Is it a “silver tsunami” or barely a ripple in your workplace? Whether your organization is facing a wave of retirements or just a few in the next several years, employers are wise to consider the significance of older workers.
As the 78 million-member baby boomer generation hits what has traditionally been considered retirement age, many employers worry about a brain drain–the loss of their most experienced and senior employees who have the most institutional knowledge. Employers may not need to worry about too many imminent departures, though, because many boomers are deciding to stay–some because their retirement nest eggs dwindled during the recession and others because they’re still healthy, energetic, and engaged in their careers.
No matter the reason employees decide to keep working, the workforce is getting grayer and employers need to explore how to get the most out of their older workers.
Benefits of older workers
The Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College published a study in July titled “Workplace Action Steps for Leveraging Mature Talent: Findings from the Talent Management Study.” The study points out that despite the joblessness caused by economic recession, a significant number of employers report that “recruiting employees with the skills needed” is a business problem.
“As a result,” the study says, “it might well be the right time to view today’s older workers as an under-tapped resource that brings some of the experience, skills, and competencies employers need today. And, it might be the right time to engage mature talent so our businesses will be ready for the competitive spaces that will open up as the economy strengthens.”
Employers are getting a lot of advice as media reports examine the benefits older workers bring to the workforce. In April, Corp! magazine carried an article titled “Six Benefits of Hiring Older Workers.” The writer, Debi Ritter, director of human resources for accounting firm UHY LLP, says older employees bring dedication and loyalty, they’re less risky hires, they’re battle tested, they can be positive role models, they often have superior communication skills, and they’re often the same age as clients.
Ritter, who has 20 years of HR management experience, concluded by noting that she frequently looks to older workers to fill key positions. “They bring many intangible skills to the workplace that cannot be taught in school and will rub off on junior staffers.”
In another report, the U.S. News & World Report website in March ran an article titled “Top 10 Reasons to Hire Older People.” Some of the reasons cited include that older workers are happier with their jobs than younger workers, they’re less likely to be looking to leave an employer, they show up on time, and they have fewer personal distractions.
What older workers want
Employers wanting to attract and retain older workers have to consider what those older workers need. The Sloan Center study identified eight characteristics important to older workers:
- Fair, attractive, and competitive compensation and benefits.
- Opportunities for development, learning, and advancement.
- Wellness, health, and safety protections.
- Workplace flexibility, autonomy, and control.
- Opportunities for meaningful work.
- Promotion of constructive relationships at the workplace.
- Culture of respect, inclusion, and equity.
- Provisions for employment security and predictabilities.
The center’s study found that among the respondents 50 and older who were working in the United States, more than 50 percent said that all of the eight characteristics were moderately or very important to them.
“While the specific rank ordering of these different aspects of a ‘good job’ can vary depending on factors, such as the older workers’ income and job type, it is important for employers to realize that the quality of the jobs they offer to older workers does matter,” the study says.
The Sloan Center study includes the following list of steps employers can take to provide workers with career development opportunities:
- Special tasks/projects to stimulate learning.
- On-the-job training.
- Involvement in cross-functional tasks.
- Participation in project teamwork.
- Networking.
- Formal career plans.
- Succession plans.
- Planned job rotation.
- Internal movement to a different department.
- External movement to a partner business for a temporary period.
- Coaching.
- Mentoring.
- E-learning for career development.
Workplace flexibility is one of the factors the researchers found to be important to older workers. Providing flexibility is identified in the report as one “opportunity for change” for employers.
“Employers have opportunities to expand the availability of flexible work options that both fit with the needs of the organization and respond to the preferences of their employees,” the report says. “While employees of different ages and career stages might use flexible work options for different reasons, these policies can help employers to recruit, engage, and retain early-career and mid-career as well as late-career employees.”
Flexibility programs employers might consider that are identified in the study include:
- Letting employees choose a schedule that varies from the typical schedule at the worksite.
- Allowing changes in starting and quitting times either occasionally or on a daily basis.
- Compressed workweeks.
- Reduced hours and part-time work.
- Job sharing.
- Phased retirement.
- Paid or unpaid leaves for education or training.
- Leave for caregiving or other personal or family responsibilities.
- Allowing employees to work at home or some other offsite location either part or all of the time.
It is instructional to note that the graying workforce is inclusive of all types of diversity groups, and is simultaneously a protected class in and of itself. Therefore, this topic under the heading of best practices for building multi-culturalism, in a section related to “Diversity Insight,” coupled with indications that the EEOC will be looking into the actions of employers relative to the rights of older workers as a form of passive discrimination, seems to point to a certain wisdom in taking a good look at older workers (who were recently being shunned as obsolete rather than a source of needed professional experience not readily found in any other faction of the workforce) as an emerging srategic HRM best practice.