I have to admit, I'm fatigued about hearing and reading about millennials.

I'm also growing weary of hearing just how old the Baby Boomer generation is getting in our workforce, and how retirements en masse are inevitable. I know that millennials are now the largest generation. I know they now outnumber all the generations in the workplace. I also know that they will work in the risk and insurance industry and in government where I work, despite those being two “old school” employers' that lack glamour and pizzazz.

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Outflux of critical expertise

In the City of Los Angeles where I work, we have about 40,000 employees. According to Mayor Eric Garcetti's budget summary from last year, “By 2018 approximately 46 percent of the City's workforce will be eligible to retire. This impending outflux of critical expertise and institutional knowledge threatens to severely hinder the City's ability to provide vital services.”

I know the insurance industry has an aging workforce as well, and global management consultancy McKinsey & Co. estimates that 25 percent of its workforce will be of retirement age by 2018 — and that the age of the workforce 55 or older has increased by 74 percent in the last 10 years, compared to a 45 percent increase in the overall workforce.

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