DARIN EPPERLY/DAILY NEWSRALPH COOK of Columbus is still coming to work at Behlen Manufacturing even though he's 85 years old. The question is whether younger generations will have that same kind of work ethic, or what communities will need to do to entice them to stay.
When he was 65 years old, he took a couple of months off before heading back to work. Now, 20 years later at age 85, Ralph is still coming to work every day at Behlen Manufacturing here.
It's a work ethic he has passed down to his son, Larry.
At 61 years of age, the younger Cook laughs when he talks about his dad's inability to quit. While some of the reason is financial, it's still more than that.
"Working was how I grew up with my mother and father," Larry said. "There were no vacations, we worked. We didn't have money, and dad was always working so we didn't go anywhere than work."
Larry has spent 32 years at Hormel Food Corp. in Fremont. He could retire this fall when he turns 62 but has yet to make up his mind.
After all, could he retire before his father? More importantly, could he actually stop working?
Employers
Ralph and Larry represent their older generations perfectly. With a strong work ethic and a sense of company loyalty, the two have stayed at their respective businesses for decades.
But Larry's son, Darrin, is only 34 and has a much different mentality.
"You know these young kids, they are so much different than their moms and dads," Larry said. "Darrin, he's more of the generation that doesn't go out and doesn't do the hard tasks. He's been in California and worked for outfits out there, but they didn't do those laborious tasks like my dad and I."
Just like Larry struggles to understand his son's generation, employers are having to adjust as well.
Norfolk Iron & Metal human resources director Jay Fleecs said he already sees a difference between his 50-year-old and 22-year-old employees.
"Maybe the older generation just has more patience," he said. "The younger ones come out of college and they want to be the supervisor in a year. The older guys just have more patience when it comes to working their way up."
But if the desired promotion isn't available immediately for young workers, then companies are going to have to offer other benefits to retain them.
Corey Pospisil, a fellow human resources representative for Norfolk Iron & Metal, said there are some options employers can consider - like more time off, more flexible hours or just more respect for employees' needs.
But even if a company offers these types of things, there is no guarantee that those hired will stay for the 30 or 40 years their parents and grandparents may have.
"In the long run, it would be worth having someone young if you can count on them to stay," Fleecs said. "But that's not really how it works anymore."
Communities
When considering the labor shortage in Columbus and those occurring in pockets nationwide, it becomes obvious that the issue is more than too few workers or a lack of skills. Even with the number of jobs outnumbering the work force by as much as 5 million by 2010, it also seems to boil down to a new mentality.
As the baby boomers age and retire, they take with them their work ethic - something that has kept America's industrial wheels churning for decades.
What may replace this "live to work" and "work to live" mentality is an attitude of "living and then working."
Right now, many interviewed for this series agreed that those coming out of college and moving into their late 20s want more than work to define them - they want an unprecedented quality of life.
For communities hoping to retain this young working base, this new attitude means refocusing on the amenities and recreational offerings of cities.
"You can't just talk about job first or you've already lost them," Nebraska Work Force development consultant Caleb Pollard said of the young laborers. "We do a terrible job of talking about the experience of living in Nebraska. Omaha is becoming a cultural mecca and people are starting to believe in it. But why can't people believe in the entire state of Nebraska like that?"
R.J. Baker, director of the Elkhorn Valley Economic Development Council in Norfolk, said quality of life means three things: education, institutions - church and civic - and community festivities.
Places like Norfolk need to find that "fun" aspect to draw in younger crowds but still keep middle-age families and aging couples in mind.
To Baker, it's about finding something for each group to participate in and things that all can enjoy together.
"If all these things are present - higher levels of entertainment for the age 30 group, family activities and community interaction for the older generation - then it becomes truly intergenerational, and that's what you want," Baker said.
What this could mean is moving ahead with things such as a water park and or a riverwalk project in Norfolk.
Anything Norfolk can add to make it stand out from other communities of similar size is becoming more and more necessary, Baker said.
"Economic development is built on community development," he said. "People don't want to work where they don't want to live. The important thing is that the community offers the amenities those age groups want."
