The Coming Brain Drain

Anne Fisher has a good article on "How to Battle the Brain Drain" in the current issue of Fortune.

"The Brain Drain" is a term used to describe the loss of experienced workers from Corporate America. Part of this is occurring naturally through normal retirement, but it has been accelerated in recent years through programs encouraging workers over 50 to leave through early retirement. In fact, the current first retirement age in the U.S. is now about 57 due to this phenomenon. It is further exacerbated by the unusually large size of this age group. American business is losing its knowledge and experience at alarming rates. Fisher's article does a good job of discussing the problem and talking about some solutions that are being brought forth.

I was part of a group that worked on this issue during the transition period after Chevron bought Texaco. It is a difficult problem.

One major difficulty in solving the problem are our laws concerning retirement plans. But fortunately, there are moves afoot to change the laws to allow companies to offer phased retirement or to keep older workers employed on a part time basis without jeopardizing their retirement benefits. This will be a win-win for everyone.

Here are a couple of things we should all be thinking about:

1. Company leaders should develop formal strategies to both minimize and pass on as much of the knowledge of their older experienced workers as possible. This should include mentoring programs and other measures discussed in Fisher's article.

2. Company leaders, aware that much experience and knowledge is becoming available through early retirement, should develop strategies to gain access through innovative hiring policies.

3. Individuals over 40 should begin developing personal strategies for how they will continue working and contributing if they are part of the brain drain. There are many good options, but nearly all require some level of preparation and action before they can be put in place.

If you'd like to have a conversation about this, either as an employer or as an individual, let me know.