The flip side of a prosperous U.S. economy is the one where baby boomers are feeling comfortable retiring from their longtime employers in droves.
Yet, CEOs simply can’t afford to let some of these people go, especially at a time of general labor scarcity. Or, if they do, companies face a greater need than ever to absorb the vital knowledge of processes and procedures, as well as hack improvisation and institutional memory that retirees otherwise simply would take out the door with them.
“This is a significant problem and not talked about as much as it should be,” says Megan Gerhardt, a business professor at Miami University of Ohio and author of Gentelligence, a new book about how generational differences play out at work. “We’ve given a lot of attention to what older workers can learn about technology from younger generations, but the other side of that coin has been lost in the conversation.”
Here are some ways to make the transition easier, from Chief Executive:
• Help them stay longer—Make improvements to the work environment to help older workers, as well as continue to provide bonuses and encouragement to incentivize workers to stay aboard.
• Mesh the generations—At Siemens USA, CEO Barbara Humpton faced a challenge in her energy-management division where many salespeople were reaching retirement age “all at once,” she recalls. “So we created a multi-generational team” for the handoff, she says. “The newer generation felt like the [older] folks were investing their time and interest in them, and the folks who’d been around for a while loved the interest and energy from new entrants into the field.”
• Show them respect—Workplaces increasingly dominated by millennials and members of Generation Z can transmit messages to boomers that essentially amount to an invitation to leave. Try to avoid this.
• Capture their knowledge—Specialized software is available for companies in nearly every vertical for logging, sharing and manipulating vital information for knowledge transfer, often with features such as social-media collaboration tools and artificial-intelligence engines.
• Remember the soft skills—Older workers can help younger peers understand that not every skill can be reduced to an app.
• Bring them back—Finally, when your would-be retirees are ready to go, transition them to part-time work or retain them as consultants. Read the full story for a more in-depth explanation of these strategies.
