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By Mike Cera
Most of us are
used to preparing long term reports for capital
improvements within our facilities or for the potential of new
construction projects, which will allow us to take the necessary steps
now to ensure we are prepared for these changes in the future.
But how many of us have thought of preparing a report
showing how the demographic of our staff or patrons will change in the
next 10, 15, or 20 years? During our long term planning preparation, how
many of us actually consider changes that affect our human resources
such as demographic shifts which may impact how we structure our
individual organizations to be effective in the future? How many of us
actually factor into our long term planning changes to business model
that are a function of potential demographic shifts or diversification
as indicated by reports such as the U.S. Census? The demographic shifts
of recent history have taught us that adjustments to our daily
organizational model will have to occur to continue with an effective
business model. The question is how many of us have looked to the future
and started making the necessary adjustment now to accommodate
further demographic changes?
DIVERSITY SHIFTS
We’ve already experienced two major demographic shifts in recent history
and they continue to diversify our organizations. These demographic
shifts, the increase in women in the workplace and an older work force,
have not only changed the gender or age make up of our workforce, but
have also required us to focus on organizational procedure and policy
changes and communication changes due to the subsequent
socio-economic changes that came with the shifts. And as we prepare, and
subsequently, undergo another major demographic shift in the workforce,
we need to learn from how our work environment changed so we can ensure
we stay current with the changes needed to our organizations.
Gender.
Take, for example, the change in the
presence of women in the workforce over the past several years. Women’s
presence in the workforce has grown exponentially over the past 20
years, which has raised awareness on issues that
may not have been thought of prior to this. Sexual harassment, maternity
leave, equal pay for equal jobs, are all workplace issues that didn’t
need to be or weren’t considered
as pertinent in the past. New policies and well defined procedures
needed to be
addressed to ensure a functioning work environment and a work
environment that created fairness for every worker. Also, certain
organizational procedures such as holidays, vacations, and working hours
all needed to be reviewed and modified to accommodate a dual income,
dual professional home environment as is prevalent in the U.S. today.
Communication, specifically procedures involving communication amongst
workers, had to be modified to keep up with the changing work
environment.
Age.
The second major demographic shift I mentioned above, the aging of the
work force, is currently taking place. According to the U.S. Census,
over the past five years we have seen a significant increase in the
number of people working between the age s of 45-64, while the number of
workers aged 35-44 has significantly decreased. Also, according to AARP,
79% of the baby boomers (born between 1946-1964) plan to work past the
age of 65. As these facts highlight, organizational procedures will have
to adjust to accommodate for the aging workforce. Shorter daily work
hours, increased healthcare options, and modified job functions are all
adjustments organizations are considering to meet the needs of an aging
work force. Procedural changes to communication also need to be
considered as more intergenerational working situations will occur.
Extensive training in communication, specifically training in more
modern technology will be needed for the older generation of worker as
technology continues to advance at such a rapid pace. And for the
younger worker, training in the habits of the older generation of worker
will be needed to ensure there is a level of mutual respect between the
groups.
Ethnic.
Learning from these two shifts, we can prepare for the ethnic
demographic shift that will occur in the not too distant future. We know
we need to study the changes in the organizational structure and the
habits and traits of the new generation of worker that will require us
to make these adjustments. Also, we know we need to study every group’s
personal situations and identify those procedures and/or policies that
may require some form of adjustment to ensure we are considering
everyone’s personal needs. Finally, we need to identify the
communication barriers that we will have to overcome to ensure we
continue to have a strong organization. We know from past experience
that these are the areas we need to focus on, and we should be studying
them now to plan for the future.
Perhaps as part of our long term planning process we
should set up a system to identify and study potential demographic
shifts to our workforce, and how these are going to impact changes in
our organizational structure and communication. By
studying the changes to our workforce we are provided with the
opportunity to be proactive in our procedural and policy modification
and prepare our workforce for the coming demographic shift ahead.
fm
Mike Cera is general manager of SMG Stockton
(CA) Venues. Contact him at
mcera@smgstockton.com.
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