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Some firms value seniors’ wisdom

When Ben Loughry wanted to expand his firm, he decided to recruit some of the best college graduates he could find.

But Mr. Loughry, who’s in charge of a national real estate consulting company’s Fort Worth office, quickly realized that his younger staffers needed a better grasp of the business.

“In our industry, it takes someone coming out of college about two years to absorb everything,” says Mr. Loughry, managing partner for Integra Realty Resources.

To achieve his desired staff productivity results, Mr. Loughry hired two veteran workers whose primary duty is to mentor young employees.

As an estimated 78 million baby boomers approach retirement, companies across the nation are realizing they need to bridge the Gen Y/Gen X experience gap.

And they’re beginning to stem the brain drain by hiring (or rehiring) older workers to share their institutional knowledge with the under-40 generations.

“You have lots of people walking out the door and fewer people walking in,” says Eric Lesser, an associate partner in Boston with IBM Global Business Services, a consulting firm that helps businesses cope with the expected loss of knowledge as boomers retire. “The easier you can reduce the time to get these younger workers up to speed, the better.”

Mr. Loughry hired Tommy Pigg, 57, and Doug Kincaid, 58, two men who have more than 60 years of combined real estate consulting experience.

More importantly, both men weren’t ready to retire.

“I was with a company in Dallas until January 2003, then on my own, and had just reconnected with Ben,” Mr. Pigg recalls. “I thought his idea was great, and I decided to come on board.”

So far, so good, although the two veterans have been on the payroll for only two months.

“It’s a little bit of an experiment,” he says.

Employers stand to gain from tapping into the experience of someone with 30 years in a specific field, says Patrick Rafter, spokesman for RetirementJobs .com, an online job site with “older worker-friendly” companies.

“That’s 30 years of service, of contacts, of work ethic, of networking,” he says.

And they do more than merely mentor. For example, they are called upon to meet with the firm’s more senior clients. Mr. Kincaid and Mr. Pigg bring expertise, experience and immediate credibility to Integra Realty Resources, Mr. Loughry says – despite their admitted lack of technical know-how.

“Tommy and I are both of the generation that they still used the punch cards,” Mr. Kincaid notes. “The systems have changed.”

On an average day, Jeff Denman, a 25-year-old analyst at Integra, pops into Mr. Kincaid’s and/or Mr. Pigg’s offices about a dozen times.

“We’re in an information business, and you have to have the correct information,” Mr. Denman says.

“These guys are good at ways of helping me get that information.”

If he needs help understanding a feasibility study, writing an expert statement or researching the history of a client or a building, Mr. Kincaid or Mr. Pigg can help.

“The best way I can describe it is that the younger people are very proficient in the empirical transaction, but that does not tell you why a buyer or seller did what they did,” Mr. Pigg says.

“I enjoy working with Jeff. And he helps us, too.”

The older pair often have questions about computer applications.

“That is the biggest difference in our generational gaps,” Mr. Denman says.

“I would not consider myself a technical expert, but they think I’m Houdini at times.”

Other companies are tackling the brain drain issue before it sets them back.

Stanley Consultants Inc., an engineering, environmental and construction services firm in Iowa, has a program that helps those soon to retire phase out their careers.

It also has three formal mentoring programs in place, all driven by the mentee.

Workers who stay on past retirement are placed on teams and projects in which they help younger employees gain a hands-on understanding of roles, responsibilities and accountabilities associated with the business.

“Fortunately, we are not going out and hiring a lot of older workers,” says Alan Rhea, Stanley Consultants’ acting human resources director.

“We retain them until their 60s.”

RetirementJobs.com hasn’t seen a rush of companies actively seeking to hire graying workers.

But many businesses are realizing the need, officials say.

“Companies want to bring back the most talented – those who know a lot about a certain industry,” says Mel Fugate, assistant professor at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business.

“Who better to mentor the new folks than the highest-experienced workers?”

For companies that are hiring (or bringing back) experienced talent, the rewards can be significant, says Robert Skladany, RetirementJobs.com’s research director.

That’s particularly true at professional service companies, such as law, accounting and consulting firms.

“When their older workers leave, they leave with a large wealth of information,” Mr. Skladany says.

“They use senior partners to brain dump. They monitor junior partners and mentor them.”

Deloitte Services LP has long had a Career Connections program that allows partners to coach and be coached on work and professional development.

The firm plans to engage retired partners, principals and directors as coaches in the near future. That could include re-hiring some of them, it said.

“They have a vested interest in the success of these leaders and want to stay active and connected to our people,” says Maribeth Bailey, the company’s national director for coaching and career services in Chicago.

Seeing similar programs at other companies is reassuring to Mr. Loughry.

“What I’m trying here is new to us,” he says.

“If it really works out, it’s something that I’ll be able to spread back through the company.”