I have to admit, I'm fatigued about hearing and reading about millennials.
I'm also growing weary of hearing just how old the Baby Boomer generation is getting in our workforce, and how retirements en masse are inevitable. I know that millennials are now the largest generation. I know they now outnumber all the generations in the workplace. I also know that they will work in the risk and insurance industry and in government where I work, despite those being two “old school” employers' that lack glamour and pizzazz.
|Outflux of critical expertise
In the City of Los Angeles where I work, we have about 40,000 employees. According to Mayor Eric Garcetti's budget summary from last year, “By 2018 approximately 46 percent of the City's workforce will be eligible to retire. This impending outflux of critical expertise and institutional knowledge threatens to severely hinder the City's ability to provide vital services.”
I know the insurance industry has an aging workforce as well, and global management consultancy McKinsey & Co. estimates that 25 percent of its workforce will be of retirement age by 2018 — and that the age of the workforce 55 or older has increased by 74 percent in the last 10 years, compared to a 45 percent increase in the overall workforce.
I recently hired my first millennial to join our staff, and I have not had anyone ask so many questions about the position and what she would learn and how she would grow. It almost seemed like she was negotiating perks better than a 20-year employee. I hired someone who is straight out of college. I value experience. She has none. She may want my job already, but she is not that good. Not yet.
|Risk management is never boring
In insurance and in government, we can both do a better marketing job of repackaging old industries as most deem them lacking any type of flavor and glamour. We have an optics problem that is hard to overcome. However, with an organization as large and diverse as the City of L.A., I never get bored.
My insurance broker knows my business so he is versed in my risks. My insurance carriers know our risks and enjoy the risks and us as a valued client. Risk and insurance work is never boring. The ability to be an insurance broker/agent or carrier that has multiple clients in interesting companies is compelling. As a risk manager I know a little about everything my organization does, and I find it fascinating.
So as we enjoy RIMS 2017 in the City of Brotherly Love, we should thank our lucky stars for millennials. We should also thank the boomer generation. It does not have to be the end for boomers.
|We'll all flourish
Boomers have so much more to offer (and everyone knows that 70 is the new 50, don't they)? The millennials will lead us as long as they remember to first listen, learn and then lead. They will lead in ways that will be different that not everyone will understand but it will be effective. We will all flourish in a new and improved workplace that is full of diversity of ideas and imagination.
So, don't be shy at RIMS 2017: Have you hugged a millennial today?
Victor Parker is the director of risk management for the City of Los Angeles. Contact him at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are his own.
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