Questions Peter Clayton asked Alice Graves Alice are baby boomers really going to retire? Do companies get the fact that there are 9 million fewer gen-xers than boomers? The i4cp survey you conducted in May 2008 of 118 organizations and asked what they have done or plan to do about tapping into the knowledge and experience of Boomers as they approach retirement. “When asked, for example, whether their organization incorporates retirement forecasts into knowledge transfer practices, the majority (71%) of the companies responding to the i4cp survey said no.” Are these large, multinational companies that you surveyed? Was this US only? Of the companies that are doing something about developing a knowledge transfer program, what are they doing? In researching the article, did you find any innovative strategies companies were using for knowledge transfer? There seems to be an effort by many companies to keep their boomers around a little longer - through part-time or flex schedules or by simply extending out eliminating mandatory retirement age policies - did you find any of these initiatives when you did your research? Are there any trends in this area? In looking at the research you did for the article, what surprised you? The Boomer Exodus: Ready to Pass the Torch? When half a million Baby Boomers descended on Woodstock in 1969, the size of the crowd was considered to be unprecedented by all accounts. Today, there are 76 million Boomers in the workforce, with 19 million poised for retirement by 2011 ("Small Businesses," 2008), making that historic festival of "peace and music" seem more like an intimate gathering of close friends. What is HR doing to ease the transition and the transfer of knowledge from retiring Boomers to younger workers awaiting the passing of the torch? Not enough, it appears. The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), in conjunction with HR.com, conducted a survey in May 2008 of 118 organizations and asked what they have done or plan to do about tapping into the knowledge and experience of Boomers as they approach retirement. When asked, for example, whether their organization incorporates retirement forecasts into knowledge transfer practices, the majority (71%) of the companies responding to the i4cp survey said no. Just a third said they incorporate a skills gap analysis into their retirement forecasts. And less than a quarter of respondents (23%) say they train their managers in the art of critical skills transfer. It's not too surprising, really. The National Association of Professional Employer Organizations conducted a similar survey in February 2008. Just 28% of 404 small business owners said they are currently working on plans to facilitate knowledge transfer to newer workers, while only 4% have created a formal procedure to do so ("Small Businesses," 2008). A 2007 study commissioned by Novations produced comparable results. According to Tim Vigue, executive consultant for Novations, even though concern about knowledge loss is looming, "employers have been slow off the mark in seeking solutions" (Gurchiek, 2007). Taken as a whole, knowledge transfer methods have not been particularly innovative, either. When asked what practices are used to transfer knowledge within their organization, the majority of i4cp respondents identified using training courses (81% of organizations with fewer than 1,000 employees; 92% for those with 10,000 plus). There were no close seconds. Other methods were coaching (about 50% across the board) and, for larger organizations, mentoring (11% for organizations of 1,000 to 5,000 employees; 64% for those with greater than 10,000). One recent SHRM report shows that only 36% of companies have developed succession plans to allow older workers to pass their expertise on to the younger generation, and just 44% are in the process of developing methods to capture institutional knowledge and organizational memory.... Visit totalpicture.com for the complete article