From boomers to zoomers

How to bridge the frontline generational skills gap

With 59% of workers set to retire in the next five years, the coming retirement boom will drain frontline-dependent industries of critical experience. Productivity will plummet unless businesses can get new hires up to speed.

Based on survey data from 1,500 retail and manufacturing workers across the U.S., U.K., and Germany, this report combines their insights with expert advice on onboarding, training, and upskilling, to help you...

Avoid brain drain by centralising organisational knowledge

Increase new hires' speed to productivity by delivering the right resources at the right time

Foster learning across the employee lifecycle by making knowledge accessible

Tablet showing Flip whitepaper From Boomers to Zoomers: How to bridge the frontline generational skills gap.

WHY IT MATTERS

Brain drain puts your team's productivity at risk

Knowledge isn't just power – it's value. Without ways to systematically capture, preserve, and pass on employee knowledge, businesses pay with inefficiencies, missed targets, and mistakes.

14 hours

of a frontline worker's week is spent helping inexperienced colleagues – costing over $15k annually per employee

92%

of frontline managers don't have what they need to increase new hires' speed to productivity

90%

of frontline managers report missing targets each year due to a lack of skills on their team

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What's inside

Maintain your skilled workforce

Produced in partnership with Workplace Intelligence, From Boomers to Zoomers combines frontline opinions, in-depth analysis, and expert advice to help you bridge the frontline skills gap.

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Repercussions of the retirement boom

Businesses are bracing for a seismic demographic shift that threatens widespread brain drain. Learn how an ageing workforce will disrupt business operations – and where its impact is already felt.

Two frontline workers in conversation, speech bubbles above, symbolizing employee engagement.

Across the generational divide

It's not just the skills gap that's generational – opinion is divided, too. Find out what older workers, millennials, Gen Z hires, and frontline managers say about skills challenges, available resources, and more.

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Scalable solutions for the skills gap

Get expert advice on using technology and automation to preserve organisational knowledge, make training and upskilling resources accessible, and get new hires up to speed quickly.

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'Not having the ability to train new hires correctly and efficiently is a direct link to not being able to hit daily targets. Without proper onboarding it takes longer for the workers to gain the skills they need.'

Frontline worker, US manufacturing

What's at stake

The future of the skills gap

Benedikt Brand
CEO & co-founder, Flip

‘It’s vital that businesses capture the invaluable expertise of retiring employees and make meaningful investments into developing the Gen Z employees who make up their future workforce. Without seamless knowledge transfer between generations, productivity will stall, and these essential industries will suffer.'

Smiling man in white shirt stands in modern office with plants and bookshelves in background.

Dan Schawbel
Managing Partner, Workplace Intelligence

'The new generation gap isn’t just about age — it’s who has essential work skills and who doesn’t. The research shows many employers aren’t doing enough to pass knowledge on to younger workers before older employees retire. There’s a lot of good will, with experienced workers wanting to support new hires, but no one has the time or tools they need to train effectively.’

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From Boomers to Zoomers:
How to bridge the frontline generational skills gap

Get your copy

Download the full research report – jam-packed with insights from 1,500 frontline workers and managers, plus expert advice on onboarding, training, and upskilling an evolving workforce.

Download the report

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