The following questions can help you assess how the upcoming demographic shifts are likely to impact your organization. It will help you identify areas of weakness and help you think about how to prepare for this change.

  • What are the demographics within your organization (by position from top down, what is the age, gender, ethnicity, years in position, and retirement date of each employee)?
  • What organizational history resides in the people who could retire in the next 10 years?
  • What kind of systems would you need to put in place now to capture the key competencies and critical work knowledge of employees who are close to retiring?
  • How many of the people in your organization are genuinely cross-trained?
  • Does your organization actively promote mentoring practices?
  • Does your organization have a written and adopted succession plan? If yes, does your board understand it?
  • Are there logical successors for key positions within your organization today? If yes, does your board feel invested in this plan? Do those people want to step into those positions?
  • How well does the ethnic breakdown of your board and staff match your community?
  • Has your organization seriously considered how it will continue to engage retired baby boomers, the new Hispanic audiences, and the Gen X and Yers?
  • What is the make-up of your board today (age, gender, ethnicity, areas of expertise, years on board, term end date)?
  • Has your board considered ways to recruit new board members who are retired baby boomers, the new Hispanic audiences, and the Gen X and Yers?
  • How prepared is your organization for housing a multigenerational workforce culture?
  • Is your organizational culture more hierarchical or more team oriented?
  • Do you offer telecommuting, alternative work arrangements, and other flexibility to your staff?
  • Overall, is your organization tech savvy or technophobic?
  • What are your organization’s retirement policies? Do they favor early retirement? Do you offer incentives to delay retirement?