Canadian companies are less prepared than their counterparts in other countries to address the economic threat posed by the impending retirement of the Baby Boomer generation and falling birth rates.
A global study by Deloitte's Human Capital practice found 74 percent of Canadian respondents cited both attraction of new talent and retention of key talents as the most critical people issues facing their organizations, versus 69 percent and 66 percent of global respondents. Retirement of the Baby Boom generation was flagged by 54 percent of Canadian respondents.
But while Canadian companies are well aware of the issue, they are doing less to cope with the problem than businesses in other countries. Awareness has not translated into action.
In the U.S., the federal government has launched a crusade to recruit to fill forthcoming vacancies and to retain key people in the meantime. Using succession planning, every agency and department are gaining a better understanding of what its capabilities are with few experienced people to replace the retirement-eligible leadership. Happily for the scrambling feds, there's been no mass exodus yet---so retention and recruitment programs have time to bear fruit.
Retirement numbers are going up, rising from 3.4 percent of the government's full-time permanent workforce in 2002 to an estimated 3.9 percent next year. Determining the skills needed to replace aging experts and then finding the right candidates is prompting federal agencies to reinvent their human resource management practices.
Sources: Ottawa Business Journal, November 22, 2005 and Human Resource Executive, November 2005
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