Fighting brain drain

For years the term brain drain has been defined as "an emigration of trained and talented individuals (human capital) to other nations or jurisdictions, due to conflicts, lack of opportunity, health hazards where they are living, or other reasons." More recently, the term is being used to describe mature workers retiring, taking their knowledge with them, and leaving voids that are difficult for companies to fill.

A story published in the Times-Union newspaper, which serves several Indiana counties, shows how one small, privately owned fabricating business was affected when the person with all the technical knowledge departed.

ComforTemp Inc., a business known for its sheet metal, stainless steel, aluminum, and copper fabricating services, closed its doors in September after 61 years of meeting the heating and cooling needs of Warsaw, Ind., businesses and residents. (At one time, the company also constructed boxes for Little Crow Foods; it would be interesting to see how its fabricating services factored into this project.)

James Hileman, who died in August 2007, bought the business in 1977 with a partner. He bought his partner out in 1993 to become the sole owner. According to the newspaper article, "Hileman's son, Kevin, said before his father died, he joked with him that he would never know the secrets he was taking with him in regards to the heating and cooling business."

It was no joke. Hileman's sons made the decision to close because their "lack of knowledge and experience in the heating and cooling business, [meant they] couldn't provide the same standards of service [their] dad was able to provide."

Granted, this might be an isolated, extreme case of brain-drain fallout, and the owner's sons could have decided to close the business for any number of other reasons, but it does illustrate the importance of passing on knowledge to ensuring that businesses survive.

In the Fortune® Magazine article "How to Battle the Coming Brain Drain," published in 2005, author Anne Fisher wrote about how many companies are trying to get rid of employees over 50. "That's an exceedingly shortsighted policy. By forcing out the employees with the most experience, companies may be inadvertently pushing critical knowledge out the door before it is shared with the next generation. They'll probably regret it before long, since demographics suggest that business is facing a dangerous brain drain from voluntary retirements alone. And those folks' lost smarts can cost an awful lot to replicate."

Fisher cited "the chilling example of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Way back in the 1960s, it spent $24 billion (in 1969 dollars)—and at one point employed 400,000 people—to send 12 astronauts to the moon. But in the 23 [now 25] years since the Apollo program ended, the engineers who carried crucial know-how in their heads, without ever passing it on to colleagues, have retired or died (or both). At the same time, important blueprints were catalogued incorrectly or not at all, and the people who drew them are no longer around to draw them again. So to fulfill the Bush administration's promise to return to the moon in the next decade, NASA is essentially starting all over again. Estimated cost to taxpayers in current dollars: $100 billion."

Fisher also described what several companies are doing to combat the brain drain. A synopsis of these measures can be found on the Aging Workforce News Web site.

However it's done, retaining knowledge is critical to a company's viability.