Episode 330 - Generational Turnover in the DMV Workforce

So a- as I intro the, the, the topic and the conversation, I kind of tried to frame it as this is a piece of a larger puzzle that is workforce management, retention, recruitment, but particularly as we're seeing this turnover in generations.

We've been talking about this for a number of years, particularly as baby boomers age out of the workplace, and honestly now, not myself included, though I'm included in Gen X, nowhere near retirement, we're starting to see the first of Gen Xers starting to retire.

So help frame for us this generational turnover that's happening, particularly we'll start on the retirement side and then we'll deal with the challenges of the backfill side.

Uh, but talk to me about this l- loss of the generation, especially where the combination of the baby boomers and the Gen X, I would imagine, stereotype.

These are folks that have been with the agency for a long time.

These are not people that just put in five or six years.

These are long-term career folks that you're starting to see leave the organization with a lot of institutional knowledge.

Yeah.

So, so in that trend that you're, that you're talking about, Ian, is I think that there's a, a piece of, an important piece that, that folks really aren't thinking about.

And when you think of the baby boomers and you think of the Gen Xers, that workforce, the environment, [lip smack] the culture was that you worked at the same place for a very long time, and so you became the subject matter expert no matter what workforce that you were in, especially in the motor vehicle space, right? Because you have so much generational and decades of knowledge, um, in those folks.

And so when they are retiring and they're walking out the door, how are we getting that information? How are we getting that institutional knowledge that has been in their brains and in their everyday, um, work? How, how are we transferring that to, to the next generation or, you know, the workforce that is left behind, right? Um, how, how are we doing that? And so I think that motor vehicle agencies and, and all government agencies are kind of forced right now to say, "Okay, what is our plan and how are we going to transition that, that knowledge to, to our n- to our current workforce?"

Julie, similar trend in Iowa? I mean, you, you guys are here from two different states.

Other than the fact that they both start with I, I think there's gonna be a lot more commonalities.

Right.

I agree with Holly.

And, um, one of the largest risk isn't just losing that technical ex- expertise, it's also losing the knowledge and relationships-

Mm

... that have been built.

Um, [lip smack] the long-tenured employees understand why processes have evolved the way they have, historical lessons learned, um, informational networks and partnerships like AMVA.

They're, they're rooted in with partnerships, right, and people with other states.

Those operational nuances as well.

Um, crisis response experience is also key, especially in the world we live in today, and newer people coming in might not have that expertise and experience to deal with those things.

Also, organizational culture, as you mentioned, Holly.

That's huge.

Especially in transportation environments, um, many systems, our processes, our stakeholder relationships, as I mentioned, have been built over time, and many times in over decades, and those are those same individuals.

So a- as I intro the, the, the topic and the conversation, I kind of tried to frame it as this is a piece of a larger puzzle that is workforce management, retention, recruitment, but particularly as we're seeing this turnover in generations.

We've been talking about this for a number of years, particularly as baby boomers age out of the workplace, and honestly now, not myself included, though I'm included in Gen X, nowhere near retirement, we're starting to see the first of Gen Xers starting to retire.

So help frame for us this generational turnover that's happening, particularly we'll start on the retirement side and then we'll deal with the challenges of the backfill side.

Uh, but talk to me about this l- loss of the generation, especially where the combination of the baby boomers and the Gen X, I would imagine, stereotype.

These are folks that have been with the agency for a long time.

These are not people that just put in five or six years.

These are long-term career folks that you're starting to see leave the organization with a lot of institutional knowledge.

Yeah.

So, so in that trend that you're, that you're talking about, Ian, is I think that there's a, a piece of, an important piece that, that folks really aren't thinking about.

And when you think of the baby boomers and you think of the Gen Xers, that workforce, the environment, [lip smack] the culture was that you worked at the same place for a very long time, and so you became the subject matter expert no matter what workforce that you were in, especially in the motor vehicle space, right? Because you have so much generational and decades of knowledge, um, in those folks.

And so when they are retiring and they're walking out the door, how are we getting that information? How are we getting that institutional knowledge that has been in their brains and in their everyday, um, work? How, how are we transferring that to, to the next generation or, you know, the workforce that is left behind, right? Um, how, how are we doing that? And so I think that motor vehicle agencies and, and all government agencies are kind of forced right now to say, "Okay, what is our plan and how are we going to transition that, that knowledge to, to our n- to our current workforce?"

Julie, similar trend in Iowa? I mean, you, you guys are here from two different states.

Other than the fact that they both start with I, I think there's gonna be a lot more commonalities.

Right.

I agree with Holly.

And, um, one of the largest risk isn't just losing that technical ex- expertise, it's also losing the knowledge and relationships-

Mm

... that have been built.

Um, [lip smack] the long-tenured employees understand why processes have evolved the way they have, historical lessons learned, um, informational networks and partnerships like AMVA.

They're, they're rooted in with partnerships, right, and people with other states.

Those operational nuances as well.

Um, crisis response experience is also key, especially in the world we live in today, and newer people coming in might not have that expertise and experience to deal with those things.

Also, organizational culture, as you mentioned, Holly.

That's huge.

Especially in transportation environments, um, many systems, our processes, our stakeholder relationships, as I mentioned, have been built over time, and many times in over decades, and those are those same individuals.