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Recruiting and communicating across generations

Case Management Weekly, August 22, 2007

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"The times they are a-changin'," sang Bob Dylan in 1964. For the case management workforce, the song has never been more applicable.

Nurses and case managers are aging rapidly, says Breda Bova, PhD, professor and senior advisor to the president at the University of New Mexico, where she researches workforce trends. Two-thirds of the nurse workforce is over the age of 40, and the average age is 47 years. The RN population under the age of 30 has also dropped from 9.1% of the nursing population in 2000 to 8.1% in 2004.

In addition, the total number of RN's has increased by 75% since 1980, but will begin to decline in 2010, the first decrease in decades, according to a July 2007 report, "What Works: Healing the Healthcare Staffing Shortage" from PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute.

This aging workforce makes it critical that directors of case management turn their attention to succession planning and recruiting the next generation of case managers. But as new generations enter the workforce, some find a clash with older values. Understanding the expectations and characteristics of each generation in the workforce is essential to an efficient and successful department, says Bova.

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