Working Wounded Blog: Baby Boomer Bye-Bye

May 11, 2005 — -- News Flash: According to a study by IBM, 19 percent of the work force will disappear by 2008.

One-fifth of our work force will not be abducted by aliens, they aren't going to spontaneously combust. Massive numbers of workers aren't going to suddenly split their corporate gigs to start selling Mary Kaye cosmetics.

There is a simple three-word explanation for what is going on here -- baby boomers retiring. Sure there are a lot of boomers who will work right until the end. The problem is that there are millions more who are thinking more about weekends and Winnebagos than work. And it's going to be a problem until the "echo" boom starts to enter the work force over the next decade or so.

We know how much of a youth-oriented culture we are. Advertisers care much more about the kids listening to rap music than their parents' music from the '60s. Companies have regularly downsized older workers so that they could get younger, more obedient and cheaper workers to do their bidding. And almost weekly I get an e-mail from a worker asking if they should dye their hair, get plastic surgery or do something equally drastic to fight their aging appearance so they can get hired to work.

I'm not saying that our society is suddenly going to become respectful of older people, but simply that there will be an increased appreciation of the value of experience in the workplace. I think that we'll see more workers being brought back as consultants and a lot more flexibility in terms of hours and working conditions in order to keep older workers willing to punch the clock.

Is this just wishful thinking from a 48-year-old boomer? Maybe. But before you dismiss this argument do the math. 76 minus 44. Seventy-six million baby boomers and 44 million Gen-Xers. We'll need to run our economy with approximately 32 million workers heading for retirement.

Will some of this slack be picked up in India and the Third World? Undoubtedly. Will some organizations become even leaner and meaner? Although it may be hard for some of you to believe, yes. But at the same time will some companies show increased flexibility to keep the knowledgeable and insightful workers needed to keep them running smoothly? Yes.

Its hard to believe that our economy will move from a seller's market after so many years of it being a buyer's market. But demographics don't lie.

Quote of the week:
"So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work." -- Peter Drucker

Weekly book excerpt:
"Orbiting the Giant Hairball" by Gordon MacKensie (Viking, 1998)

"It was not until several weeks after our meeting with the people in purchasing that it began to dawn on me: When I succumbed to my anger-turned-hate reaction to a fellow Hallmarker, who happened to make her living as a bureaucrat, I was choosing victimhood as my modus operandi. In doing that, I was setting myself up to become a prisoner of the Hairball that she was charged to maintain. Donna's creative response saved me from that and taught me a new survival strategy: Any time a bureaucrat (i.e., a custodian of a system) stands between you and something you need or want, your challenge is to help that bureaucrat discover a means, harmonious with the system, to meet your need. It is a strategy that has helped me stay out of many a Hairball."

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We had a young waitress at our retirement community who called her supervisor to tell her that the reason she couldn't come into work that night was "because I don't have a clean bra!"

Bob Rosner is a best-selling author, an internationally syndicated columnist, popular speaker and a recent addition to the community of bloggers. He welcomes your comments at bob@workingwounded.com.

This work is the opinion of the columnist and in no way reflects the opinion of ABC News.