With baby boomers retiring now and over the next decade, what should HR be doing to prepare for a leadership vacuum?

With baby boomers retiring now and over the next decade, what should HR be doing to prepare for a leadership vacuum? What potential problems do you see these firms encountering? Share any ideas you have that could help solve these problems with your classmates.

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SHAYNA:

With baby boomers retiring now and in the near future, there will be a lack of experience and knowledge in many leadership positions.  This could cause a problem because the new generation will have a large adjustment period to figure out how to hire good employees, how to assemble effective teams, and how to be a good leader in general.

It will be important for HR to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and information from the baby boomers to younger employees.  Creating a training program or mentor program for the upcoming leaders would be a great way to start.  This would insure that those who will be taking over for the retiring leaders are prepared to become the new leaders.  They will be able to ask the baby boomers questions, learn from their experiences, and get positive feedback about networking, continuing education, etc.  Younger employees could benefit from job shadowing with a baby boomer in order to understand the full responsibilities of taking over the leadership positions.

It would also be beneficial for the company to invest in continuing education or college courses in management and leadership for employees who will be taking those positions.  If they are able to adequately train and prepare the less experienced employees in advance, they will be able to transition easily once the baby boomers do retire.