As baby boomers retire, don't let their knowledge leave the workforce, too

As baby boomers begin aging out of the workforce, employers will have millions of jobs to fill. But will they be able to find highly skilled and qualified replacements? 

By 2031, all baby boomers will have reached the full retirement age, when they're eligible to collect full Social Security Benefits, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. While they won't all leave at once, the next several years will see a tidal wave of older employees exiting the workforce or reducing their work hours, leading 82% of leaders to be concerned about losing this institutional knowledge at their businesses, according to research from education and coaching platform Guild.  

For many employers, the loss of their older workers will leave a challenging gap in the skills and culture needed to maintain their business, says Terrence Cummings, chief opportunity officer at Guild. Employers need to start auditing the skills they'll need now and in the future, as well as which ones can head out the door with their older employees. 

"An employer will need to understand and articulate, what are the skills that have worked for us in job performance in the past, but maybe won't in the future? And what are the skills that have helped in the past and will help in the future?" Cummings says. "That's where education and training come into play."

Read more: From rock star to golf reporter, the side gigs bringing retirees back to work 

Employers can utilize mentorship to get the most out of their older employees, and pass down their decades of work experience to younger generations eager to learn and grow. A survey from Adobe found that 83% of Gen Z workers thought mentorship was "essential" to their career growth.  

"You need to systematically create a way for connections to happen in your organizations, so that the younger generations feel valued and connected, and can also get the information of how work gets done," Cummings says. "What the younger generation demands is growth, development and connection to a bigger purpose." 

Helping retirees find their next path

That process can benefit the older generation, too. Mentorship works best when the results are mutually beneficial for both sides, Cummings says: Gen Z and younger generations get the benefits of having a coach at work, while older workers can feel a sense of accomplishment and value that amplifies their career experiences and gives them a path for life after the workforce. For some retirees, that means working in a part-time capacity, or picking up a side-gig once they leave full-time employment.

"When I step away from my job, what does that mean?" Cummings says. "It's not so much a career pathway, but I can see an employer supporting life pathways that exist after work. What does my life and day-to-day or week-to-week start to look like outside of here?" 

Read more: For this Gen X and Gen Z duo, mentorship is mutually beneficial 

Training all employees on new skills can be helpful as well, especially when it comes to AI and other emerging technologies. Guild found that 71% of employers are concerned their business does not have the skills to leverage AI. 

"The unknown is always a concern, but employers want to make sure that as many people in diverse groups understand how to use AI so that they can get the most benefit from it," Cummings says. "It's the human that's going to be in a place where they can say, "Is that [AI] answer correct? Does it solve the problem?" Those are the durable skills that will get them through this next evolution." 

Keeping all employees, no matter their age, engaged and invested in developing and cultivating new skills will create a dynamic work environment that benefits everyone. Whether an employee is saying goodbye, or just starting out, employers need to invest in people-first initiatives as a top priority for their organization, Cummings says.  

"Upskilling and education opportunities are things employees see as differentiators, and employers really want to make sure they're not losing their top performers," Cummings says. "How do we ensure that the people who are staying have the skills, the loyalty and the affinity to our organization? They're investing more in those kinds of benefits to get them to stay."