Reprinted with permission © 2008 TreeTop Technologies
The oldest of the baby boomers are now eligible to receive Social Security benefits, and it has become clear that the rate of growth in the number of older workers soon will be higher than the growth in the number of people just starting out. For the world of IT, this problem isn't as challenging as in some industries, but it still bears watching, as retiring workers could mean valuable and potentially mission-critical knowledge walking out the door.
On the downside, the Computing Research Association notes that computer science enrollments dropped 14% each year between 2004 and 2006. This means there is a potential shortfall in the influx of new IT talent as older IT professionals consider (or choose) retirement.
However, alarms aren't going off for most CIOs and IT managers right now because, relatively speaking, IT remains the purview of younger workers. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 10% of the U.S. IT workforce was 55 years or older in 2007, compared with 17.6% across all occupations. Also, with the midpoint age of baby boomers being about 51, that means that retirement is still a decade away for many of these workers, and perhaps longer if trends in delayed retirement continue.
Although there may not be a crisis yet, and perhaps not even a looming one, the fact is that older workers sometimes have knowledge and experience that should be retained within the company. It is true that sometimes older workers fail to keep up to date on their IT skills and this is one reason perhaps that the industry trends younger than others, but many seasoned IT professionals should be tapped to mentor younger workers so that important knowledge remains in-house.
This is an area where human resources and hiring managers can work together. Recruiting firms can also play a role as well. In cases when important workers have already retired and taken their knowledge with them, for example, a recruiting firm may be able to match a company with someone of similar skill sets who can come in on a contract or permanent basis to provide the knowledge-building and mentoring opportunities that the company missed out on before.
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Footnotes: From "View from the TreeTop" Volume 2 Issue 12 December 2008