Given that Mary Sue Rogers is herself an aging or — as she quickly point out — a maturing baby boomer, you could not be faulted for suspecting that she had a closely vested interest in her current area of focus — the implications of an aging workforce on companies, governments, and social policy. "We don't use the word 'aging' for this anymore. 'Aging' doesn't work as a term in other languages. 'Maturing' is better," says Rogers. And, she jokingly insists that she isn't focusing on this area only to make sure that IBM's retiree benefits aren't cut when she retires. In 2005, Rogers convened corporate leaders, academics, think tanks, legislators, and politicians worldwide to begin to address the issue of the maturing workforce in all countries where it is becoming critical. From that effort, she gained wide recognition as a global thought leader on the subject of aging workforces.
That same year, Rogers launched a new consulting practice to help organizations prepare for the potential loss of highly valued skills and knowledge as the baby-boom generation reaches traditional retirement age. Her practice provides companies with diagnostic tools based on advanced analytics, strategies, and methodologies to understand their employee base in real time, retain employees, transition knowledge, and transform business processes to cope with the demographic change and significant skill shift. "We have many clients in Japan, Italy, and the Nordic countries," countries that are feeling the change, she notes.
Rogers hasn't always been into workforce issues and demographics. "I wasn't born with 'HR' stamped on my forehead. I started with a degree in engineering and worked in the automotive industry," she says. From there, she naturally became involved in a variety of industrial issues, which led to involvement in union issues. It then wasn't a big leap to workforce issues and, ultimately, maturing workforces.
When Rogers finally does retire earlier rather than later, a goal she and her husband have talked about for years as part of their long-term life plan, she will have plenty to do. She is an avid scuba diver and an accomplished underwater photographer, having traveled the globe to dive and take photos in remote locales. She will indulge her passions for cooking and for the work of London's Save the Children organization. And when retirement day actually arrives, she intends to leave behind a top-notch group of talents she has been assiduously coaching and developing to ensure her practice is in good hands, advice she received from her first mentor in her early days at PwC.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.