America’s Water Industry at Risk Due to Retiring Professionals

The silver tsunami is upon us. A huge wave of baby boomers are now hitting retirement age and leaving the workforce. This mass exodus of experienced professionals presents a big challenge for utilities, who now have to find ways to transfer all that valuable knowledge and expertise to the younger generation. 

How did we get here?

It's no secret that the utility industry has an aging workforce. According to a report by the Edison Electric Institute, the average age of utility workers is now 47, and more than one-third are eligible for retirement. This has been a long time coming; in fact, the first baby boomers hit 65 back in 2011. 

Now, as more and more boomers retire, utilities are facing a severe shortage of qualified workers to take their place. Not only that, but these seasoned pros are taking with them decades of knowledge and expertise that's going to be extremely hard to replace. 

What's at stake?

This brain drain could not come at a worse time for utilities. With the industry already facing a number of challenges—including operational stress, cybersecurity threats, and an ever-changing workforce—losing all that institutional knowledge is a major blow. 

Not only that, but this talent shortage comes at a time when utilities are starting to feel the squeeze from the government in the form of much tighter regulatory requirements. As a result, utilities are under pressure to modernize their operations and find new ways to stay on top of things and provide the service levels they are required to.

So what can be done?

Faced with this perfect storm of challenges, utilities need to take proactive steps to ensure they have solutions to mitigate their challenges. One of the most straightforward measures is to implement digital solutions that can improve both the operational efficiency and the regulatory compliance of the organization. Utilizing data from their networks will make all the difference and will enable them to implement more and more modernization across the scope of their operations. Click the link below to get started.