Think tank warns of impending brain drain - Executive Briefing - Brief Article

HR Magazine, May, 2003 by Steve Bates

Companies are losing valuable, sometimes irreplaceable knowledge as experienced workers retire or are pushed out the door, warns the Cambridge, Mass., Accenture Institute fur Strategic Change.

"Most companies aren't doing anything," says Thomas Davenport, director of the institute. Particularly in a climate of layoffs and intense competition for customers, organizations are unlikely to focus attention on a problem that might not surface for months or years, notes Davenport, but such short-sightedness can backfire.

In a recent report, the institute notes that after an explosion at a petroleum plant in a small town on the Gulf Coast, investigators found that the company's engineer and control room operators had been on the job for less than one year and lacked the experience to prevent the accident.

Some companies have set up mentoring programs involving near-retirees or have hired back former employees as consultants in an attempt to retain some of their work-related knowledge, but such solutions don't go far enough, says the report.

"No one thing is probably enough" to capture the expertise of workers close to retirement, says Davenport. The institute report recommends several steps:

* Identify knowledge at risk. Establish processes to determine which employees have the most critical knowledge.

* Institute succession and career development planning. Build knowledge that professionals will need as they move through the organization.

* Master practices of knowledge transfer. Some knowledge must be imparted face to face; other learning can occur effectively through training programs.

* Use information technology. IT can supplement person-to-person knowledge transfer.

* Explore phased retirement. Look for new ways to hold on to key workers.

* Use retirees effectively. Consider formal programs to re-employ former employees.

* Build a retention culture. Make knowledge retention part of the organization's mission.