The battle lines have been drawn. As the war for talent ratchets up, the organizations best positioned to win will embrace flexibility in work process, hours and environment. They’ll possess a willingness to meet employees on their own terms and set expectations that allow for mutual responsibility between employees and their managers. In other words: out with the stodgy, in with the innovative.

In the first four parts of this series, we looked at how the tailored workplace is changing business with focused looks into strategies for recruiting, hiring, on-boarding, engagement and development. Now, in this series’ final installment, we turn to the issue of how to effectively transition employees, retaining vital intelligence from those departing and adequately preparing those moving into new roles. It’s a rapidly changing battlefield out there, what’s your plan to keep from getting bowled over?


Let’s Not Call This “Goodbye”

While much ballyhoo has been made over the retirement of Baby Boomers, there are good reasons to think that their exit will be slower and more gradual than prior generations. Certainly economic conditions have made it more difficult for some Boomers to retire, but also improvements in health care and an increased consciousness of the value of diet and exercise will likely have a major effect on Boomers' retirement plans. Simply put, Boomers will live longer than previous generations and they’ll be able to work longer, too.

How many people could afford 30+ years of retirement? How many would even want to be retired that long? When my grandfather retired in his early 60s, he was old. My parents are in their 60s now and they are anything but old. They are active, continually learning new things and having fun every day... they are not exceptions to their generation.

Organizations that embrace a tailored workplace will have a distinct advantage when it comes to changing retirement plans. Being flexible and able to shape a role to the employee that fills it will help organizations better place employees seeking to reduce hours or change responsibilities instead of settling into a more traditional retirement. It should also help organizations retain the intelligence that these long-time employees carry with them. Perhaps a role as a consultant, knowledge worker or mentor would be a better fit for employees contemplating leaving. When you can create a means for a gradual exit or a continuing relationship, you’ll create more of an opportunity to capture the valuable experience and expertise many older employees embody.


What’s Good for the Goose…

Brain-drain, or the loss of knowledge when employees exit the organization, isn’t just about the Baby Boomer generation. Departing workers of any generation leave with valuable insights that you’ll want passed on to others at your organization. The key is, don’t give up on a departing employee. Keeping an open line of communication may yield huge dividends down the line. Employees leave for a variety of reasons, and even if your tailored work environment won't always succeed in helping you retain star performers, it may help you bring them back in once they’ve found out that green zoysia on the other side wasn’t quite as green as they thought.

Many organizations are re-writing their policies on departing employees to make it easier to welcome them back to the team. Some organizations allow returning employees to keep their tenure with the organization no matter how long they were away. Some even pay for past employees to receive training elsewhere. Others, Netflix for example, offer a financial incentive for new employees to leave, figuring it’s better to let employees self-select early than continue on in a position they won’t succeed in. The key to succeeding in this area is determining what your employees’ motivations are and finding a way to tap into that.

Caribou Coffee is one example of an organization that understands exactly why their employees work for them and realizes the value that returning employees from all generations presents to their business. In a conversation with Sr. Director or Organization Design & Development, Alison Smith, she explains,

Our employment tends to fit into the spaces in their life that they want to be occupied doing something interesting and social. Often they just exit not because they hate us but because time is up on that opportunity.

We are very prone to helping people do things that are going to help them stay awake and have active lives. So if leaving Caribou means they can go on to an opportunity where they are awake and alive and doing fabulous things we want to celebrate that and support that.

What is different about Caribou is that people actually choose to come back to us.

So, why so many returning employees at Caribou?

For many employees, I think it’s very much a ‘during college’ activity. You do it once, you kind of do your time and that’s it. But that tends not to be the way that people think about Caribou. We have people returning when they have kids, when they retire…A lot of it has to do with the whole philosophy of Caribou’s that life is short so stay awake for it.


So What?

As organizations increasingly trend toward tailoring their workplace to individual employee preferences, the more you can understand what your employees want out of life and their work, the more of an opportunity you’ll have to keep top talent and bring back those that have tested the waters elsewhere. As business guru Jim Collins once wrote,

Those that build great companies understand that the ultimate throttle on growth is not markets, technology or competition. It’s one thing above all others: the ability to get and keep enough of the right people.

By embracing a future of flexibility, clear expectations and mutual accountability, your organization will be well prepared to find, hire and retain the people that will help your organization flourish. In the war for talent, you'll be an epic hero. And best of all, your organization will reap the rewards on the bottom line.


Tuning in late? Jump to any of the previous posts in the series by clicking below:

Part 1 – Overview of Tailored Workplace and Generational Snapshots

Part 2 – Recruitment and Hiring

Part 3 – On-boarding

Part 4 – Employee Engagement and Development