Middlescence

 Managing Middlescence

 By Robert Morrison, Tamara Erickson, and Ken Dychtwald

“Burned out. Bottle-necked. Bored.” Is how the Harvard Business Review satellite publication “On Point” describes mid-career employees. These “middlescents” are between 34 and 54 years of age and represent the most disaffected segment of the workforce. Thirty percent work 50+ hours yet only 33% feel energized by their jobs. They make up 50% of the work force in most companies. Neglect their discontent and you risk losing valued employees who seek excitement elsewhere. Disaffected middlescents who stay because they need the money take an even worse toll. Their lack of energy, innovation, and focus erode your company’s productivity.

      How to avoid these seemingly inevitable losses? Tap into your Middlescents’ hunger for renewal by helping them launch into new, more productive, more meaningful roles or careers. Fresh assignments enable them to develop new skills. Job changes help them develop new specialties. And training expands their business knowledge and stokes their desire to learn even more.

      You are probably already using such simple and inexpensive career revitalization techniques on your “stars.” Why not extend them to all your mid-career employees? They will reward you with renewed commitment and productivity as well as reduced replacement costs…immediately.

      If your company wants to control its fate and costs when the Boomer retirement wave hits and the associated brain drain with full force – start today to systematically retain and recruit people with the skills and abilities you want to keep on hand for the long run.

Six Strategies for Revitalizing Careers:

1.      Remove the barriers to occupational mobility – Be on the lookout for ways to enhance the career level of mid-career employees

2.      Find the keepers – Go beyond the “stars” that are already getting attention to the next tier down to find other valuable contributors.

3.      Fresh Assignments – Move Middlescents to a different geographic location or a different part or division of the organization.

4.      Career Changes – Middlescents often dream of, and in some cases end up pursuing, something fundamentally new. Why not beat them to the punch with internal career changes.

5.      Mentoring Colleagues – Use them to mentor newbie’s. This is the best way to get them into knowledge-sharing roles.

6.      Fresh Training – Corporate training today is disproportionately aimed at the young, particularly new employees who need to learn the basics. Why not provide state-of-the-art, career enhancing training for mid-career employees?

Entire article may be ordered from Harvard Business Review reprints at www.hbr.org (R #0603E, HBR On Point #3536)