Several years ago, the most critical generational issue facing CPA firms was attracting and keeping bright new talent. Today, the generational scales have tipped; it's no longer the youngest employees who are causing concern - it's the most experienced employees.

In this article we'll explore:

* Trends in Baby Boomer retirement: Will they stay or will they go?

* The Boomer ceiling: How to develop up-and-comers when there's less upward mobility.

STAYING OR GOING?

Search for "Baby Boomers Delaying Retirement" and Google spits back 215,000 results. Dig a little deeper, and you'll notice that these articles didn't just start appearing during the McCain vs. Obama run-off. As early as 2000, Boomers began to realize that they'd saved too little - and would get too bored - if they traded in their swipe cards for sweat suits.

According to the Health and Retirement Survey released by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (which has been tracking these matters since 1992), "Baby Boomers are expecting to work longer, perhaps presaging a reversal in the century-long trend toward earlier retirement. Compared with 1992, in 2004, a substantially larger proportion of people in their early to mid-50s expected to work after 65."

Like Starbucks, Pottery Barn and using Blackberries during meetings, delaying retirement is a Baby Boomer invention. A Boomer's parents may have lunged at early retirement and pointed their Cadillacs toward Sun City, but Boomers are plowing a different path.

Why are Boomers staying in the workforce longer? Contrary to popular speculation, it's not just the money, honey.

In their September 2009 report, "Recession Turns a Graying Office Grayer," the Pew Research Center discovered the most popular reasons adults over 65 say they work:

1. To feel useful/productive (68 percent).

2. To live independently (59 percent).

3. To give myself something to do (57 percent).

4. To be with other people (56 percent).

Turns out that the generation that marched together, "made love, not war," and replaced the hierarchy with work teams just wants to keep making a difference in the company of friends. You know the old-timer who quit practicing years ago, but still comes to the office to read his paper, drink coffee, and talk shop? Well, it may be time to get a bigger coffee pot.

THE BOOMER CEILING

Since Boomers are going to hang out longer in your firm, it's best to prepare for what some next gen'ers are calling "The Clog."

A CIO in Ohio calls it "stagnation." He says, "Our younger employees are sort of stuck. Their [Boomer] bosses aren't retiring, so there's less upward mobility. And the job market is slow, so the normal circulation of new people and ideas has also stopped. It's creating a stagnant work environment, and we're trying to figure out how to keep our younger employees challenged."

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