Survey your peers in other organizations to discover best and next practices
Issue
A major, advanced technology company continues to face a major business problem when it comes to retiring baby boomers. Many contracts are 20 years long, so employees nearing retirement have worked the majority of their careers on a single contract, which in turn leaves a huge gap in knowledge when they leave and a challenge in finding their replacement. To help combat this issue, the company's EVP of HR considered a phased retirement program for 2009-2010 as a possible solution. In order to effectively evaluate this idea, the organization wanted to understand what other companies are doing to solve this issue, and turned to i4cp to help with this looming workforce planning challenge as part of their due diligence process.
Solution
i4cp conducted a survey on knowledge transfer, which yielded hundreds of corporate responses on the issue. Additionally, i4cp's dedicated account team was able to arrange direct meetings with several other members who have experience in this area.
Benefit and ROI
Through the survey, the data showed that most organizations don't have phased retirement programs, and among companies that say they have such programs, only half have formal policies. Furthermore, in most cases, phased retirement plans are not seen as highly successful. However, the study produced several ideas on how to retain retirement-eligible employees including: leverage the ability to rehire retirees; use tools such as retention bonuses, sabbatical programs, flexible work hours and special stock incentives; and place retired employees into consultant roles. As helpful as the survey was, the organization reported that the peer connections were even more valuable.
Additional cost to the company: $0
