Baby boomer exodus - As millions retire, their skills and knowledge will be gone, too

Just as they have for 60 years, baby boomers are throwing their weight around again.

This time, though, it's not a matter of how to educate, house and employ the mass of 78 million Americans in that generation, but rather how to replace their skills and knowledge in the workplace as they begin to retire.

The oldest of the baby boomers turn 60 this year, on the verge of traditional retirement age.

The percentage of workers older than 65 will increase from 14.4 percent of the work force in 2004 to 19.7 percent by 2014, meaning the fastest-growing part of the U.S. work force will be retirement age, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

It's more common to find businesses offering early retirement to shuttle older workers out the door, relieving themselves of expensive salary and benefit packages. And little is being done to offer workplace adjustments that would entice employees to work longer.

“The baby boomers are going to be leaving the workplace soon, and they are going to take all their knowledge with them,” said Sandra Timmerman, a gerontologist who heads MetLife's Mature Market Institute. “If you ignore that, you're going to make the problem worse than it has to be.”

Despite that, the U.S. workplace is anything but hospitable to most older workers.

“America is enamored with youth, and a lot of businesses don't look favorably on older workers,” said Miriam Rothman, a professor of management at the University of San Diego. “Most employers want to hire young people, fresh people. They don't want to deal with older people. But they are going to find very soon that they need these older workers.”

A Federal Reserve study to be released in July warns that retirements by baby boomers may have a profound impact on the nation's economic growth, perhaps slowing it dramatically because there aren't enough workers to fill key jobs.

The Fed study projects that annual economic growth over the next decade will fall to less than 3 percent annually, down from 3.3 percent annual gains through the 1990s.

A survey by the Society for Human Resources Management shows that two-thirds of companies think they will lose talent when baby boomers retire, although there is little evidence that companies are doing much to try to keep them working.

“It's a little like the chicken and the egg,” said MetLife's Timmerman. “Companies seem to acknowledge the problem, but everyone is standing around waiting for someone else to find a solution. It's a little frustrating because that means we may have a crisis before most companies do anything about it.”

Last fall, IBM organized a discussion of community leaders, business people and academics at the University of San Diego to discuss how the aging work force will affect the workplace in the years ahead.

It was one of several that IBM has held around the county to call attention to the impending loss of institutional knowledge, said Eric Lesser, leader of IBM's West Coast human capital management group.

“We know that there are a lot of older workers who will be leaving in the next few years, but we wanted to make sure that we didn't lose their expertise and knowledge,” Lesser said. “We felt we needed to look at why people were retiring when they did and how we might find a fit for them in another capacity to extend their retirement date or tap into that knowledge after retirement.”

IBM, which maintains a stable of retirees who mentor and pass on knowledge to younger workers, also has a consulting service to help companies assess how they will be affected by baby boomer retirements. “This will have severe consequences for some companies unless they prepare for it,” Lesser said.

Last fall, IBM also introduced a program to help shore up the shortage of science and math teachers by providing up to $15,000 in tuition and stipends to some of its most experienced workers who want to transition into teaching.

IBM employees who've worked for the company for at least 10 years are eligible to study for the new career while still on IBM's payroll. They then leave the company to become math or science teachers.

“We have a lot of people who have always wanted to teach, and this is an opportunity to do that,” said IBM's Robin Wilner.

One unknown is how many baby boomers will postpone retirement beyond the traditional age of 65.

Older people are driven today to extend their working lives by a variety of factors: economic uncertainties, poor retirement planning, collapsing pension plans and longer life spans.

MetLife, for example, reports that 54 percent of baby boomers are concerned they will have to work either part time or full time after age 65 to have a comfortable retirement.

“I think there are a lot of workers who are getting older who want to continue working, but not necessarily in the same careers,” USD's Rothman said. “These baby boomers want to stay involved, and work is one of the ways they will do that.”

But as Timmerman points out, employers will be motivated to find ways to keep employees longer only when they witness firsthand the shrinking pool of experienced talent.

San Diego-based Sharp HealthCare, for instance, got its indoctrination under fire.

A nationwide shortage of nurses has caused the health care company to look at how it could accommodate nurses rather than seeing them bolt the company or the profession, said senior recruiter Joyce Stewart.

“The bulk of the health care work force is in nursing, and everyone knows there is a shortage of nurses,” Stewart said, noting that the average age of a Sharp nurse is now 45. “So we began to look at ways we could make the job more attractive and keep people from leaving.”

Sharp instituted an in-house registry for nurses, clerical help, information technology workers and others in its 13,0000-employee work force. Many Sharp employees can shape their own work schedules in medical clinics, labs and hospitals around the county.

Instead of forcing workers into highly structured jobs, the registry allows them to work fewer than 40 hours a week if they want, and to bid on work schedules they find most compatible with their lifestyles and personal needs.

“If they only want to work four shifts a month, we'll do that,” Stewart said.

Sharp also found that one of the primary workplace complaints of older nurses is the physical nature of the work. Stewart said Sharp has investigated ways to reduce those demands to prevent nurses from leaving.

“These are valuable employees to us, and anything we can do shape the job around their needs will help keep them from leaving,” she said. “We know that we can't solve everyone's concerns, but we are looking at ways we can change to make our jobs more attractive and retain these individuals.”

Another company that recognized the shortfall of experienced workers in the labor pool is Home Depot, which formed a partnership with AARP to hire workers 50 and older for some of the 35,000 annual openings at the home-improvement chain.

Home Depot allows workers wide latitude in setting work hours and has trained managers on dealing with older employees.

One of those workers is Walter Spain, a Sabre Springs resident who first retired as a contract administrator from Rockwell International in 1991 at the age of 67. After a brief retirement, Spain worked for a decade at a Poway hardware store until it closed last year.

Now 82, Spain is working in the hardware department at the Home Depot store in Carmel Mountain Ranch. He works 24 to 32 hours a week, or as many hours as he wants.

“Companies are scared to death to hire old people,” he said. “It's like they expect you to fall over dead on the spot. The truth is that a lot of us want to work and enjoy it. I'm thankful I found somewhere that will welcome me.”

But most companies don't seem to feel the need to change how they handle aging workers – at least not yet.

Cubic Corp., a San Diego defense contractor and maker of automatic fare collection systems for mass transit, has no formal mentoring program, nor does it worry about a shrinking labor pool even though the average age of its work force is about 48, said Bernie Kulchin, Cubic's vice president of human resources.

“We believe that there is no substitute for experience,” he said. “We have always coached, counseled and guided younger workers, but we've never had a formal program.”

Like other companies – particularly technology and firms with specialized personnel – Cubic often brings back retired workers to work on short-term projects because of their expertise.

MetLife's Timmerman said a major obstacle to keeping older workers on the job is the reluctance of companies to invest in training them for new tasks.

“As a person gets older, most employers don't want to train them,” she said. “Of course they don't say that, but there is a powerful message that is sent to older workers that they aren't worth the investment.

“I think that's a mistake,” Timmerman said. “We need to realize that training will keep these people in the work force doing work we need done.”

USD management professor Rothman said companies and older workers need to change their attitudes about older workers.

“Competence has nothing to do with age,” she said. “But we seem to have built this barrier that once you cross it, your work life is done. That's wrong. But I really think it is going to take a crisis, such as a labor shortage, for it to sink in that there are workers there who can do the job.”

Ain't life great . Retired at 55 three years ago . Do whatever I want to do(along with my wife of 35 years ) . Fill up the SUV and the boat without a fret !!

Those of us born during the war and just before the war resent being lumped with the parasitic, slimeball, socialist, communistic, criminal baby boomers. Hmmm, was I too easy on them or should I have been more specific?

We spoiled them, pure and simple. We wanted, so bad, for them to have what we did not have and we spent our productive years busting our butts to get it for them .

Looks like we over-did it and now a lot of them think they are entitled to everything without having to earn anything.

It's been happeng for several years in my (print / publish) occupation. The old pros are going away. I have to deal with 20 somethings who don't know their azz from left field, when it comes to getting the job done.

I don't mean to brag, but, I have forgotten more than most youngsters will ever know about car motors, tractors, lawn mowers,heat exchangers, tube radios, generators, guns, women, boats and booze. I have had a good life!

True, my youngest brother is in his 20s, and while he manages to entertain himself, his experiences, and knowledge are so limited compared to mine at that age.

"Eat your heart out because our turn to the grave will be delayed a lot longer than our parents, because of scientific breakthroughs WE discovered . BTW we are rich beyond our dreams also . Ain't life a bitch ?"

Actually, I am a boomer, it's my kids that I'm worried about.

I just want the liberal half of the generation out the door, the Mary Mapes (of the MSM) types, the Clinton appointees, etc.

Baby boomer exodus - As millions retire, their skills and knowledge will be gone, too

Do you mean my generation's "skill" at bonehead political posturing, or our "knowledge" that every form of technology more advanced than windmills and chicken manure would be too dangerous to ever contemplate? Now that we're in the process of being replaced by Indian doctors and Chinese nuclear engineers, our children can finally look forward to the day when the $4 gas they're paying for, and the Boomer science policy that was reponsible for it, will be a memory as faded as the pictures of Woodstock that we bequeathed to them. Good riddance to us!

Their skills and knowledge are already already obsolete -- and they don't want to learn new ones.

Instead, they all want to be promoted to educational administrators or editors/professors emeritus, whereby they can maintain their delusions that they are the "progressives" in society, rather than the Luddites they actually are.

Since it all runs downhill, whatever happens to the "boomers", happens to us by default. We'll be lumped in with them from here on out.
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Of course, I am a war baby and I have already seen articles talking about how "the first baby boomers" are starting to draw social security. The truth is that no baby boomer is yet old enough to draw social security and won't be for another year or so. I was born in 1944 and am just old enough to apply on my birthday this year. It is amazing how many people think the baby boom includes those born during world war two.

I'm not worried about my kids . My wife and I are both Conservative . Both the boys are Conservative ( 26 and 23 ). They both have a college education and have secured jobs with strong USA companies . They are contributing to the max in Roth and 401 K's . for the future in which Social Security will be non-existant . \There is always a time when people get stupid and vote for a Democratic administration but, the country usually comes back to its senses and returns to the Capitalist paridigm . I told them if it gets really bad after dad and mom are gone , get their generation to have another Civil War and kill all the Dem bastards . Everybody is crying wolf and the Dow will probably set a record tomorrow

I have to agree with you here...I was born at the end of 1945, and technically, I am not a 'boomer', tho just on the edge...I cannot even file for Social Security until the very end of 2007..

It's going to be the largest transfer of wealth the nation has ever seen as many boomers take their retirement $$ out of the hands of their employers managers and handle it themselves.

It's not a transfer of wealth. The "boomers" retirement money is largely from defined contributions. It's money they earned and invested as preparation for retirement. The markets have enjoyed having lots of money pumped in by boomers preparing for retirement. The markets are going to get a good kick in the shins when the time comes to move the money back to the people who earned it. Exacerbating the problem is the way ERISA forces retirees to extract money so the government can tax it. The policy forces disbursements even if the retiree has no immediate need for that money.

Ask yourself (or anyone) from where came the idea that the government (or other) is responsible for paying your health care. Where did that come from? It is the "stupidest" idea I ever heard of!

Teddy Kennedy has been in the Senate since the early 60's. He is not a boomer, but he is the kind of leftist/commie who believes is government funded healthcare. He also pushed the 1965 immigration bill that filled this country with illegals. He is part of the "Greatest Generation" who have been legislating socialism and destroying our country. Lyndon Johnson bears significant responsiblity as well.

Now that we're in the process of being replaced by Indian doctors and Chinese nuclear engineers, our children can finally look forward to the day when the $4 gas they're paying for, and the Boomer science policy that was reponsible for it, will be a memory as faded as the pictures of Woodstock that we bequeathed to them. Good riddance to us!

The boomer generation supervised the dumbing down and politicization of our educational institutions--schools and colleges alike. So it's not unlikely that those Indian doctors and Chinese nuclear engineers will be served by the children of American boomers at the supermarket checkout counters and MacDonalds.

I belong to the metallic age. I've got silver in my hair, gold in my teeth and lead in my ass.

At least you don't have scars on your butt from rice grains. You would have to run for President.

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