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Talent Management Perspectives

Published April 2009

Goodbye Boomers, Hello Boomerangs

  Alex Dodd

The first of the nation's 78 million baby boomers began retiring in 2007. Though some experts are now predicting the alleged "silver tsunami" may turn out to be more of a "low tide," there's no question the upcoming demographic shift will present major workforce challenges to U.S. companies.

It's true many boomers are delaying retirement, driven largely by the current financial landscape. Still, "we know there will be millions of baby boomers retiring and that some workers now entering the workforce lack core competencies," said Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) President Susan R. Meisinger, in 2005.

"These are serious HR and workforce issues that could undermine the nation's global competitiveness. And HR must determine how to meet these challenges."

There are two core issues that magnify the problem:

1. Organizations are failing to capture critical knowledge and experience from retiring employees. A survey conducted by Accenture of more than 500 full-time U.S. workers between 40 and 50 years of age found that 45 percent of employers have no formal planning processes and/or tools in place to capture their workplace knowledge.
2. New employees entering the workforce lack basic skills. Fifty-eight percent of HR professionals recently surveyed by SHRM report new workers are falling short in critical areas including motivation, problem solving, professionalism, basic English writing, customer service, business knowledge and leadership ability.

Forward-thinking HR leaders will address these challenges with creative solutions that may incorporate those retiring boomers themselves. Boomers established themselves as the workaholic generation. They want and need to work. Here are some ways to use these motivated and skilled professionals in a new capacity:

Hire retired boomers as consultants. Many knowledge workers are electing to become part of the flexible workforce. For most this means becoming an independent contractor and working on a project basis. Their decades of experience have honed and perfected their business performance, making them an ideal choice when special skills or expertise are required.

Better yet, talent managers can bring back the people they just lost. The benefits are obvious: As a former employee, they are already intimately familiar with the job, the company and its culture. Assignments might be one-off — for example, bringing back a retiree to transfer knowledge or skills to their replacement — or occur on a regular basis.

Offer flexible or part-time work arrangements to employees as they approach retirement age. Many companies offer alternative schedules to experienced workers. Such programs enable retirees to profit not only from continued income, but often from continued coverage on company health care plans and other benefits.
 
Capture the knowledge before it goes out the door. Effective knowledge transfer and retention will prove to be a vital core competency for companies during this period of demographic flux. Successful talent leaders will ensure workforce development and training initiatives are in place to capture the retiring employees' expertise and minimize its loss. Organizational training and development efforts also must address gaps in core competencies and basic skills among new hires and incumbent employees in order to remain competitive.

As they leave the full-time workforce, many new retirees will be able to parlay their skills and experience into continued career success. With some creative workforce strategies, your company can benefit from "Boomer 2.0." For the first time in history, we have four generations — boomers, traditionalists, Generation X and Generation Y— working side by side, each with its own goals, perspectives and work style. Ultimately, companies that figure out how to leverage the unique strengths of all generations in the workplace will be best poised for success.     

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