Workforce Evolution
Read More in the GuidebookChanging demographics, experience gap, increased expectations for non-traditional work arrangements, increased competition for specialized skills, reduced tenure lengths/ increased workforce transitions
Workforce needs and associated capabilities are evolving in transportation agencies. Baby boomers (those born between 1946-1964) are retiring, leaving behind an experience gap. Retirements of senior staff also create opportunities for introducing new ways of working and thinking into the organization. Millennials (born between 1977-1994) are entering the workforce, with different core values that need to be considered by agencies wishing to attract and retain new talent. Millennials are (as a rule) highly tech-savvy and collaborative, and value work flexibility and work-life balance. Younger workers are not staying in one organization for their entire careers. As a result, new approaches for building and transferring institutional knowledge are required.
The younger workforce also brings new types of expectations. Notably, younger employees express a desire for quick upward mobility and seek transparency in agency expectations for how to achieve that mobility. Purpose-driven work is a good motivator for younger workers and a good work environment is a major factor in a younger worker’s decision to stay in an organization.
The labor pool available to transportation agencies is also changing. The competition for technically strong, management-oriented staff is increasing as technology companies and other sectors outside of transportation seek the same skillsets in their hires.
Related Roles
Related Situations
Related Resources
- National Transportation Library Resource Guides
- Online Training Resources for Transportation Employees
- State DOT Organizational Charts
- Vermont Agency of Transportation Employee Retention and Knowledge Management Study
- NCHRP 20-05 Topic 49-10 Transportation Workforce Planning and Development Strategies
- NCHRP 20-07 Task 408: Transportation System Management and Operations (TSMO) Workforce – Skills, Positions, Recruitment, Retention, and Career Development
- NCHRP 08-125: A Comprehensive Study of Future Competencies for Transportation Planners
- NCHRP 02-25: Workforce 2030-Recruiting and Training the Next Generation Transportation Construction Workforce
- TCRP Report 77 Managing Transit’s Workforce in the New Millennium (2002)
- Skill Networks and Measures of Complex Human Capital