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Today's Topic
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The Aging Workforce
As the Baby Boomers approach retirement age, a 'brain drain' of expertise will be leaving the corporate world at an unprecidented rate.
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Companies across the U.S. and the globe are at risk of losing their most valuable asset - knowledge.
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The information that workers have gained over a lifetime is difficult to replicate. Often, this knowledge cannot be documented; it exists in the relationships and experences forged over an entire career.
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Problems Ahead
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Most companies are not preparing for the eventual retirement of their highly experienced employees. These companies are likely to suffer decreased productivity and increased costs as replacement workers scramble to compensate for the 'retiree stampede' to the exits.
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Mass Exits, Few Replacements
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Attracting and mentoring younger talent will become more critical as the boomers start to retire. However, because Generation X is much smaller than the Boomer Generation, there is likely to be too many retirees and too few qualified replacement candidates.
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Global Workforce Competition
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Off-shoring work that is not critical to the company is an alternative that will become increasingly necessary, but the aging workforce is a problem for nearly every country around the globe.
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Some proactive companies are preparing for this lost knowledge by teaming up experienced workers with one or more junior employees, in order to transfer as much knowledge as possible. Technology is also helping fill the gaps, by allowing experts to video tape their processes, or organize their work in searchable databases.
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Encouraging older workers to stay on the job past retirement as an employee or as a consultant will become more common, but eventually the knowledge must be transfered to the next generation.
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Planning for a successful transition requires the cooperation of the company and the retiree, and the sooner this process begins, the better, for everyone.
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