Suddenly Critical: Recruiting and Retaining Older Workers

With the unemployment rate sitting at 4.1 percent—the lowest seen since 2000, employers are struggling to attract and maintain the best talent. In an environment where competition for the best and the brightest is increasingly high, and valued workers are leaving companies in larger numbers, taking institutional knowledge with them, every employee counts. Older workers may count even more. They’re the ones retiring in growing numbers and leaving big gaps for employers to fill.

In an article for Fortune, Nancy Collamer, a self-described Baby Boomer and career coach, notes that many employers are paying increasing attention to attracting and retaining older employees.
Collamer interviewed Greg Voorheis, the mature worker program coordinator and Governor’s Award coordinator for the state of Vermont. He also watched a video Voorheis made with executives from Chroma Technology Group, a biotech manufacturing company and winner of the 2017 Governor’s Award. Based on this research, Collamer offers seven tips for attracting and maintaining top older talent.

1. Advertise job openings in newspapers in addition to online outlets.This is likely to put your ads before an older audience that still subscribes to local print publications.
2. Display photos and videos of older people in recruitment marketing materials. This can send a subtle, but important, culture signal to potential applicants.
3. Cut down on ageism by using a group-interview model. Make sure that your group interviewers are diverse and reflect the diversity of your staff—and applicants.
4. Encourage mentoring.Mentoring today is often a two-way street. New employees can learn a lot from seasoned veterans, but seasoned veterans can also learn a lot from their younger, often more technologically savvy, peers.
5. Provide ample training for older workers. Don’t assume that because they have more experience their training needs are less. In a rapidly changing economic and technologic environment, all employees need to be kept up to date.
6. Offer flexible work arrangements.Workers of all ages value the ability to work when they’re at peak performance and to take time off when they need to.
7. Provide a wide range of benefits to appeal to a wide range of employee needs.

Top talent can come in many forms. While Millennials often boast greater tech savvy and more recent education, they typically lack the experience that comes with years spent in an industry or at a specific company.
Older workers often feel like they aren’t valued by some companies because of their age. This can cause them to retire or to not apply to certain jobs where their experience and talents could be put to good use.
By implementing some of the strategies and tips described above, employers can help ensure they are seen as an attractive and viable employment option for older workers.