Ephraim Schwartz's InfoWorld column today addresses the loss of Baby Boomers from the workforce, what companies can do to combat this loss, and the impact the IT world will have when IT pros leave the workforce. It's anangle talked about for a long time and not nearly considered enough. A "Gen X" worker myself, I seldom consider who will be around to teach me when they've left the workforce and how I will find time to teach to the next generation when I'm taking on the work of those who have gone off to retirement.
Ephraim's focus on what will happen to the IT workforce is especially thought-provoking. I would think IT is an area where there is less concern over baby boomers leaving. IT is an industry where change is not only neccessary but imperative, and where technology is getting smarter and doing more- requiring less work in installation and maintanence and thus less staff. One would think IT would be an industry not as impacted by the so-called "brain-drain" as other industries - like healthcare.
As my generation gets older, I'm sure we will all be impacted by the loss of the experienced baby-boomers, but the workforce might be completely different by that point as well. Five years ago the way we worked was very different. We can be sure that ten years from now, (when this huge impact will take place) we'll be in a whole new ball game as well. If that's the case, maybe this won't be as big of a problem as we expect? Of course, we should all do what we can to embrace technologies to help us prepare, such as CRM systems. But maybe that precise technology, and the technology yet to come will be the saving grace from our concerns?