managing corporate memory: the impact of disruptive forces in the workplace

Copyright © 1995-2007 Open Text Inc. All rights reserved.

GTEC 2008:Managing Corporate Memory: The Impact of Disruptive Forces in the Workplace

Cheryl McKinnon

Director, Program Management – Enterprise 2.0 Strategy TeamOpen Text Corporation


Agenda

The Changing Face of the Enterprise- Workforce in Flux- Shift in Communication Tools

What Can be Done?- Alignment of Records, IT and Business Objectives

Where to Get More Information


Changing Face of the Enterprise

Volume and diversity of electronic communications creates risk

Budgets flat and costs escalate Operational risk is increasing, with growing

sophistication of litigation discovery and regulatory requirements- Canada and the US – eDiscovery, ATIP/FOI

Productivity is weakened- barriers to corporate knowledge that hinder quick

decision making Tech-savvy information workers demand usable

tools on the job



Number of Persons 60 Years of Age or Older (per 100) Source: United Nations (February 2006)

Workforce In Flux – Global Patterns



Workforce In Flux – US Patterns Knowledge Worker Turnover Projected

- Clinger-Cohen Study of Federal IT Staff http://cio.gov/documents/CCASurvey_2003_Analysis_Report.PDF

- 76% of respondents over 40 years old with most 45-50- 5% under 30 years old- Most risk for short term retirement wave

Managers of people and projects

- Similar patterns noted in state governments California: 1/3 of state workforce entering retirement eligibility

http://www.public-cio.com/story.php?id=92113

Texas: retirement eligible state workers doubling rates 2004 and beyondhttp://www.tpea.org/whatsnew/tpea_041209.htm

http://cio.gov/documents/CCASurvey_2003_Analysis_Report.PDF



Workers Retiring Later in Life

More Part Time and Contract Senior

Workers

Labor Deficit:

Filled by Women, Immigrants, Outsourcing


Canadian Perspectives

April 2007 Survey by Manpower- 1300 Companies surveyed- Two-thirds of employers in Canada do not have any strategy in

place to recruit or retain workers aged 50 or over. 17% have a plan to recruit such workers 24% have a strategy to retain them

- "Many employers are not considering the percentage of their workforce that is set to retire in the next five to 10 years and the potential loss of productivity and intellectual capital that will occur when those people leave their company,"

Lori Rogers – VP, Manpower



Baby Boomer Retirement Risks- First wave hit 65 – 2011 and beyond- 44% of Current Workforce at Retirement Age by 2029

Stats Can - Fastest Growing age group is 55-64- Younger workers not entering workforce at sufficient

rate to hit replacement levels- Across the G8 Nations

Japan, Italy, Germany even higher rates than Canada and US



Canadian Public Sector - Stats Canada- March 2007 permanent public

servants taking retirement 3x rate as at 2000

- Federal – average 5.3 years older than general labour force and retire 3.2 years earlier

However only 1 in 3 takes retirement at eligibility



Median Age – Highest Ever: 2001 Census- Seniors aged 65 or over

accounted for 13% of the nation's population in 2001, up from almost 12% in 1991.

- Reach 15% by 2011. At the other end of the age spectrum, 26% of the population was aged 19 or younger, down from 28% in 1991.

- Nova Scotia and Quebec nation's oldest provinces, Alberta youngest


The Changing Face of the Enterprise

What Occupational Sectors are at most Risk?- High value positions that cannot be easily automated

using technology innovations Public Sector Management Health care Industrial Engineering Educational Services Complex Manufacturing and Resource Development

• Oil, Gas, Utilities

Transportation Agricultural/Horticultural



Why Should we Care?- Loss of Corporate Memory is real

Risk to economy, environment, health and safety

- July 2007 – Transportation Safety Board of Canada Report on Rail Accident in British Columbia 2005 Directly identified loss of corporate memory due to retirement

and staff reductions a contributing cause



Other Disruptive Forces in the Enterprise- Elections

Turnover in senior agency and departmental management Information turnover – What stays in department, what

leaves with outgoing elected official

- Corporate Mergers/Acquisitions Staff redundancies

• Risk of losing data on laptops, PDAs, diverse storage locations of paper and electronic work product

Consolidation of products, business units, regional offices• Corporate memory/history/best practices lost


Changing World of the Knowledge Worker

Other Disruptive Forces in the Enterprise The Mobile Knowledge Worker

- Professionals Attorneys, Consultants, Executives, Sales Staff

- Law Enforcement Field Officers, Supervisors, Inspectors, Detectives, Security

Officials

- Emergency Services Disaster Relief, Project Officers, Military, Health Care

Professionals

- Inspection Agencies Food System, Customs, Case Workers, Transportation,

Labor or Health



Risks: Loss of Institutional Knowledge- Corporate Memory

Why things are done a particular way Internal Procedures Human Knowledge Sources within Agency – who to ask?

- Record Keeping For agencies with poor electronic records policies

• Loss of data on laptops, desktop PCs, forgotten network shares, disks

• Uncontrolled backup of email, other data which may have been targeted for destruction



Renewed Focus on the Needs of the Information Worker Technology’s Impact on the Workplace and Society

Mitigated by Human Factors- Human behavior- Business activity- Business processes- Value to the business

Source: Gartner Research Note G00137510


Agenda

The Changing World of the Knowledge Worker- Workforce in Flux- Shift in Communication Tools

What Can be Done?- Alignment of Records, IT and Business Objectives

Where to Get More Information


What Can Be Done?

CIO – Retain Control Over 3 Core Areas: Information management Information policy

- Includes records, statistics management Often delegated, secondary focus

Technology management


Emerging Best Practices: Electronic Communications

Requirements for Managing Electronic Messages as Records (ANSI/ARMA 9-2004)

Part of a holistic strategy for Information Governance The business value of communications content should

drive retention, not arbitrary date or capacity limits eCommunications policies must ensure that the

organization’s business requirements are met- Preservation of evidence of business activity for accountability

and business continuity- Content and attachments may constitute a record

and be handled according to RM policies


Emerging Best Practices

Develop Enterprise Strategy for Information Governance

Cross functional team to include:- IT, Management, HR, Legal, End Users, Records

Managers, Archives Must recognize how email is used throughout organization Consider issues from each business area on policy

development team


What’s On the Horizon?

E-mail Instant Messaging (IM) VoIP Blogs Wikis Podcasts The Enterprise 2.0 Phenomenon


What Can be Done?

Prepare for Disruptive Forces- Enterprise Architecture Initiatives- Information Governance Strategies- Corporate Memory Retention as a Priority

IT investments aligned with the core goals and strategic direction of the organization- Set of principles, standards and processes to guide the

deployment of IT systems- Framework to allow IT-enabled innovation to bring value to the

business- Develop framework and set of practices to allow the

organization to be agile and adaptable to changing conditions


What Can Be Done?

Plan Now – Assess Your Organization- What are your company’s demographics?- What are your company’s retirement policies? - What mechanisms and programs must be put in place now to capture

key competencies and critical work knowledge of employees who will be retiring?

- Demographic trends show that you may be faced with large groups of both very young workers and very old workers. Will these two groups have different learning needs? Are you prepared to customize your current programs?

Source: Preparing for Baby Boomer Retirement June 2005 - James J. L’Allier, Ph.D. & Kenneth Kolosh


What Can Be Done?

Prepare Now for Different Work Models- Teaming

Bring Mature Knowledge Workers into Collaborative Work Teams to Diffuse Information and Best Practices

Recognize trends toward part-time or term employees – often returning retirees “on call” or “on contract

Consider technology tools and training to facilitate collaborative work across virtual offices or remote geographies


What Can Be Done?

Archive

Use blogs to makeannouncements, share

news, write articlesand share opinions


What Can Be Done?

Conversations, hosted in forums provide rich

exchanges of thoughtsand ideas on different

topics


What Can Be Done

Get Ready for the Next Generation of Workforce “Born Digital”

- Born after 1981, have always have omnipresent access to technology

- (Most of us are “Digital Immigrants”)- Education experience colored by the internet,

collaborative work habits, instant messaging, rapid search expectations, cut-and-paste acceptance


What Can Be Done?Getting Ready for Digital Natives


Suggested Reading

- Preparing for Baby Boomer Retirement June 2005 - James J. L’Allier, Ph.D. & Kenneth Kolosh http://www.clomedia.com/content/templates/clo_article.asp?articleid=976&zoneid=24

- http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=deef66b9-f6e0-4a79-843f-99a4b1b6a563&k=29072

- http://www.wikinomics.com/book/index.php- http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060327/d060327b.htm- http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/Products/Analytic/companion/

age/canada.cfm- http://www.socialcomputingmagazine.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=269- http://www.solutionsforourfuture.org/site/DocServer/08.Knowledge-

Economy.pdf?docID=103- http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/070717/d070717a.htm- http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=a9484722-0a35-47b7-

8daf-1f4195a6f855- http://cio.gov/documents/CCASurvey_2003_Analysis_Report.PDF, pg 10.- Public CIO, November 2004. http://www.govtech.com/gt/articles/92113- http://www.statcan.ca/english/research/11-621-MIE/11-621-MIE2008068.htm