Companies should take three critical steps to meet the challenge of transferring knowledge from retiring employees. The bottom line is that leaders in this arena know that capturing critical workforce knowledge and skills can't be left to chance.

These programs can help capture critical information and distribute it directly to employees' desktops.

If they don't act soon, organizations will face a major exodus of institutional knowledge. Companies must undertake workforce development and training initiatives to capture knowledge and minimize its loss.

It's now a bigger challenge for companies to retain their employees.

During our last negotiations, we gave back some of our summer hours and we remain the lowest paid employees in the district. It would cost the district approximately $70,000 a year in total to give us what we are asking.

Managers must constantly provide the intellectual challenge and recognition necessary to retain key employees. This is particularly true of administrative staff who have become pivotal in an increasingly fast-paced environment, and whose technical skills are highly marketable.