I’ve been all over the UK this week – Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. I happened to stroll into a client’s office and observed a number of balloons and cards showing the number 40 so I immediately assumed it was someone’s 40th birthday.
“Congratulations to the 40 year old” I announced.
“No”, was the reply, “it’s Bob, he’s been with the company for 40 years”
And that’s the strangest thing I’ve heard all year because few people these days stay with one firm for 40 years. The average Generation Y employee hops every 4.4 years according to Forbes.
Now Bob would have accrued a healthy pension, solid health insurance and heaps of life assurance but job hopping employees accrue none of this. Remember this when you’re faced with your next customer and you want to talk about protecting their mortgage and family in the event of death, illness and so on. Chances are they will have no existing cover.
As I went to shake Bob’s hand, he announced he was retiring next year. Good for you Bob but you’re a dying breed of worker.