Companies not Actively Pursuing Ways to Ease Boomer
Brain Drain
June 26, 2008 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A recent study by
the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) finds that
most companies are not looking for ways to keep the
accumulated knowledge of baby boomer employees under their
wings.
The study found that 77% of responding
organizations do not have a phased retirement program -
allowing an employee who is approaching retirement to
continue employment with a reduced workload. A small
number of companies (10%) reported they are considering
phased retirement options, according to a press
release.
Sixty-eight percent of survey respondents said they
do not have initiatives to encourage the retention of
retirement-eligible employees and a significant number of
those indicated that the subject has not even been
addressed, or that they do not see it as an immediate
priority. However, the release said, someone who does
retire is often brought back: 62% of survey respondents
say they rehire retired employees on a part-time
basis.
Of the surveyed organizations that currently offer
phased retirement options, half said they have a formal
policy regarding the issue. Just two in 10 reported they
feel their phased retirement programs are successful to a
high extent, while more than two-thirds (67%) said they
view their programs as successful to "some" extent or to
a "moderate" extent.
"It's remarkable that so few companies are
proactively addressing retirement issues especially when
you consider the wave of Baby Boomers who are almost
eligible for retirement now.," said Jay Jamrog, i4cp's
SVP of research, in the press release. "You would think
that more companies would be paying attention to ways of
capturing and keeping all that accumulated knowledge.
Unfortunately, it appears most will probably not worry
about it until the day they see it walking out the door
for good."
A recent study from Ernst & Young pointed out
that phased retirement programs raise a host of HR and
benefits issues with solutions that researchers admitted
are still unclear (See
Report: Employers Still Wrestling with
Phased Retirement Issues
).
Rebecca Moore
editors@plansponsor.com