Listening to the radio New Year's Day while driving back from Indiana where we'd been visiting friends, a news story that caught my attention addressed this year's arrival of the “Silver Tsunami.”

That's right, this is the year that the first baby boomers turn 65.

On New Year's Eve, our group had a decidedly baby boomer tilt, a factor, no doubt, in the duration of our revelry. We welcomed the new year in the Eastern time zone, and toasted it again an hour later for the benefit of those of us native to Central time. Pretty soon thereafter, though, we unanimously agreed to call it a night, making plans to reconvene for breakfast at a reasonable hour.

Some might call that old age. I prefer to think of it as the wisdom of experience, which gets to the point of some current thinking regarding baby boomers in the workplace in the coming years.

In recent years, there's been concern about the impact baby boomer retirements will have on the workplace, particularly the risks facing organizations that need to replace the volume of talent and expertise those retiring employees represent.

As it turns out, now that retirement time is arriving, many of those boomers are hoping to remain on the job, some because they're not financially prepared to retire, but others because they simply aren't ready to give up the role that their work plays in their lives.

And, some who study the workplace and business suggest, this is a good thing for the companies with a chance to employ those boomers choosing to defer retirement.

In a Knowledge@Wharton article from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania published last month, several Wharton professors make the case that despite data that show those older than 55 have a more difficult time finding work than younger job seekers, those older workers can be valuable assets to the organizations employing them.

“Some far-sighted companies around the world are working to recruit, retrain and otherwise engage older workers,” the article notes.

The Wharton professors noted that while older workers can be highly productive employees who bring “a lifetime of skills” to the job, certain stereotypes keep some employers from benefiting from those older workers. But beliefs, such as older workers cost more than younger employees, that they're less productive or that they keep younger people from getting jobs—”are merely myths,” the Wharton professors suggest.

Of course, there are some issues, particularly changes in the workplace, that might be needed to make the job site safe for older workers or to accommodate some of the inevitable physical changes as we age. About a year ago, my colleague, Roberto Ceniceros, wrote in his column (BI, Feb. 8, 2010) about this issue and the need for more research in this regard.

But the Knowledge@Wharton piece notes examples like the automaker known as BMW, which has been experimenting with assembly line modifications for older workers that include larger computer screens with bigger type, special shoes that are easier on older feet and adding chairs in some spots along the line so certain tasks can be performed while seated.

So it appears there are some companies looking to ride the “Silver Tsunami,” rather than seeing it as a potential calamity.