Talk to Me: Navigating Industrial Workforce Transitions

The Silver Tsunami. The Gray- to-Green Transition. The Great Retirement. No matter what you call it, most experts agree the global workforce is in the midst of an evolution. Across industries and geographies, Baby Boomers are retiring—or changing jobs while choosing to work longer—and forcing companies to adapt. Perhaps nowhere is that truer than within the manufacturing, industrial and engineering sectors. 

Today a large chunk of the workforce is occupied by Baby Boomers (19%), Generation X (35.5%), and Millennials (39.4%). With over 10,000 Baby Boomers per day reaching the age of 65, the youngest workers— Generation Z—will constitute about 30% of the workforce by 2030. 

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, People born from 1957 to 1964, the latter years of the baby boom, held an average of 12.4 jobs from ages 18 to 54. Nearly half of these jobs were held from ages 18 to 24. As a generation growing up without the internet and used to working with their hands, boomers thrive in the installation, transportation, and engineering industries. They are also more likely than any other generation to have attended college, and nearly two-thirds have a degree. 

Younger workers, on the other hand, “grew up in a world where the internet made goods and services readily available—often instantly or with same-day delivery—and allowed them to conduct much of their social lives online,” said McKinsey. These workers—the “green” contingent—tend to have a different conception of the employee–employer relationship than do older employees in the “gray” group.  

Previous ways of working and interacting between employers and employees are being disrupted by Gen Z’s entry into the workforce because of different expectations regarding atmosphere, culture, and support at work, according an article from Johns Hopkins University. McKinsey’s global research shows that six factors are particularly important to younger industrial workers: 

• an easy application process with clear communication and a quick time to hire 

• rapid career progression and clear performance feedback  

• the ability to work in a hybrid workplace (at least in nonmanufacturing roles), with face-to-face interactions primarily reserved for situations where they clearly add value 

• the option to explore multiple employers or even multiple careers 

• a strong focus on diversity, inclusion, and sustainability, including a workplace that allows for self-expression and sanctions noninclusive behavior. 

It may also help to remember that this evolution of the workforce is nothing new. In 1955, the US Congress held hearings on “Automation and Technological Change” and its associated impact on jobs.  Chief among its findings was that the US was “faced with a threatened shortage of scientists, technicians, and skilled labor.” The more things change….