Everyone has predicted an exodus of baby boomers from the workforce. This silver tsunami of people with gray hair or no hair was expected to start happening about three years ago--and then the Great Recession hit the economy hard on. People watched their 401K accounts dwindle by a minimum of 50% and most put the breaks on any early retirement due to the economic conditions.
Today, while the overall economy is not perfect there is hope for the future and people will want to eventually retire. See the Governing Magazine's article from last December,
Government Unprepared for Boomers’ Mass Exodus It highlights the expected departures, the risks and some ideas of how to achieve some succession planning and knowledge transfer.
I expect that both in the private sector and government we do not have a good track record of passing along the institutional knowledge that walks out the door when a long serving employee departs. A few years back I saw hundreds of years of experience and knowledge walk out the door with only a few fleeting thoughts about, "Gee these people are leaving, shouldn't we have a methodology for capturing what they know?"
A few toolbox solutions mentioned in the article include:
- Temporarily rehire a retiree
- Phased retirement
- Cross training
- Expert interviews with people scheduled to retire
- Internship programs
Steve Bailey, Pierce County, Washington State Emergency Management's Director is hanging up the (?) (what is it that we hang up when we walk out the door and retire as emergency managers?) next week Friday. In his case he has done a wonderful job of preparing for his departure. Jody Woodcock is the Deputy and through different job experiences, getting a masters degree in emergency management and homeland security, and a slow hand-off of responsibilities she is well prepared to be the interim Director and compete for the permanent position. It is a great example of how to do succession planning and then execute it so that the organization does not suffer the loss of a longtime leader.
Remember Steve, that fifth wheel is not a trailer when turning sharp!
