Aging demographics and the necessity of knowledge management and knowledge transfer practices is an area that has been getting a lot attention in the Human Resources arena. I read a good article today at the SHRM website summarizing the challenges that Human Resources Managers and Learning organizations will be facing in the coming years.
This year the first members of the baby boom generation reach age 62 and can qualify for Social Security benefits. 25 million baby boomers will hit retirement age by 2013. By 2018, the numbers will continue to increase dramatically. The baby boom generation is the largest demographic group in the United States, with nearly 80 million people.
Surprisingly, research reveals that only 4 percent of Companies have adopted any formal procedures for transferring the knowledge and skills of older workers.
The workplace is not the only area where an aging American population is putting stress on business and society, real estate, social security, medicare, and pension programs all are impacted significantly with this shift. Although these are substantial issues facing American businesses and society, there are many international markets that face greater hurdles when combined with cultural and declining birth rate challenges as well.
If you are faced with an aging workforce, I would recommend instituting a formal knowledge transfer policy, this will ensure that organizational knowledge is not lost allowing adequating planning time and preparation of the next generation of thought leaders. This will position your organization well for the upcoming years and increase your national and global competitiveness, as studies have shown that this is a weak area in Human Resource Management.
