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The Western Wisconsin Workforce Development Board heard its third annual State of the Workforce Report at its meeting at the South Side Neighborhood Center.
The board forms strategies to address workforce development in an eight-county area. It contracts with Workforce Connections Inc., which assists job-seekers and employers in the same counties — Buffalo, Crawford, Jackson, Juneau, La Crosse, Monroe, Trempealeau and Vernon.
“We really need to address generational diversity in the workforce, because there are differences,” Beth Sullivan told the board. Sullivan is Workforce Connections’ director of planning and marketing, and reviewed highlights of the new report at Monday’s meeting.
“Use motivations to lure employees,” Sullivan said.
“Focus on what you want from the generation you want it from.”
Last summer and fall, a generational survey focusing on factors for motivation, retention and retirement was distributed to more than 1,570 employees in the eight-county area.
Results vary among the four generations in today’s workforce, Sullivan said. According to the report:
Members of Generations X and Y tend to be more motivated by flexible hours, co-workers, training opportunities and promotional opportunities, according to the report. Baby boomers and traditionalists tend to be motivated by wages and benefits, it said.
Employees’ retirement plans include working part time for interest or fun, working part time for income, starting their own business or volunteering, the report said. A majority of employees would like to retire by age 55 but do not think they will be financially able to retire until after age 65, it said.
Offering meaningful, part-time work built around a flexible schedule seems to be a good way to lure baby boomers and traditionalists to stay in the workforce instead of retiring completely, Sullivan said.
Labor shortages are expected to occur as baby boomers retire, she said. These workforce challenges are expected to begin about 2008 and peak in 2020, according to the report.
On the Web
State of the Workforce Report 2005 is available at the Web site www.workforceconnections.org.
Steve Cahalan can be reached at (608) 791-8229 or scahalan@lacrossetribune.com.
