Last week, we reported that less than one out of five baby boomers has saved enough to meet estimated fiscal retirement needs, according to research by Hewitt Associates. Well, it seems organizations aren’t saving enough for those workers to retire, either.

A new study by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) found less than a third of companies are incorporating retirement forecasts into their knowledge transfer practices.

Further, less than half of respondents said their organizations train managers to identify critical skills, and a mere 23 percent said managers are educated in critical skills transfer.

“I think a lot of companies are hesitant to deal with it ahead of time because it is such a multifaceted issue, depending on the company, the industry, etc.,” said Jay Jamrog, senior vice president of research for i4cp. “[And] it has never been an issue in the past, so the burning platform isn’t there yet.”

That’s because the ready pool of talent coming up through an organization — the 35- to 54-year-olds who are being prepped for leadership positions — typically has been fairly full. But with the large number of baby boomers being replaced by the smaller Generation X group today, organizations will have fewer people to move into leadership roles and more leadership roles that need filling.

That means companies increasingly must tap into the retired community, bring members of Generation Y up to speed very quickly or both, and each of those actions requires organizations have solid practices for transferring knowledge.

As one solution, Jamrog said many organizations are creating their own alumni associations consisting of employees who have retired or otherwise left the organization.

“These alumni associations offer a way to tap into that retired community without having to go through a lot of hoops to keep them in the workforce,” he said. “Technology today allows you to do it so much easier than in the past; [it’s easy] to send out newsletters, have blogs, polls and discussion groups to keep them involved in some way. This allows you to transfer knowledge if need be, and it allows you to tap into this knowledge if you need it. You have to channel it a little differently, but they want to stay involved.”