AARP Study: Are Businesses Prepared For Boomers To Retire?

As baby boomers reach retirement age and leave the workforce, their exit may cause problems for unprepared businesses, according to a recent study conducted by AARP and the Society for Human Resource Management. The study, which looked at how businesses plan to move forward when boomers retire, found that 72 percent of HR professionals saw the loss of expertise as a "problem" or a "potential problem." Yet only 5 percent of organizations have implemented policies and practices to adjust to their potential losses -- and 27 percent said they were just beginning to be aware of the issue.

When asked about gaps in basic skills between older and younger workers, 51 percent of respondents cited "writing in English (grammar, spelling, etc.)" as an area in which older workers had an advantage. In terms of applied skills, 52 percent said older workers had an advantage for "professionalism/work ethic."

By 2018, almost all baby boomers will be age 55 or older, affecting the labor force significantly, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The population is projected to age rapidly, bringing the median age of the labor force over 40.5, the median age in 1962, the highest before baby boomers entered the work force.

The issue that retirement could create for businesses is daunting, considering a rise in boomers retiring since 2008. Some 45 percent of 65-year-old boomers in 2011 were fully retired, up from 19 percent in 2008, according to a MetLife study.

As younger workers enter and begin sharing the workforce with post 50s, their attitudes on the workplace have been shown to be radically different, according to "No Collar Workers," a study conducted by MTV. Half of millennials studied claimed they would rather be unemployed than work at a job they hate. Seventy percent of younger workers also said they needed “me time” at work, compared to just 39 percent of boomers.

Additionally, when asked what was needed to produce their best work, boomers responded: “Give me my objectives and get out of my way,” where younger workers responded: “I need flexibility, respect … and snacks."

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Comments

[smmrselysummers]

12:21 PM on 05/30/2012

Take that you whipper snappers. (joking)

[RealistBC]

06:06 PM on 05/22/2012

The only retirement we boomers can expect is the day we are too worn out to get in to work long enough to save our jobs. Then we can starve and decrease the surplus impoverished population lest the wealthy have to endure our existence longer than they can already stand.

[foubabou]

02:19 AM on 05/23/2012

Yikes!!!! OUCH!

[USBrit]

12:47 AM on 04/18/2012

And we should be concerned if the corporations that shipped every job they could overseas, that cut every benefit possible except for the CxOs in order to garner more for themselves and lied boldly like none had ever lied before about the state of the companies they ran for what reason? None I can think of.

[Johnism96]

11:12 AM on 04/17/2012

Of course the older and younger generations have different views. When the boomers were young they could start a career with advancement opportunities, yearly raises, benefits and pensions. And most of all they were treated with dignity and respect.

The younger generation realizes we are nothing more than a number on a spreadsheet. Most have no benefits, have had wages frozen and find me a person under 35 who has a pension. We have watched the way the business downsized and eliminated our parents positions just to boost profit for shareholders. We see ZERO loyalty on the part of companies and we in turn give ZERO loyalty back.

[AKansasComment]

12:08 PM on 06/14/2012

I understand and agree. I've spent years being loyal to myself and my desire to do a good job at whatever I do. That's the only loyalty I see anywhere.

[Messymarsy]

10:00 AM on 04/17/2012

The thing is that millenials and boomers are really saying the same thing. Getting out of someones way means you do not micro mange them and give them the flexibility to find the solutions as well as respect their ability to find the solutions. The younger generation just sees clearly the realities but expresses them differently than the baby boomers.

[taoc 79]

11:48 PM on 04/16/2012

The baby boomers may have wrecked the country but no one can say they weren't/aren't ambitious. The millennial philosophy may simply reflect a declining America of narrowing opportunity.

[MyrtleJune]

09:04 PM on 04/16/2012

Well, some people... okay me..... can't retire and can't seem to find anyplace to ply my expertise for living wages. Not quite my "retirement" plan at all!

[Pavane]

09:33 PM on 04/16/2012

Can you tutor something privately? Tutoring pays pretty well. And, it's your own business.

[foubabou]

12:38 AM on 04/17/2012

If you have mgmt skills overseas work can be pretty lucrative. US work ethic and mgmt style is always in demand outside the borders. And with pretty nice benefit/salary packages.

[MyrtleJune]

01:22 PM on 04/17/2012

Yes, I can do that. I will take it up this summer. I can have an outside meeting place for 50bucks a month so that it will not be at my home as well. That's a great idea! I'd thought of doing a community class through the city but not the tutoring. I've done that before as a volunteer. I'll add it to my list of things I can do to scrape by. Thanks!

I was hoping to get gainful employement in my field again though and not just spend the rest of my days scraping by. As I said my plan was to never retire anyway since I bounced around to many jobs as a military wife and didn't have my own retirement plan. I'll look into the tutoring rates around here. Maybe that's more than I think it is! I hope!

[Gregg-O]

05:59 AM on 04/16/2012

What's this retirement thing you speak of?

[TomCinIllinois]

02:53 AM on 04/17/2012

If everything goes my way, I figure I can afford to retire at 90.

[Gregg-O]

10:45 AM on 04/17/2012

Thanks for rubbing it in...LOL.

[RealistBC]

07:19 PM on 05/22/2012

Now you did it! They will raise the retirement age to 100 before you can get to 90.

[armandsmith]

03:49 PM on 08/18/2012

I can never retire. Medicare will eat a portion of my ss check which will leave about $1400 a month. I will be working till I drop if places will hire old guys. My mistake giving my kids all they want and taking care of them too long. My dad had the right idea. Your on your own after age 18.

[Gregg-O]

05:58 AM on 04/16/2012

Considering what I've seen of how Corporate America treats it's older workers....I don't give a rats behind if they are prepared or not.

[Pavane]

09:34 PM on 04/16/2012

In terms of a smile, you made my day. F/F

[EGrove1046]

04:45 PM on 04/15/2012

I think the bigger issue for business is when they (baby boomers) stop putting money into their 401ks and start drawing it out or moving it to less risky investments. And too many of their children are unemployed and cannot make up the difference.

[armandsmith]

03:49 PM on 08/18/2012

Too many children staying home till they are 30 or older.

[MizLiz]

01:51 PM on 04/15/2012

Work ethic. That's what businesses are going to miss the most. We were never raised with that sense of entitlement that seems to be so prevalent today. We may have slowed down a bit, and I for one never did figure out Excel...but all you have to do is pick up any novel today, and the errors are hilarious "he poured over the books for hours" "once more into the breech"...those are only two that come to mind, but there are thousands more. The result of sloppy teaching..and SPELLCHECK.

There are no more classes in penmanship, no more spelling bees. No time for such things, we must teach the little dears how to pass the state tests so we don't get laid off.

Oh yeah, you are gonna miss us when we're gone.

[RealistBC]

07:21 PM on 05/22/2012

They won't. They can't wait to have more workers at lower wages. We boomers are in the way of that goal, and work ethic won't keep us in that position.

[AKansasComment]

12:05 PM on 06/14/2012

I agree. I saw one young gal cry for 3 days because her desk was being moved to a different part of the office. Then I watched another one get mad over a small increase in our health insurance premiums (the company pays almost all of it) and when the CEO said this would save the company money, the clueless employee asked, "And what are you doing with that extra money?"
I can stroll through my office and know who's surfing the internet and who is working. If they're just staring at the screen, they're surfing. Those of us who (yes, the older ones!) are actually working are typing and answering calls.

[armandsmith]

03:51 PM on 08/18/2012

You are correct. Im in insurance and I get younger people calling me and saying why didnt my insurance pay all of this? Also why is my employer taking this money out of my check for insurance.
They want it all handed to them.

[armandsmith]

03:52 PM on 08/18/2012

Oh,, and you can look around.. they look at their I phones or cell phones every 5 minutes or less for a message etc.

[Goldie Goldwire]

01:49 AM on 04/15/2012

I agree - go ahead, keep trashing teachers because the most experienced ones will be leaving in about 5 years and then their will be a massive shortage.

#americaissoshortsighted

[colred]

09:25 PM on 04/16/2012

Our good governors are pushing us out sooner. All the while, they are cutting salaries. Where do they believe the teachers will come from?

[RealistBC]

07:22 PM on 05/22/2012

Entities ending in "inc", "co", and "llc".

[Bob Metcalfe]

04:57 PM on 04/14/2012

I've gone though my whole working life and no-one told me you could get snacks, dammit!

[cjunkbond]

11:00 PM on 04/13/2012

Snacks! LOL :)

[mysaltydog]

04:51 PM on 04/13/2012

That's assuming we CAN retire. I certainly can't.

[Blu in red TX]

09:26 AM on 04/15/2012

I think there are going to be a lot of people that will not be able to retire. Look at the number of people in their 40s and 50s who are unemployed. More than likely they do not have a 401K somewhere and Social Security is still years away.

[Laura639]

10:53 AM on 04/15/2012

My husband officially "retired" 3 years ago at age 55 since it was that or get fired in the economic downturn. After 2 1/2 years of searching for work, he now has a part-time (10 hours/week) job. He has no pension and a small 401k from his previous job. Is he retired--or isn't he? I think his situation is fairly common from what I can gather. How do you count people like him? We can't afford for him to be fully retired --but it now looks like he may never work full-time again.

[pcs5141]

03:46 PM on 04/15/2012

My 401k got destroyed by the wall st thieves.My job got destroyed by the politicians. Screwed again.

[Daniel Carr]

08:48 PM on 04/16/2012

There is CAN and HAVE TO. We can only will ourselves to keep working, at least at the same jobs, for so long. Time is implacable that way.

Until I turned 60 I always thought, happily, that I would retire at 70. Now, at 61, I am trying to figure out if I can pull it off by 65. Probably not, quite.

And I have a colleague who just turned 70 and shows no interest in slowing down, though her motor is running out of gas (just don't tell her).

[AKansasComment]

12:06 PM on 06/14/2012

Wow, I'm with you. I'm 61, too. I might be able to eke it out at 65, but the cost of health insurance is why I'll have work until I drop dead at my desk.