Siemens looks to marketing millennials for brain drain answers

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Finding the best way to mitigate the brain drain that occurs when a generation of experience leaves the workforce is a monumental task confronting businesses worldwide.
Intern Tanner Parsons works with mentor John Brautigam, a 25-year Siemens employee.
Companies are devoting time and resources to determine how they can maintain an informed and knowledgeable employee base during this generational transition – including Siemens, one of the largest manufacturing and electronics companies in the world.
In an effort to solve the knowledge gap, Siemens is turning to the next generation. The company is tapping Clemson University marketing students to determine the best ways it can transfer knowledge from those leaving the workforce to those entering it.
“This is a unique opportunity for undergraduate students that makes perfect sense,” said associate professor Jennifer Siemens, who along with assistant professor Anastasia Thyroff, is overseeing the three-year Creative Inquiry research project.
“Siemens is getting the perspective of young people about to enter the workforce to look into an issue that companies everywhere are dealing with. Engaging the next-generation workforce to find answers on how to transfer knowledge within an organization makes sense,” Jennifer Siemens said.
Leadership at Siemens’ U.S. Energy Management unit recognized a significant percentage of its sales and engineering workforce were becoming retirement eligible. That’s when Kevin Yates ’94, president of the Siemens division, said strategies for a knowledge transfer program were put into place.
“Many technical industries are facing a major challenge in the coming decade,” said Yates. “A generation of experienced and technical resources are about to retire, leaving a potential void of historic knowledge and relationships.”
Being an industry that draws from STEM fields, Siemens is not immune to this challenge as the number of STEM graduates entering the traditional electro-mechanical fields is lower than those leaving, Yates said.
“We are exploring how to find effective and efficient ways ...

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