Retirement boom as an opportunity: How companies score points with knowledge transfer

Retirement boom as an opportunity: How companies score points with knowledge transfer

Braindrain due to retirement wave

Just as many baby boomers have shaped the labor market, they are now leaving it in large numbers. A study by Economiesuisse shows that the annual difference between 65- and 20-year-olds in Switzerland has been steadily decreasing since 2020 (Economiesuisse: Demografische Entwicklung - Die Pensionierungswelle reisst grosse Lücken auf). This trend is expected to peak in 2029 and by 2040 there will be a shortfall of around 431,000 people in the labor market. For HR, this development is noticeable in the form of waves of retirements and a veritable brain drain. This poses a serious risk, particularly in organizations with a strong knowledge base.

Actively manage planned departures

However, it is often forgotten that, in contrast to other departures, retirements also offer important opportunities despite all the risks: They are usually predictable throughout the company. In dialog with the employees and managers concerned, they can often even be planned and managed. A key element in the offboarding of highly qualified and long-serving employees is the transfer of knowledge to the successor.

Generate benefits

Timely retirement planning hand in hand with a structured knowledge transfer brings tangible benefits for companies, managers and employees, among other things:

• Competitive advantages and risk management: By transferring unique knowledge (monopoly knowledge) from so-called Single Heads of Knowledge (SHOK) in good time, the risk of losing important information is reduced. This in turn can represent a real competitive advantage, as actively managed knowledge allows companies to remain successful in the market.
• Development and retention of remaining employees: Knowledge transfer provides a development boost for the remaining team members and promotes organizational learning that increases the development and retention of talent.
• Appreciative offboarding: By planning and implementing a knowledge transfer, companies show appreciation for the knowledge and achievements of the person leaving.

Structured and practicable knowledge transfer

But how can existing knowledge be transferred from one person to another with reasonable effort? A person's knowledge can be represented as an iceberg: the tip is the explicit knowledge that is already documented or can be documented very easily. The main challenge in knowledge transfer, however, is the largest and often most important part of the iceberg: the tacit knowledge. This consists of skills, intuition, routines and practical experience, personal networks and knowledge of the organization that have been developed through years of practice and interaction and are very difficult to document.

This is where our method comes in: in a structured knowledge transfer workshop with a knowledge carrier and the successor, the structure of the knowledge is visualized and the tacit knowledge is made visible and tangible for all participants through moderation and questioning techniques.

Conclusion

Plan for known departures such as retirements at an early stage. Ensure that knowledge remains in your organization and can be further developed there. At the same time, you signal genuine appreciation to the person leaving and offer the next person a unique development boost for their new role.