Group Looks For Ways To Retain Older IT ProsGroup Looks For Ways To Retain Older IT Pros

If you're a baby boomer, you may be dreaming of retiring in a few years--or maybe not. Perhaps you'll keep working to pay the bills or maybe just to keep busy. Employers, worried about an impending exodus of retiring boomers, are starting to look into ways of keeping older workers on the job longer.

Within the next four years, nearly a third of U.S. workers--including tens of thousands of tech pros--will be over 50, leaving a potential gap of technology and industry skills. In IT, the skill shortage could be worsened by a shortage of young people entering the tech fields.

Nearly two dozen industry groups, ranging from technology to trucking, have teamed up to create the Alliance for an Experienced Workforce, a collaborative effort aimed at getting employers to develop strategies for keeping aging U.S. workers viable in the workplace.

"The older worker brings a benefit of knowing how things are done at a company and in an industry, and why," says John Venator, president and CEO of the Computing Technology Industry Association, a member of the alliance. CompTIA encourages employers to offer older IT workers programs, such as skills certification and training opportunities, to help those pros acquire skills that can complement their decades of industry and business experience, boosting their workforce relevance in the years to come. In addition to skills training for in-demand IT jobs, including those related to RFID, project management, and security, Venator says employers also need to consider other perks like job sharing, flex time, and part-time work.

What Works
Quest Diagnostics, a provider of medical testing services, already offers work options that older technology workers often find appealing, says Bruce Mackenzie, Quest's director of IT staffing.

Those include telecommuting options, as well as the opportunity to relocate jobs to Quest offices in more favorable climates, like in southern U.S. cities. The company also offers all its tech workers, regardless of age, skills certification and training opportunities, including project management classes that can enhance older tech workers' existing skills base.

Quest's work options have earned the company the status of being an AARP "featured employer," a distinction that means the employer provides programs to recruit and retain mature workers, says Emily Allen, director of workforce programs at AARP, which is also a member of the alliance.

Eight out of 10 AARP members want or need to work after they're eligible for retirement, Allen says, adding that the alliance wants "to help bring these people together with the employers who'll need them."