Concours Group Authors Receive 2004 McKinsey Award for Insightful Article on the Business Implications of a Maturing Workforce

Business Wire, March 28, 2005

KINGWOOD, Texas -- Harvard Business Review Article Contends Companies Will Lose Key Talent if Traditional Retirement of Older Workers Continues

Harvard Business Review and McKinsey & Company announced today that Tamara Erickson and Bob Morison of The Concours Group and Dr. Ken Dychtwald of Age Wave have won the prestigious 2004 McKinsey Award for their article, "It's Time to Retire Retirement." The award is given annually for the most significant article published in the Harvard Business Review - one with compelling implications for corporate managers worldwide.

The article, from the March 2004 issue, makes the business, economic, and social case for working past traditional retirement age. As the demographics of the workforce shift, companies will be forced to rely on the growing cohort of older workers for the skills and talent they need. At the same time, lengthening life expectancies leave more and more adults feeling healthy, active and ready to engage in work well into their 60's, 70's and beyond. The common practices of focusing hiring on younger workers while pushing out older employees are no longer sustainable. The article urges corporate and public policy changes to give employers more flexibility in retaining mature employees.

Since 1959, the McKinsey Foundation for Management Research has presented awards recognizing the two best articles published each year in Harvard Business Review, the preeminent journal in the field of management. The awards, judged by an independent panel of business experts, commend outstanding works that are likely to have a major influence on executives worldwide. This year's first place award, announced in the April 2005 issue of the journal, is shared with the June article "What Makes an Effective Executive," by business management visionary Peter F. Drucker.

Tamara Erickson is Executive Officer and a Director of The Concours Group, leader of its human capital consulting practice and co-author of Third-Generation R&D. Bob Morison is an Executive Vice President and the firm's Director of Research. He has provided guidance to over 75 Concours research projects and authored many of the firm's acclaimed management publications.

"The McKinsey Award is an extraordinary honor for our firm," said Ronald Christman, Ph.D., CEO of Concours. "It affirms the capability and quality of our people, our research, and our thought leadership. We are very grateful to the many clients who have supported our research. We are also thrilled to share this award with Peter Drucker, who has been a close friend of the firm since our founding and is, of course, a source of wisdom and inspiration for managers everywhere."

The winning article grew out of a landmark 2003 research project, Demography is De$tiny, which was conducted by The Concours Group and Age Wave. The study thoroughly examined the management challenges and opportunities associated with today's unprecedented changes in the composition and age profile of the workforce. A companion 2004 project, The New Employee/Employer Equation, surveyed employees nationwide, developed an innovative workforce segmentation model, and identified the most influential drivers of employee engagement.

"As the very populous Baby Boom generation reaches conventional retirement age, corporations face a potentially debilitating shortage not only of workers, but also - and more importantly - of skills, experience, and organizational and marketplace know-how," said Erickson. "The good news is that we can mitigate the problem simply by making it easier and more attractive for mature employees to continue working, at least part time or on a project-by-project basis. However, that requires changes to management and human resources practices, pension and benefits rules, and, most of all, people's expectations for what it means to be 60, 70, or 80 today."

Morison added, "Our article alerts business leaders to these issues and provides examples of how to address them. Retirement as commonly practiced is bad for business today, bad for the economy, and bad for the tens of millions of very capable older people who want to keep earning and contributing."

For additional information, please contact Sharon Randall at 978-688-8284 or sarandall@concoursgroup.com.

The Concours Group works with senior executives of over 300 of the Global 1000 to master critical issues in management and to turn human capital and technological potential into business value. Concours is a new breed of professional services firm, integrating research, education, and consulting services to bring innovative, high-value business solutions to clients. Its work revolves around future - not past - best practices in business, people, and technology management. Concours research discovers and develops these practices, executive education articulates them and motivates their adoption, and innovative senior-person consulting enables clients to implement them quickly and realize the business results. Concours consultants bring both vertical industry and deep domain expertise.