“The oldest baby boomers are six years away from retirement. Will your company continue to thrive if they take their knowledge with them? Here’s how to identify who has key knowledge and how to keep it within the company walls.” So starts an article in the CIO magazine (Australia), written by Sussanah Patton. Read it here.
The article outlines three distinct steps in the process:
- Determine what knowledge is crucial and who has it
- Learn the CIO’s role in retaining knowledge
- How to motivate experienced employees to help
A similar article cites a survey by Accenture: “Companies Urged to Lay Plans for Boomer Retirement Wave“, by Keith Regan in the E-Commerce Times. He says, “A recent survey by consulting firm Accenture found that fewer than half of the organizations it looked at had formal knowledge-transfer programs in place. And a third of those that did were seen having short-term programs that may not be enough to capture the depth of a retiring workers’ critical knowledge.”
We would highly recommend the Aussie team at SageCo, who specialise in this type of knowledge transfer. Check them out at http://www.sageco.com.au. They’re based in Australia. We’re hoping to be offering something along these lines in South Africa in the near future. If you’re interested, please contact Lynda Smith: [email protected].