Industry leaders Dr. Susan Black, President and CEO at the Conference Board of Canada, and Derek Dobson, CEO and Plan Manager at CAAT Pension Plan, discuss the value of focusing on retention to win the Marathon for Talent.
How can Canadian employers manage the retirement of the Baby Boomer generation?
Dr. Susan Black: Some sectors have been dealing with this for a longer period of time, but it's coming up. The first thing I would say is employers can have an impact on this if they're willing to be more flexible with work arrangements. If you want to continue to keep that institutional knowledge, then be flexible about what your demands are on them. Most people, when they get to their sixties or seventies, still want to work five days a week, nine to five. But can you bring them in on a project basis? Can you bring them in a couple of days a week? I'd be surprised at the number of people that want to keep their toe in the water.
Derek Dobson: Based on what I see across all of our employers is voluntary departures and retirements can be contagious. If you start to get a little bit momentum of people leaving, then that can actually, whether it's by termination, by voluntary leaving or by retirement, other people start to reflect on that themselves. And then coupled with what I'm seeing on the attraction side, a lot of companies are offering a pretty robust referral program. So if you have a star leave you and they're respected by their peers, you're not just losing one employee, you're actually at risk of losing a handful of employees.
How does strong, positive culture, impact retention?
Susan Black: Building culture, building a strong, healthy culture is hard work. It requires a lot of self-awareness. It requires a lot of intentionality about your behaviors. It requires being consistent in your messaging over and over and over again and having a really clear framework of what those values mean. And that's not as easy as looking at your spreadsheet and forecasting the next quarter. You know, it's messy work and it's hard work. It's human work.
Derek Dobson: Yeah, we talked before about not relying on your past experience and what worked in the past. Let's face it, most senior leaders have been working in an environment for 20 or 30, 40 years, and it's served them well to go with those gut instincts. Sometimes we have to but again, the inputs and the conditions have changed so much. I think flexibility with your talent is a competitive advantage.
What is the first thing employers should focus on today’s hiring climate?
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Susan and Derek’s transcript has been slightly altered in this Q&A for clarity and brevity.