Mr. Fears

Meetings & Conventions

The Baby Boomer Effect: Succession Plans Are Growing in Popularity

By Bruce Fears, President, ARAMARK Harrison Lodging

With the first of America's 78 million Baby Boomers turning 60 this year, the hospitality industry is bracing themselves for the onslaught of active senior travelers, as well as a plethora of executive positions to fill, both in the hotel business, as well as in corporate America in general.

In fact, nearly 8,000 boomers are turning 60 on a daily basis, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics. What needs to take place to ensure the successful transition of our retiring Boomers and the next working generation is education. Education comes in multiple forms whether its continuing education, succession planning and training or development of formalized mentorship programs.

Hotel Executive Positions on the Rise

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects a labor force of 162.3 million individuals in 2012 and expects that the economy will require 165.3 million jobs to be filled. This does not mean that there will be a shortage of three million hotel executives in 2012 due to the retirement of Baby Boomers; however, it does mean the industry will soon see an increased need for corporations to schedule on-going training and education programs in order to replace the retiring boomer generation.

Not just Hotel Executive Positions...Corporate Training Sessions on the Rise

The hospitality industry isn't the only business that will be affected by the aging Boomer generation. The U.S. workforce in general will need to create contingency plans for their retiring workforce.

With more than 25 percent of the current working U.S. population reaching retirement by 2010, companies must undertake workforce development and training initiatives to capture knowledge and minimize its losses.

A survey, titled "Avoiding the Baby Boom Bust," showed that 55 percent of 150 executives polled are concerned about losing top staff to retirement in five to 10 years. The study, conducted by staffing service firm Robert Half International Inc. in Menlo Park, targeted executives at the 1,000 largest firms.

Of respondents, 78 percent said their companies are implementing plans to mitigate the loss of key retiring workers. The top strategies included creating and enhancing succession-planning programs and providing training and professional development opportunities, the report said.

Another survey by consulting firm Accenture finds that at least 45 percent of respondent organizations are failing to capture critical workforce knowledge and experience from employees facing retirement, and fewer are transferring that knowledge to newer employees. These organizations simply do not have formal workforce planning processes and/or tools in place to capture their workplace knowledge. Over one quarter (26 percent) of respondents believe that, upon retirement, their organization will just let them go, without any transfer of knowledge.

Capturing this knowledge base and successfully transitioning information, resources and expertise is imperative for companies that want to mitigate negative impact to their lines of business.

By increasing continued leadership and management training, most companies will be well prepared for the proverbial passing of the baton. That being said, unfortunately many companies don't think they need a succession plan until a crises, death or disastrous incident occurs. Quite the contrary, today's companies must continually educate their staff through professional development training sessions - and that's where the hospitality and conference industries come into play.

The meeting and conference industries will be affected by the aging workforce as vanguard companies prepare to create succession plans and work towards bringing middle management to senior level capabilities. Conference centers and hotels have the opportunity to target such companies with their professional development, team building and training seminar locales.

ARAMARK Harrison Lodging (AHL), a leader in the meeting and conference center industry, has seen an increase in bookings this year - with corporations increasing the number of training sessions that are booked at their facilities.

Focused on the customer-centric approach of personalization for all of their client's meetings, from in-room baskets to on-site team-building activities such as, raft-building and ropes courses, AHL has been successfully aiding companies as they facilitate succession planning meetings and continued education meetings.

The reality is learning and training continue to rank high in importance with the majority of corporations, especially with the ensuing number of Baby Boomers scheduled to retire this year alone. As a growing number of companies continue to focus resources on creating succession plans; growing and identifying talent from within; training and motivating sales forces; and providing leadership and executive development - the industry's supply for meeting venues may not be able to keep up with the increasing demand.

While Chief Learning Officers (CLOs) are typically focused on ensuring that the meeting content and objectives are being met, one of the more important aspects of the planning process can easily be overlooked - selecting the meeting/training venue.

Conference Centers Focusing on Providing Educational Learning Opportunities

Conference centers have long had the unique ability to provide productive learning environments as well as specialized and unique lodging facilities that can accommodate small to mid-sized business meetings.

While conference centers have long been associated with small to mid-sized events, larger conference facilities such as the Carolina Inn - Chapel Hill, which is recognized as one of America's "cultural resources worthy of preservation," offers training and meeting facilities that boast up to 184 guest rooms and nearly 25 separate breakout rooms.

A survey conducted by Meeting Professional International and American Express found that "the global meeting industry is expected to grow for the fourth consecutive year. Already considered a billion dollar industry in the U.S., the study alluded to the fact that meeting industry demand may actually exceed venue space supply. The study found that all of its respondents (1,268 of them) expected to have longer and larger meetings this year and expected that the number of meetings planned by their organizations to grow by seven percent.

And companies that do not own their own corporate conference center venue, which tend to offer the most guest rooms and most meeting spaces, increased lead times may be necessary in 2007 to book that ideal meeting/training space.

Enhancing the training/meeting process

A meeting and training venue should enhance the learning process and help provide the means for the training objectives. International Association of Conference Centers' (IACC), a not-for-profit, facilities-based organization whose mission is to assist members in providing the most productive meeting facilities around the world, utilizes a certification program for member conference centers and mandates that its active members comply with the 30 stringent standards of the universal criteria. Certainly, IACC recognizes the role venue plays in enhancing the learning process.

In fact, IACC certified conference centers are required to include amenities such as ergonomically designed chairs, tables that are non-reflective and allow at least 30 inches of space per occupant, in addition to a controllable level of lighting - all designed to enhance and add to CLO's meeting or training objectives.

But with all the different types of learning methods, how can a conference center add to the learning experience?

Traditional classroom training has been in existence for centuries and continues to be successful. However, other more modern learning methods have been introduced that have proved their staying power-including: multi-sensory learning; e-learning; hands-on lab setting or blended learning-conference centers have the ability to better accommodate the learning process where traditional hotel/meeting facilities do not.

Case in point, Babson Executive Conference Center combines state-of-the-art executive conference facilities with congenial, comfortable surroundings to enhance the learning experience. The center features 22,500 square feet of meeting space; 45 fully-equipped meeting rooms for up to 275; and leading-edge technology, including a video-teleconferencing suite, Internet connectivity in all meeting rooms; and simultaneous translation services. Additionally, unlike a traditional hotel model, Babson features free public computers stations with Internet available at convenient locations throughout the center.

Whatever your company's educational and/or learning needs, the hospitality and conference center industries are playing a larger role regarding accommodating, facilitating and enhancing the learning process.

As President, ARAMARK Harrison Lodging, Bruce Fears is responsible for operations at over 50 conference centers, corporate training centers and specialty hotels in educational environments, as well as 14 state parks and other resort operations. He assumed his current position following the integration of ARAMARK’s conference center, corporate training business with its parks and resorts business. Mr. Fears received a BA from Bridgewater College and participated in programs at University of London’s School of Economics and University of Florida’s School of Management. Mr. Fears can be contacted at 425-957-9708 or fears-bruce@aramark.com Extended Bio...

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