Worried about brain drain? Focusing on older workers can help

A recent study from Guild, a workplace education provider, explored what keeps employers up at night. Topping the list of worries business leaders named for 2024 was a loss of institutional knowledge as workers retire, with 82% of respondents citing that issue. That same study found that 93% of the business leaders responding were eager for HR to offer innovative solutions. Another recent report, from management consulting firm Bain & Company, focused on the importance of keeping older workers—not because it’s a nice thing to do, but because it’s a business imperative.

A look at numbers

Bain’s report, titled “Better with Age: The Rising Importance of Older Workers,” found that the share of workers 55 and older is on the rise around the world. In the U.S., Bain’s analysis of numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development shows that workers 55 and older made up 20% of the workforce in 2011, 23% in 2021, and is projected to be 25% in 2031.

Other countries also are seeing increases in the number of older workers, with Japan seeing the most. The statistics show that workers 55 and older made up 28% of the workforce in Japan in 2011, 31% in 2021, and is projected to hit 38% in 2031.

Bain’s analysis also shows that the share of younger workers is declining as older people have begun to work longer over the past 20 years. And the report says that by 2030, 150 million jobs around the world will have shifted to older workers.