As the world slowly emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, a new but related workplace challenge arose: Older workers who were relatively close to their target retirement age began leaving the workforce in record numbers.
Some were driven to early retirement by the unfavorable prospect of returning to a workplace full of new health and safety requirements, like masking and regular COVID testing.
Others saw the values of their homes and 401(k)s rise considerably and found themselves on a solid enough financial footing to forego another few years in the workforce.
This exodus of talent, knowledge, and experience has left many companies reeling and desperately trying to recruit and train new talent to fill the big shoes left by departing baby boomers.
Shifts in Priorities
While relaxed COVID precautions and downturns in both the stock market and the housing market have tempered boomers’ urge to flee the labor force, this extremely populous cohort has not stopped aging, and over the next few years, millions more will continue to retire.
While employers can’t stop boomers from retiring, they can at least ease their staffing challenges by leveraging the knowledge and experience of their soon-to-retire (and even already retired) employees to help expedite the training of younger workers.
For this feature, we’ve reached out to employers and training and HR professionals to get their insights on how baby boomers approaching or even beyond retirement can be a great resource in company training efforts.
Mitigating Brain Drain
Anyone who has worked at a company long enough has probably encountered a question or challenge nobody quite has the answer to and to which someone comments, “So-and-so used to always handle that. But they retired last year.”
It’s all too common for valuable institutional knowledge to go out the door with a retiring longtime employee, and there is often no way to get that knowledge back without the retiree’s aid. While turnover happens among all age groups, the difference with retirees is that there’s typically much more time between an employee’s announcement that he or she is retiring and the person’s actual departure than someone’s 2-week notice.
Steven McConnell, Director of Sales and Marketing at Arielle Executive, has a background in HR and career coaching and says that baby boomers who are retired, or are near retirement, are well positioned to provide training on both trade and technical skills to younger employees—both those who want to further their skill sets and those who are new to the organization and need guidance.
“Under specialized employment conditions, they are able to minimize learning and adjustment curbs and propagate green employees who meet local employers’ skill needs,” McConnell says. “Their expertise and time-developed industry hacks are also the perfect materials to be central in regular educational and vocational training programs which are offered as career advancement perks for outperforming members.”
Mentoring
One of the most effective training and development tools, when used properly, is mentoring. Pairing an experienced employee with a junior team member can create a strong bond within which to transfer crucial information. Mentoring is often more rewarding—and, therefore, more engaging—than group lectures because it provides a greater opportunity for mentors to see their pupils grow and develop.
“With more and more baby boomers retiring every year, many organizations forget that they are the people within the organization that hold the key to knowledge,” says Andrea Meyer, Director of Benefit Services at WorkSmart Systems. “One-to-one and group mentoring is an extremely effective way to train younger employees to help increase job, company, and industry knowledge,” she says. “While technology is extremely helpful with efficiency, having a veteran or retired employee speak during a training session can be just as beneficial—if not more.”
Keeping Boomers Engaged
It’s surprisingly easy for many companies to fail to properly engage their boomer employees. These companies may see boomers as having one foot out the door or being unwilling to adapt to changing circumstances. Ironically, it’s these same boomer workers who possess the valuable institutional knowledge and industry experience that employers are scrambling to retain as much as possible.
Leveraging boomer employees as training resources can be a great way to keep them engaged in the final years of their time with the organization.
The benefits of mentorship programs flows both ways, and mentors can also gain valuable insights from their protégés. “While Boomers are often stereotyped as being set in their ways, they are actually very eager to keep learning and advancing in their careers,” says Christina Gialleli, Director of People Operations at Epignosis. “Capitalizing on Boomers’ desire to continue developing over the years, and be the best possible worker they can be, is essential for an organization. Additionally, allowing Boomers to mentor younger colleagues can serve as a powerful tool for a company and its employees since Boomers have decades of experience to draw upon.”
Gialleli notes the importance of keeping boomers engaged throughout that process without giving them the sense that their knowledge is simply being drained by a younger generation. “While it is important to give Boomers additional opportunities and allow them to have a voice within the company, it is just as essential for managers and leaders to take the time to build strong relationships with these workers,” she says. “Leaders should provide feedback and praise for the work Boomers are doing, focusing on the positive aspects of their performance, rather than their shortcomings. This will allow Boomers to continue to gain confidence in their new work environment, as well as feel comfortable with who they are working with.”
Each year, roughly 1 million baby boomers enter retirement. That represents a tremendous amount of institutional knowledge leaving organizations all across the country. Companies that don’t take steps to preserve as much of that knowledge and experience as possible are doing a great disservice to their remaining workforce and to themselves.
Lin Grensing-Pophal is a Contributing Editor at HR Daily Advisor.