I. T. Boomers, Some Companies Are Worried About Retirement, Some Aren't

I. T. Boomers, some companies pay to get rid of them, and some go out their way to keep them.

Unlike, EDS, who is actually paying their Baby Boomers to retire early, other I.T. companies are worrying that when there Baby Boomers start retiring over next 10 years a skills shortage will develop, particularly in the Mainframe realm. And those forward looking companies are taking steps to make sure they keep their most knowledgeable workers around as long as possible.

In eWeek: Keeping the 50+ Work Force in the House, Deborah Perelman states:

The 50-plus group doesn't necessarily want the kind of workplace they've always had, and companies desperate to keep them in the fold are providing them with as many accommodations and perks as they can.

Barbara Santella, manager of staffing and university relations at Westinghouse, knows all about this looming skills-gap crisis.

"While many companies are faced with an ageing work force, the energy work force is especially hard hit. A lot of our knowledge is with the most senior members of the work force. Twenty percent of Westinghouse's work force could retire today if they wish. Fifty percent will be eligible in the next five years," said Santella at a session on the 50+ work force at the U.S. Chamber's ICW (Institute for a Competitive Workforce) at its annual Education and Workforce Summit, Sept. 25 in Washington D.C.

Westinghouse can't just recruit from its local community because it requires a very specific set of the labor pool. The majority of its employees are engineers.

"They possess years of knowledge. It's not day-to-day work knowledge, but knowledge in their heads we have to get out before they leave or hold them there until we can put a program in place to transfer their knowledge," said Santella.

Santella's company is instead focusing on a retention program, and her group has constructed an elaborate one.

"We hold retirement seminars for people 50-plus, so they can start planning early on. We ask them to give us an idea of when they feel they might retire. Then we go through and identify what the critical skills and knowledge they have. Once we identify that they have critical skills, we work on retention and knowledge transfer," said Santella.

To keep these key employees from leaving, Westinghouse offers a number of benefits, from flextime to alternative work schedules; alternative workplace rules have also been established so they can log in from home on a part- or full-time basis. Employees who don't want to work full-time anymore can opt for reduced work hours.

But more radically, Westinghouse is trying to make the workplace itself more appealing to older workers.

"They don't want to sit in a cube and just process information all day anymore, so we've tried to set up challenging situations for them. They mentor new employees as they come in, and we also have them direct and lead groups that discuss knowledge on a topic. We've also boosted service awards, where the higher up you go in your years of service, the bigger the gift you get. Some people are really holding out for those one-carat earrings or the Westinghouse watch," said Santella.

So what do you do if your company can't jump through hoops, but are concerned about what happens mainframers retire, after all they aren't exactly growing them on trees these days, experts from Forrester Research has suggested looking to the eastern block for mainframe help. While I recommend taking a look at Compuware's ELM program.

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