita, the leading provider of global job advertising distribution solutions, and Affinity Circles, the leading trusted social networking platform for membership organizations, are pleased to announce a new job posting and media solutions relationship. As Arbita continues to expand its global network offerings, employer access is now available to Affinity Circles' growing network of leading academic and professional communities.
For an in-depth understanding of what is happening in Web 2.0 at a conceptual 50,000 foot level, read New Rules for the New Economy by Kevin Kelly, co-founder of Wired Magazine.
EPAM Systems, the leading Software Engineering Outsourcing provider with delivery centers in Central and Eastern Europe, announced today that the company has been identified by CMP Media's CRN, a vital source of information for VARs and technology integrators, as a Fast-Growth 100 company for its stellar growth and remarkable business success.
The American College of Physicians (ACP) has given its strong support to the bipartisan High-Need Physician Workforce Incentives Act of 2007. The six-part bill introduced by Representative Michael C. Burgess, MD, and Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas focuses on workforce issues of physicians. (Read More.)
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Survey Says:
Retiring Baby Boomers Creating Workforce Talent Shortage
Survey by Buck Consultants, WorldatWork, and Corporate Voices Finds "Brain Drain" Effect Varies by Industry
Retiring baby boomers are already creating a significant challenge for U.S. employers in certain industries, according to survey findings released today. The survey was jointly conducted by Buck Consultants, an ACS company, WorldatWork, and Corporate Voices for Working Families.
The survey, "The Real Talent Debate: Will Aging Boomers Deplete the Workforce?" assessed responses from more than 480 organizations in a broad cross-section of industries.
Forty-two percent of all respondents indicated the aging workforce issue is significant. Of this group, 50% have a majority of mature workers eligible to retire in five to ten years. One-half of respondents in this group also see a current shortage of skilled workers.
The aging workforce is especially critical in the healthcare sector and oil and gas industry, with 66% and 65% of respondents, respectively, citing the issue as a significant challenge. Industries such as manufacturing and technology are less likely (34% and 23%, respectively) to perceive this issue as a significant challenge.
The departure of senior leadership was identified as the greatest potential risk associated with the exodus of mature workers (52%), followed by the departure of middle management (41%), and technical talent and knowledge workers (39%).
"It's more than just a problem of not having enough bodies to replace retiring boomers," said James Sowers, Managing Director of Buck Consultants' human resource management practice. "The real challenge is transferring their knowledge and talents to succeeding generations of workers."
Sowers noted that the survey respondents are currently using or planning to institute formal mentoring programs (57%), knowledge gap analyses (69%), and intergenerational work teams (44%) as strategies to address this talent transfer challenge.
However, more than 80% of respondents, regardless of industry, have not surveyed their mature workers to determine future work preferences or intentions. Forty-two percent have not even identified who is responsible in their organization for knowledge transfer and knowledge management.
"Solving the problems posed by the aging workforce is going to require out-of-the-box thinking," said Ryan Johnson, Director of Public Affairs for WorldatWork. "We need to get rid of the idea that retirement is freedom from all work, and change it to the notion of retirement as freedom to do different kinds of work."
To address retention of retirement-eligible workers, 48% of respondents currently offer flexible work schedules and 23% plan to adopt them. Forty-two percent currently offer consulting assignments to older workers. Forty-seven percent offer or are considering phased retirement, and 43% offer or are considering alternative job design.
Other key survey findings include:
• Cost increases associated with knowledge and skills transfer resulting from the loss of aging workers are perceived as being highly significant by 62% of respondents.
• Aging workers want to remain in the workforce because of financial reasons (93%). Correspondingly, benefits are reported to be the most impactful aspect of job quality (86%).
• While mature workers are valued for their knowledge, reliability, and dedication (74%), more than 50% percent of respondents reported they do not proactively pursue mature workers in recruiting.
WorldatWork (human resource professionals and business leaders focused on attracting, motivating and retaining employees. Founded in 1955, WorldatWork provides practitioners with knowledge leadership to effectively design and implement strategies and practices in total rewards – compensation, benefits, work-life, performance and recognition, development and career opportunities. WorldatWork supports its 30,000 members and customers in 30 countries with thought leadership, education, publications, research and certification.
Corporate Voices for Working Families is the leading national business membership organization representing the private sector voice in the dialogue on public policy issues related to working families. As an independent 501(c) 3, Corporate Voices facilitates research and provides solutions to legislators and business on Early Childhood Education and After School Care, Family Economic Stability, Worker Flexibility, the future of the Mature Workforce, and Youth Transitions. Collectively their 53 partner companies employ more than 4 million individuals throughout all fifty states, with annual net revenues of $1 trillion.
Buck Consultants, an ACS company, is a leader in human resource and benefits consulting with more than 1,500 professionals worldwide. Founded in 1916 to advise clients in establishing and funding some of the nation's first public and private retirement programs, Buck is an innovator in the areas of retirement benefits, health and welfare programs, human resource management, compensation, and employee communication. News and other information about Buck Consultants is available at www.buckconsultants.com. Buck is an independent subsidiary of Affiliated Computer Services, Inc.
ACS, a global FORTUNE 500 company with 58,000 people supporting client operations reaching more than 100 countries, provides business process outsourcing and information technology solutions to world-class commercial and government clients. The Company's Class A common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "ACS." ACS makes technology work. Visit ACS on the Internet at www.acs-inc.com.
Buck Consultants' "The Real Talent Debate: Will Aging Boomers Deplete the Workforce?" survey report is available at no cost from Buck's Global Survey Resources, 500 Plaza Drive, Secaucus, NJ, 07096-1533. Telephone: 800-887-0509.
Deeper Release:
What does the future hold for aging baby boomers?
BY Joanna Gray, Southern Health Contributor
Baby Boomers.
They grew up with the Beaver and Wally and came of age at Woodstock. They huddled around family television sets as Elvis and The Beatles made their respective shocking debuts. In their lifetime they've seen racial segregation and Communism overthrown. As youngsters and teens, they witnessed the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Nearly 40 years later, they would witness the horrors of September 11.
In 2006, the first wave of the Baby Boomers - the 77 million babies born between 1946 and 1964 - turned 60. But they and their younger counterparts aren't going gently into old age. The same non-conformist attitude and openness to change that ignited a cultural revolution in the 1960s and 1970s are shaping what the future holds for aging Baby Boomers.
"It's not your grandmother's retirement anymore," said John Smith, executive director, Egyptian Area Agency for Aging in Carterville. "Over the past 20 years we have seen a definite change in what senior citizens expect out of life as they grow older."
Healthy at home
As they age, Baby Boomers are dramatically changing the face of America's demographics. In 2000, persons 65 and older made up 12.4 percent of the population. By 2030, that percentage is expected to grow to 20 percent as advances in healthcare and changing attitudes about growing older support a longer life expectancy for America's aging population.
But what good is a longer life if it's marred by chronic illness? According to 2002 research by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), many of the Baby Boomers they surveyed admitted that they have been lax on taking care of their health.
Ironically, in a country obsessed with dieting and exercise, obesity, heart disease, chronic pulmonary obstructive disease (COPD) and diabetes are at the top of the list of Boomers' health challenges. However, 54 percent of survey respondents said they plan to exercise regularly during their retirement years and 51 percent expected to be healthier than most people their age in retirement.
Despite health challenges, Baby Boomers as they age want to remain independent and live in their own homes as long as possible. Agencies such as the Shawnee Alliance for Seniors, a division of Shawnee Health Service and Development Corporation, in Carterville, now offer home-based programs and services to meet that needs of present and future generations.
"We've already begun to gear up our comprehensive care coordination program to accommodate the aging Baby Boomer population," said Carol Aronson, director, Shawnee Alliance for Seniors. "More people will be staying home and living longer, but possibly with chronic health conditions. We know through evidence based research that basic education and self-management of chronic care conditions add to a greater quality of life."
"There's so much support that can be done in the home, even if it's a complex medical need," Aronson added. "You can have home health services, occupational therapy, physical therapy, all done in the home. You don't need to go to the hospital or nursing home, so there is the increased opportunity for people to remain in their own homes throughout their lives."
Aronson explained that the comprehensive care coordination concept is the overriding principle in a law that was passed in Illinois two years ago. It's aimed at restructuring long-term care in Illinois away from facility-based to one that promotes the development, availability and accessibility of home-based healthcare services.
"As the Baby Boomers age, the population bubble of the number of people who will need support is going to be huge," Aronson said. "We obviously don't want to build nursing homes everywhere."
"Today, we can do so much more for people in their homes. Of course, there will always be a need for nursing homes for some people, but certainly many people who previously would have been taken care of in nursing homes in the past can now be taken care of at home."
Demand for quality care
The rising demand for healthcare services, coupled with a shortage of nurses and other healthcare professionals, has also spearheaded initiatives across the country to ensure that the quality of care will not suffer.
Quality improvement organizations (QIO), such as the Illinois Foundation for Quality Health Care in Oak Brook, IL, are currently working in every state to assist health care providers in all settings to use quality data to improve performance. But many Baby Boomers themselves are taking an active role in investigating the quality of care offered by physicians and hospitals, as well as learning more about options for self-care.
"Baby boomers are pro-active and willing to participate actively in their health care decisions," said Donna Serrett, RN, BSN, MBA, Illinois Foundation for Quality Health Care. "They are more computer literate and are using the Internet to locate health information."
"Baby boomers are also accessing publicly reported data from websites providing reports on the quality of care delivered by their health care providers. These factors make Baby boomers a perfect population for use of self-management programs and the use of technology such as telehealth."
According to Serrett, with telehealth patients are being taught to use computerized equipment in their home to record and transmit data, such as blood pressure readings and weight, to their health care providers. Some systems may also include video or audio feeds that let patients at home communicate directly with the physician.
Telehealth is just one of many self-management tools that are geared to helping the aging generation remain in their homes and live independent lives.
"Senior citizens are becoming more savvy with technology, using cell phones and computers, so it will be easier for them to adapt to new devices," said Smith. "We're seeing that that they want to try to do as much for themselves as they can. They don't expect others to do things for them."
Smith also noted that a growing interest in technology is changing the way his agency delivers its services. "We went to install an emergency response system in a lady's home, but she didn't have a telephone," Smith said. "She only uses a cell phone now, so we had to find a different way to set up her system, which normally uses existing phone lines. We're running into issues like that that we've never had to deal with before."
Staying healthy at work
America's employers are facing new issues and challenges, too, as Baby Boomers are staying in the workforce longer than their parents did - some by choice to follow a lifelong passion or merely to continue getting employer-provided health insurance, while others must keep on working because of their financial situations. Other Boomers who do retire at the traditional age of 65 may find themselves being wooed back into the workplace by employers who see the value of older workers' expertise, proven skills, and positive work ethic.
Staying healthy on the job is yet another challenge as this generation ages.
"In addition to the usual problems that affect this age group, such as arthritis, we're also seeing people who are not able to meet all of the essential job requirements that they might have been able to do 20 years ago," said Dr. Glen E. Cooper, D.O., M.P.H., who practices Occupational and Environmental Medicine in the corporate health department at St. Francis Medical Center, in Cape Girardeau, MO.
"For example, the lifting requirement on the job might be 75 pounds, and back then they could do it. Today, they may not be able to do it anymore on a daily basis."
Cooper's advice to older workers as they compete in the job market is to take a hard look at their health and then take action to get in shape, whether it's losing weight or getting rid of unhealthy habits such as smoking cigarettes. Consulting with a physical therapist or occupational physician is also a smart thing to do before considering a move to a new job.
"A physical therapist can test to see if a person is agile enough to lift required weights and perform other various job duties," Cooper said. "Older workers should also consider the work environment. If you have respiratory problems, for example, you should stay away from dusty factory floors. If they have arthritis in their back, avoid jobs that require heavy lifting. Try to be more choosy about the type of job you do."
Beyond the bingo game
Indeed, Baby Boomers have always been all about freedom of choice. Today, these youthful seniors are making different choices about how they spend their free time.
If you think Southern Illinois senior citizens are staying home in their rocking chairs every night, think again. Just try to find a space on the crowded dance floor at the West Frankfort senior center, Wit & Wisdom, on the first Monday of every month. But don't expect to see many Baby Boomers there just yet - most of the dancing couples are in their 70s, 80s, and 90s.
"We are starting to see a few more of the younger ones coming out lately, especially to the dances," said Ruby Melvin, director, Wit & Wisdom. "Some who have just turned 60 are coming out to play cards and bingo and go on our shopping trips to the local malls."
But in general, the majority of Boomers in their 50s and 60s are finding more exciting things to do on their own. Smith used to see new faces at the daily lunches at the Carterville senior center as soon as they turned 60, but now many of the newcomers are already in their seventies.
Today, aging Baby Boomers are finding other outlets for social activities, such as adult and continuing education classes, group travel, and volunteering with community groups.
"Many people at 60 don't even consider themselves seniors," said Jan Reed, project director, senior division, Jefferson County Comprehensive Services. "People who are 60 now are not the same as those who were 60 thirty years ago. Even if they're retired, they're not interested in coming to a nutrition site to have lunch and play bingo. They're going on cruises and playing golf."
Reed said that it's difficult to get her agency's clientele to even commit to a lunch reservation at the Sunshine Center, a senior nutrition center in Mt. Vernon, which pre-orders its meals the day before.
"The younger seniors don't want to commit to a reservation for the next day because something better might come up," Reed said. "They'd rather be out there doing something more active."
An exciting time to be alive
Whatever the future may hold for aging Baby Boomers, one thing is sure - they will revolutionize aging in America with the same rebellious and innovative spirit that has spearheaded cultural change for the past six decades. They're redefining retirement and seeking just the right balance between satisfying, possibly lifelong work and giving back to their communities as volunteers.
"I've read statistics that say that half of all retired people volunteer with their church or religious groups," Smith said. "About 25 percent also volunteer with community service groups. I think more seniors would volunteer if we'd just ask them, especially if we could take advantage of their skills, expertise, and interests."
Aronson, who describes herself as a "middle" Boomer, said it's an exciting time to be part of the Baby Boomer generation. "All kinds of things will be opening up for us as we move into our 60s and 70s, and I think it will be very interesting to see the flexibility that will open up in the workplaces," she said.
"I hope that we Baby Boomers will step up and volunteer as much as our parents' generation has, because there are so many community services who will depend on them," Aronson added. "In Herrin I've worked with some senior volunteers for about 20 years, so they were in their mid-60s when they started."
"They're still putting in 20 hours a week of volunteer work," Aronson said. "We Baby Boomers are probably more interested in travel and personal growth activities in our older years, but we also need to commit the time to keep volunteerism alive."
Online resources for baby boomers
Boot up your laptops and explore your options for health and happiness in your older years:
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
http://www.cms.hhs.gov
Learn more about quality of care initiatives, home health options, and technology such as Telehealth.
Get your questions answered about the ever-evolving regulations for Medicare and Medicaid, too.
The Boomer Initiative(tm)
www.babyboomers.com
Click on "Baby Boomer News" for timely articles on health, work, money, and tips for living well in your older years. Check out the fun feature, "What happened the year you were born?"
American Association of Retired Persons
www.aarp.com
Visit the AARP website to read selected articles on health, fitness, financial management, travel, and relationships for persons 50 and older.
Third Age
www.thirdage.com
Recent articles geared to Baby Boomers on the home page included "All About Arthritis," "Nutrition and Menopause," and "Viagra and Your Heart."
Health milestones in the baby boomer years
Scientific discoveries and medical breakthroughs achieved during the years that Baby Boomers were growing up have contributed to this generation's longer life expectancy and overall better health.
1946 - Dr. Benjamin Spock's Baby and Child Care is published
1947 - "Broad spectrum" antibiotic introduced to fight typhus
1948 - Cortisone introduced as an arthritis treatment
1949 - Electron microscopy developed
1950 - Antihistamines become popular as cold relief medications
1951 - Mass production of penicillin and streptomycin reaches records
1952 - First contraceptive pill developed; Dr. Jonas Salk develops polio vaccine
1953 - First clear evidence linking lung cancer to cigarette smoking
1954 - First successful kidney transplant
1955 - Cystic Fibrosis Foundation founded
1957 - Interferon discovered
1958 - Invention of coronary angiography
1959 - Toy manufacturer Wham-O introduces the "Frisbee" (Exercise is healthy, too!)
1960 - First studies linking cigarette smoking with heart disease
1961 - First lasers developed
1962 - Morning sickness drug thalidomide found to be causing birth defects
1963 - First successful liver transplant
1964 - First lung transplant
(*Source: www.babyboomers.com)
NEW:
Presentation from John and Bridget Sumser, Rethinking The Workforce is available for download.
Ten Principles for Recruiting An Integenerational Workforce from John Sumser.
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Boomers to Bust Age Bias? Baby Boomers Redefine Retirement
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