You'd think the economic crisis of the past few years has put employees'-grateful just to have jobs-in the palms of employers' hands. You'd be wrong, according to research by the consulting firm Booz & Co. In fact, companies that still resort to traditional, and outmoded, approaches to talent management aren't just missing out on opportunities; they're actually making themselves weaker competitors in the marketplace.

It’s not surprising that after the value of retirement accounts plummeted in the last year more Americans at or near the age of retirement plan to stay on the job longer than originally planned. Sylvia Ann Hewlett, founding president of the Center for Work-Life Policy, in a blog for Harvard Business Online noted that the percent of working Americans aged 65 and older climbed to 16 percent, up from 12 percent a decade earlier, and almost two-thirds of employed Boomers expect to continue working during their golden years. But financial need is not the only reason that Baby Boomers are choosing to work longer. Nearly a quarter of those surveyed by the Center for Work-Life Policy say they enjoy their jobs and feel they still have a lot to offer their employees. Says Hewlett, “47 percent of Boomers—whose median age is currently 54—see themselves as mid-career!”