As baby boomers across Canada assess their financial situation and prepare to retire, most employers admit they’re not fully prepared for the major exodus of workers either, a new survey has found.

The Human Resources Professionals Association’s 2008 Survey on the readiness of Canadian businesses for the coming wave of retirement found that just 16% of organizations have surveyed their older workers to collect information regarding their retirement plans.

Of the 627 human resource professionals surveyed, 23% admitted to being “poorly prepared” and 60% of companies said they are “somewhat prepared”.

“We are surprised to see that not many HR professionals have given boomer retirement the attention it may deserve,” said Claude Balthazard, director of HR Excellence for the Human Resources Professionals Association.

“In order to maintain their economic health, organizations must develop replacement strategies to address this growing issue.”

Boomers planning to maintain income by remaining in the workforce and retiring at an older age may even find their employers unprepared to keep them on, since not all companies have begun implementing efforts to become older-employee friendly.

The Human Resources Professionals Association expects that companies already introducing programs such as phased-in retirement and retirement lifestyle coaching will have the advantage as the talent shortage intensifies.

“Many boomers obviously want to continue working in some way, to remain active and engaged or due to financial concerns,” said organizational consultant Suzanne Armstrong, president of Life’s Next Steps, a Toronto-based company that delivers educational workshops to companies and older employees who want to create effective action plans for the retirement years.

“HR has an opportunity right now to take the lead in creating programs that help boomers plan for a different kind of retirement, and that encourage good employees to stay involved in the workforce in ways that are practical and flexible. It can be a win-win for employees and organizations. But employers need to act now to create initiatives and incentives aimed at keeping some of these excellent employees on the job in some way.”

Full results of the survey will be released during a Toronto event on Oct. 21, 2008. The survey is considered accurate within 3.9%, 19 times out of 20.

IE