Canadians expect baby boomers’ retirement to impact their own careers
As the first of the Baby Boom generation turns 65 years old this year and have retired or are quickly headed to retirement, there’s a demographic shift in Canadian workplaces. Coupled with overall declining population growth and employees are starting to worry.
Randstad’s Global Workmonitor survey found that over half of Canadian employees expect these trends to have a direct impact on their careers. Chinese employees feel this most strongly (73%), US employees sit just below centre with less than half (49%), while Germany is at the other end of the spectrum with only 18%. In the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Slovakia, less than one third of the employees feel that the larger group of employees retiring will directly impact their career opportunities.
The global results indicate that the consequence of this demographic shift, the often referred to “war for talent”, has become visible: a third of the respondents indicate their organization already has trouble hiring well-qualified staff to fill its vacancies. Over half (57%) of Canadian employees noticed that the majority of colleagues who recently left their company were performing very well, which means qualified employees are leaving.
- While nearly seven out of ten American employees see that the organization that they work for succeeds in hiring well-qualified staff to fill its vacancies (68%), Canadian employees say one third (34%) of their employers already have difficulty hiring well-qualified staff to fill their vacancies.
- A majority (63%) of Canadian employees say they do not clearly see well qualified colleagues around them since the financial crisis.
As the struggle for employers to attract workers with the right skills grows, employees are feeling the pressure mount when it comes to their skills requirements and work responsibilities. According to the survey, 23% of Canadian and US employees admit their job requirements are beyond their abilities. An even higher percentage of employees acknowledged this fact in France (49%) and India (44%). But it looks as if organizations who fail to find the right skills to fill job vacancies expect more from their current employees. As was similarly reflected in the response of most countries, half of Canadian employees (51%) feel that their career now demands more education and training than ever before.
“Both employers and employees are starting to experience the effects of the demographic shift. A strong and compelling organizational culture, training opportunities, and coaching and career development support – these are some of the key strategies employers will need to focus on to ensure they tackle their recruiting challenges and successfully attract and retain employees with the right skills. With these tools in hand, employees will be better positioned to cope with the changing job requirements and increasing responsibilities of the workplace,” said Jan Hein Bax, President of Randstad Canada.
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