At a certain point in history, our client Ecopetrol was impacted by a Colombian government decree from 2005, which eliminated special pension schemes. This led to around 30% of the workforce being eligible for retirement. So, the question was How to retain the knowledge of people who leave
“When you review the profiles of these people, you find they have over 15 years of experience and are between 40 and 50 years old. We’re talking about very young people with a lot of experience in Ecopetrol’s processes. These retirements could have a significant impact on operations if we don’t ensure the necessary knowledge transfer, if we don’t make sure that knowledge stays within the company,” says Oscar Guerra from the company.
This was one of the triggers that motivated the inclusion of Knowledge Management at Ecopetrol. In other organizations, no such measures were taken, and when top management realized the loss of critical knowledge due to retirements, unfortunately, it was already too late.
Instead of just presenting the problem, let’s look at some cases where this type of situation has been successfully resolved with concrete plans and programs.
ECOPETROL
Going back to Ecopetrol, Human Resources realized that a third of the company had to retire, so they created a plan that included a campaign to raise awareness among those nearing retirement to transfer their knowledge.
“The objective was met,” says Janeth Rojas Martínez from the Knowledge Management department, “and all those who contributed felt very honored by a soft recognition, which consisted of a dinner where they were given diplomas to acknowledge their contributions to Knowledge Management.”
INCAUCA
At Incauca, a Colombian company based in Cali, the Social Welfare department applies a process for people nearing retirement. It involves a one-year support program. Additionally, those considered of special value to the company are rehired after retirement.
PAN AMERICAN ENERGY
Guillermo Ceballos, from the oil company Pan American Energy, shares that “In Argentina, the retirement age for women is 60 and for men is 65. At Human Resources, we interview professionals every 12 or 14 months when they reach that age. We have a geophysicist working who is 70. When we interviewed him and asked how we could start planning his retirement, he replied: ‘What? I have at least 10 more years working at full capacity, and then I’ll dedicate myself to mentoring.’ This is because we have a mentoring program, and he wants to continue contributing from there. He is also a university professor, so he’s already working on what knowledge he can transfer.”
IBM
At one point, IBM needed to bring in resources and decided to turn to people who had retired from the company, people between the ages of 65 and 70 who had a lot of knowledge to share but were, as they say, just “tending their gardens.”
The retirees responded, and work systems were created to fit their age and needs, allowing them to enjoy what they had earned after years of dedication.
Some work remotely. Others go to IBM offices a few days a month. They are integrated into teams primarily composed of young people between the ages of 22 and 30, blending their tacit knowledge with the vast experience of these “warriors” who were previously reluctant to share their knowledge. They never wrote a paper, but they know a lot because they spent 30 years solving problems and providing solutions.
Interestingly, they now share their accumulated knowledge with a lot of enthusiasm, probably because they see life from a different perspective and take IBM’s call as recognition, which helps them feel useful.
For these older individuals who joined the project, the challenge is to work in teams, as most spent many years working solo in a management position or consulting role. When they were called back, they were required to closely interact with the younger employees, not only to transfer their technical knowledge but also to teach them how to navigate IBM and pass on a corporate culture that had yielded excellent results and that the company wants to update, not lose.
According to Roberto Rodríguez, who works at IBM: “The idea is for these experts to act like educators, as if they were in a classroom, but the challenge is to teach while performing tasks. Our teams usually consist of two veterans and 10 or 12 young people. It wasn’t easy to get the teams to work well together, but we did it.”
“We had to make changes on the go, at speed, and we also had to identify leaders, which is one of the most important tasks of our non-technical education department, which we call ‘Professional Development.’ These leaders, who are young individuals with natural leadership skills, help the veterans see the benefits of the new ways of working, which prioritize the collective over the individual.”
In this project, IBM aimed to, and successfully managed, something valuable and challenging: changing the habits of those with different work styles, not aligned with a culture of sharing. Throughout the process, there were a few individuals who had to be let go, but they were few. In most cases, with time, effort, and intensive training, awareness, coaching, leadership courses, review meetings, learning sessions, and evaluations, these reincorporated experts were successfully integrated.
In addition to the examples mentioned above, we’ve developed other critical knowledge retention programs with various clients across different industries. The key has always been planning well in advance to execute the programs without overwhelming the process at the last minute.
YPF
At the Argentine oil company YPF, they named their program “Footprints,” which dedicated approximately 56 hours to each person nearing retirement who had significant knowledge to offer the company.
The following graphic shows the work scheme that was used:
One of our clients, Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), during an industry-wide strike, lost many qualified professionals who took their knowledge to competitors in the same industry.
Retirement plans help retain the knowledge of those who leave, but they are also important because, during the course of the plan, individual knowledge is integrated into the company’s intellectual assets.
There are more successful cases that I couldn’t include due to space, but for those interested in learning more or sharing your own experiences, feel free to contact me at [email protected] and we can discuss further.
