Information and knowledge are corporate assets. In an increasingly competitive market and with the rate of innovation rising the retirement of a worker is likely to represent a profound corporate asset loss.
Consider this then…the loss of corporate assets over the next 5 years due to eminent workforce retirements. The perspective provides a call to action to implement knowledge management programs which mitigate risks to productivity and also serves as a retention incentive for the older worker.
Every situation at work is addressed based on what the individual or group brings to the situation with them. Can you afford the server to crash for a day a month or a year? Have you got a handle on the Retirement Loss & Cost to your organisation?
What resonates with most HR and business managers, when factoring in the loss of corporate knowledge within an ageing workforce are the organisational concerns of how do we replace organisational knowledge when-
- Reductions in employees create a need to replace informal knowledge with formal methods.
- High churn of certain areas of labour market creates impermanence of worker with employer
- Competitive pressures reduce the size of the work force that holds valuable business knowledge.
- The amount of time available to experience and acquire knowledge has diminished within the workplace.
- Early retirements and increasing mobility of the work force lead to loss of knowledge.
- There is a need to manage increasing complexity as small operating companies are trans-national sourcing operations.
- Changes in strategic direction may result in the loss of knowledge in a specific area.
