Well, OK, they’re going to retire eventually (remember what Ben Franklin said about those two certainties in life…). But Boomers are evidently in no real hurry to retire, and why should they be? As the Talent War continues to heat up - partially because some Boomers are retiring, but also because of a scarcity of upcoming talent - organizations are starting to think more carefully about just how long their Boomers should keep working. At the same time, aging members of America’s talent force are taking careful stock of their lives and realizing that retirement may not even be an option for now.

Two of the hottest watchwords in HR right now are “talent management.” To many organizations, that means things like employee development and retention (see a recent post at the Lucas Group for another take on it).

That means refining the recruiting process to not only scope out new, young talent, but also to hunt down experienced talent like QWPs. Right there are two different fronts in the War: businesses keeping who they have, recruiters trying to take them away. Of course those two sides work together all the time, but it all puts Boomers in the driver’s seat. Why would they want to retire?

In a recent study by Buck Consultants, WorldatWork, and Corporate Voices for Working Families, 52% of the respondents said they were most concerned about a Boomer exodus’ effect on senior leadership positions. Big majorities said they were interested in developing “mentoring programs (57%), knowledge gap analyses (69%), and intergenerational work teams (44%)” to make use of the remaining time they have with Boomers.

“However, more than 80% of respondents, regardless of industry, have not surveyed their mature workers to determine future work preferences or intentions. Forty-two percent have not even identified who is responsible in their organization for knowledge transfer and knowledge management” (from College Recruiter).

Between their increased desirability and increased costs of living (meaning they can’t always afford to retire), Boomers are likely going to be an integral part of the workforce for the foreseeable future. The question is, what are you doing to recruit/retain them?

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