Abstract The tipping of the population pyramid age structure due to demographic changes repre-sents the major cause for ageing of employees in traditional enterprises and organiza-tions. The dramatic loss of expertise and knowledge is only one of the consequences following retirement of large cohorts of staff, a fact, which companies try to counteract by methods targeting knowledge management. The present study analyzed the transfer of knowledge between retiring employees and their successors by the method of Expert Debriefing, exemplified within the machine building industry at the international company Schaeffler Gruppe with headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany. The multidisciplinarity as well as the available research data regarding the subject of knowledge management for older employees required an explorative approach, aligned with semi-structured interviews with the leaving specialists and executive managers. Empirical data evaluation was done by qualitative content analysis according to Mayring. In the present study, critical success factors have been identified which have an impact in transferring knowledge within the method of Expert Debriefing. The heterogeneous results from the perspective of the leaving employees, from the perspective of the organization and on dependency of the method itself have been consolidated to four relevant key success factors: communication, motivation, time planning and professional biography. These key factors have to be considered with different priorities within in the knowledge transfer process depending on assignment and intention of the method Ex-pert Debriefing. Taken together, knowledge transfer going along with retirement may be seen as part of the organizational knowledge management which is clearly affected by the critical success factors. Against this background, the results show that the method of Expert Debriefing displays an integrative character according to the “Munich Model” by linking the supporting elements human, organization, and technology