Boomers Wanted

The high number of boomers heading toward normal retirement age is causing consternation everywhere.  Can social security pay them what they’re due?  With so many of them leaving the workforce, can employers stand the brain drain that will occur?  If a lot of them don’t retire, how does business allow the advancement of younger employees without committing age discrimination?

As reported today by the Washington Post, the Partnership for Public Service, the Treasury Department and IBM have announced a pilot project to help IBM employees and retirees to land jobs with the Treasury Department.  Treasury agreed to serve as the test case because many IBM employees have skills needed by Treasury, like technology, accounting and law.  The federal government expects the brain drain to hit it harder than the private sector because of the average age of its employees.  (It’s tempting to open a discussion about the feds and brain drain, but I’ll keep this short.)

This kind of project is worth considering and following.  The truth is that we don’t know exactly what the boomer impact with be on the public or private sector.  We do know that consternation about the boomers will continue, and it’s important to keep your eyes open to all pilot projects and test cases that attempt to figure out what the impact will be and where the consternation should lie.  Check out the Post article.