By Cathy
Fyock, CSP, SPHR
Ó2004
Consider the following
scenarios, and the impact these might have on your organization:
¨
An older employee
is not performing up to standard. He
hasn’t been coached because everyone thought he would retire soon.
¨
A young manager
is resisting hiring older workers for IT roles, and refers to them as “old
geezers.” Many of the IT positions have
been unfilled for six months or more.
¨
Boomer caregivers
experience the tugging and pulling that is typical of this “sandwich
generation”—having to provide care for children, parents, and often
grandchildren and grandparents.
¨
An organization
is losing many qualified, valued employees by offering outdated early
retirement packages.
Many of these problematic
human resources issues are the result of changing work force demographic needs
that aren’t being met by outmoded, old-fashioned management assumptions. In order for HR professionals to maximize an
age-diverse work force, they will need to change their thinking about policies
and programs in order to capitalize on this important labor market segment.
In a new research study
conducted by SHRM, NOWCC, and CED, the results indicated that HR professionals
have not taken to heart the impact of the aging work force. The study stated that employers seem not to
understand the impact of nearly half of their workforce retiring by the year
2010, since they are not targeting older workers, are failing to consider the
makeup of future labor pools, and are not preparing for the dramatic loss of
knowledge, skills, and experience. The
survey suggests that human resources take a proactive role in the development
of benefits, retention and recruitment plans to attract retirees to meet their
staffing needs.
Older workers today just
aren’t the same as older workers of the past.
In fact, when Social Security was first established, it was at a time
when few workers lived long enough to draw a benefit because of life
expectancy. Now, someone in their 60s,
70s, or even their 80s or 90s may have many productive years to work. Given the fact that aging isn’t what it used
to be, what do human resources professionals need to do to rethink assumptions
about older workers? Outlined here are six
of the major ways that employers will need to change key employment policies
and practices in order to maximize the benefits of an age-diverse work force.
Assumption Shift One:
The first major shift in assumptions is from thinking that human
resources depreciate over time, to a realization that human resources
appreciate over time. Employers used to say, “Get rid of the deadwood,”
implying that older workers couldn’t or wouldn’t contribute to the bottom line. The thinking was that as employees grew
older, they had less to contribute and less to offer than younger workers.
This thinking was in part
fueled by a number of myths and misconceptions about older adults. Outlined here are some of the myths and
realities of older workers today.
¨
The myth: older
worker are viewed negatively by customers. While there might be some who
want to avoid an older worker, there are many instances where the line at the
checkout counter is longer for the knowledgeable, experienced worker as opposed
to their younger colleagues.
¨
The myth: older
workers are slow and unproductive. Many employers attest that their older
workers are more productive, on the whole.
Because they are more deliberate, they won’t make careless mistakes
because they are hurrying. By working
more slowly and deliberately, ultimately, they are more productive.
¨
The myth: older
workers won’t be with the company long. While older workers theoretically have less
time to remain on the job, they usually are employed longer than their younger
coworkers with their whole work lives ahead of them.
¨
The myth: older workers don’t want to advance. Older workers
have many differing motivations for work.
Some want to work in a lesser position, working part-time or coasting. Others want to grow, learn and advance in new
roles.
¨
The myth: older
workers are inflexible and resistant to change. Flexibility
and ability to change are traits which remain constant throughout one’s
lifetime. People who are slow and resistant
to change as older adults are usually those who were slow and resistant when younger.
¨
The myth: older
workers don’t need to work. Many older adults do not have adequate savings
to support full retirement and can’t live at the standard of living for which
they have become accustomed. Therefore,
many must work to support their lifestyle choices.
¨
The myth: older
workers are absent from work because of illness and have higher insurance
costs. The reality is that older workers miss fewer
days of work than their younger counterparts.
And, while older worker’s insurance benefits may cost the company more
money, it isn’t always the case. Some
self-insured employers have found that funding their young employees during
child bearing years is far more expensive than funding the insurance costs for
older workers, since many frail and sickly older adults opt not to remain in
the work force.
¨
The myth: older
workers are expensive to train and are not as adept intellectually. While many
older workers lack the same exposure to computer technology, employers are
discovering that older adults have superior mental functioning. In the past it was believed that older adults
were not as adept intellectually, and this was a result of latitudinal
studies. Latitudinal study examined the
mental functioning of young people by testing a cross-section of young people, comparing
those results to the mental function by testing a group of older adults. These latitudinal studies were flawed because
they sought groups of older adults by visiting retirement homes! So they were testing older adults who often
had mental and physical impairments.
More recent longitudinal tests, where a group of young people was
tested, tested again at middle age, then tested as older adults, are finding
that mental functioning tends to be superior.
While older adults don’t perform as well on recall tests, they do tend
to perform better on more advanced mental functioning, such as problem solving,
making inferences, and understanding deeper meaning.
Once employers get away from
these myths and focus on the realities, they begin to see that thinking about
human resources depreciating over time is also a myth.
Assumption Shift Two:
The next old assumption about the workforce is the policy of up or out,
which is shifting to the thinking that there can be movement throughout the
organization. In the recent past, some organizations held
policies that if employees couldn’t move up and be promoted to another position
within a two year period, then they should be managed out of the
organization. Today, however, it makes
sense to have veterans who can serve as contributers-in-place, or to have
employees who are cross-trained move throughout the organization.
These old assumptions can be
discriminatory, because age discrimination is described in the following ways:
¨
Giving hiring
preference to workers of a certain age (for example, only hiring recent college
grads)
¨
Designing
policies/practices in deference to workers of a certain age
¨
Providing/denying
education and training opportunities for one age group
¨
Making
assumptions about workers and what they want
¨
Providing special
pay and incentives based on age alone
Workers are often denied
employment opportunities because they are considered “overqualified.” The EEOC has determined that this term may
signify age discrimination on its face.
Some employers would
historically deny employment opportunities to some older adults because they
thought that they wouldn’t be happy in a lesser position, making less money,
with fewer job responsibilities. But
that’s not necessarily true today. For
example, take the example of a security guard at the
Additionally,
many managers have always managed out
older workers, as opposed to managing them in. What can today's managers do to overcome past
practices that have tended to "manage out" older worker performance
problems? Here are suggestions for re-thinking
performance issues with older employees.
¨ Be aware of biases and
assumptions that older workers can't do as much as they used to do--or as much
as their younger counterparts. Remember
that managers' expectations impact the performance outcomes of employees. Expect top performance and you'll get top
performers; expect unproductive, slow, marginal performance and that's what
you'll receive.
¨ Provide on-going
feedback to older employees. In addition
to a formal annual performance appraisal, let employees know on a daily basis
how they are doing on the job. Provide
them with the positives and the negatives, and demonstrate how you are willing
to support their improvement.
¨ Make training and
retraining opportunities available to older employees. In the past, older
workers were often overlooked for training opportunities with the assumption
that they wouldn't be with the organization much longer, so why invest in their
training. Since today's employment and
staffing goal is for increased "unretirement," continue to invest in
mature employees by providing access to educational programs.
Managing out policies may
cause organizations to lose valued, dependable, loyal employees. Such was the case with an early retirement
program that encouraged a loyal technical employee to retire. Once the employee left, the organization
still needed to find a replacement, and soon discovered that no one was
qualified to handle the position. As a
result, the retiree was rehired back as a consultant, making double his salary.
Assumption Shift Three: The next major shift in assumptions is from
the thinking that older adults should either work full-time or retire, as
opposed to discovering that there are many ways to work and contribute in place.
Gil Gordon, of Gil Gordon Associates in
Monmouth Junction, NJ is a specialist in telecommuting and alternative work
arrangements. He says that the term, “permanent
employee” is a dinosaur term. In order
to meet staffing goals, alternative work arrangements are among the best and
least expensive benefits offered to attract and retain employees. Flex work arrangements are also gaining in
popularity because they are a benefit for customers, since business hours can
generally be extended.
By exploring alternative work arrangements,
employers are better able to offer work schedules that meet the needs of an
increasingly diverse workforce. Gordon
says that employers today cannot offer the same thing to all employees, but
rather, some thing to all employees in order to meet staffing goals.
What innovative schedules are
being offered to older adults? Consider
these options:
¨ Traditional part-time work or voluntary part-time work
(V-Time) offered by
¨ Casual employment programs, such as that offered by
Aerospace Corp. of southern California, where skilled retirees work up to 1,000
hours each year without jeopardizing their pension benefits,
¨ Flexible work schedules around a core work period,
¨ Non-traditional part-time work, such as one week on/one
week off, or like the innovative schedule of one month on/one month off,
¨ “Phased retirement” featuring reduced hours over a
period of time, as offered by Poloroid Corporation in
¨ “Rehearsal retirement,” providing adults with the
chance to work part-time with their employer and offering non-paid hours to a
volunteer organization, such as that offered by Kollmorgen Corporation’s
Electro-Optical Division in Northhampton, Massachusetts,
¨ Job sharing, partnering an older adult with a younger
trainee.
Assumption Shift Four: The next change in assumptions is that
employers only recruit young workers, as opposed to strategies to recruit all
workers, especially older workers.
In order to meet staffing
needs for qualified, dependable workers, employers must begin to consider
attracting older workers. Especially
with the predicted worker shortages, organizations will increasingly need to
depend on all labor market segments to meet their staffing needs.
Yet, many employers have
never recruited older adults, and are not sure about how to attract this labor
market segment. In fact, many employers
often relay that while they are interested in attracting older adults, few ever
apply directly to their organizations.
Employers must first
understand why older adults choose to work.
In a survey by Carolyn Bird in Modern
Maturity magazine, 36,000 responses were received from enthusiastic older
workers. About a third indicated that
they needed to work for financial reasons, but 2/3 were
working for non-financial reasons. Some
of these included: the need to be with
other people–the social elements of work.
Another reason was the need to remain challenged, to have a routine, to
share their knowledge and expertise with others, to pass along their
craft. All of these significant
motivations for work should be taken into consideration during the recruitment
process.
So, how do successful companies recruit
older adults? Here are some suggestions
for developing a recruitment plan.
Analyze recruitment strategies. One employer recently
examined their recruitment literature to discover that not one picture featured
an older adult. Organizations interested
in targeting older adults will need to refocus their efforts to attract this
labor market segment.
Many older adults, having faced age
discrimination or ageism, may be reluctant to actively seek new employment
opportunities unless the employer has clearly indicated that their experience
and maturity is valued. Employers such
as Kelly Services, Days Inn, and Hardee's Food Systems who have developed
targeted recruitment strategies and publicized their efforts in this arena are
also the companies with the greatest success stories in the employment of older
adults.
Develop targeted messages to attract mature workers. Older adults tend to
respond to messages that appeal directly to them, and that let them know they
are specifically wanted for employment opportunities. Recruitment messages that specify “mature,”
“experienced,” and “reliable” all let the older reader know that they are being
sought after for employment.
Use recruitment activities that target the mature market. Since there are many
older adults not actively seeking employment, but who would be interested in
the right opportunity if presented with it, employers should use more focused,
intrusive forms of recruitment activities to let older adults know that they
are being sought after by the organization.
Some ideas for more effectively designing targeted activities include:
¨ Offer “unretirement parties” as does The Travelers, based in
¨ Visit coffee klatches and mall walking groups
¨ Make presentations to senior center groups
¨ Participate in open houses and (second) career fairs specifically
for older adults, often sponsored by organizations such as the American
Association of Retired Persons, and other organizations sponsoring the
employment of older adults.
¨ Place radio ads on stations that target older adults. For example many older adults tune into the
Paul Harvey program, and one employer was very successful in having a
recruitment ad air just after the program.
¨ Advertise in sections other than the help-wanted section, since
many older adults are not actively seeking employment and may be discouraged
workers. Consider alternate sections,
including the lifestyle, television, or sports sections.
Assumption Shift Five:
The next way HR professionals need to rethink assumptions is from a linear
approach to work life to a more cyclical approach. Ken
Dychtwald, author of Age Wave and Age Power and expert on aging issues,
suggests that we used to have a linear approach to life. Education would be completed during the first
20 or so years of life, then work for the next 40 – 50 years, then enjoy
leisure with what time was left.
Today, life is being lived in
a more cyclical way. In today’s changing
and volatile marketplace, no one can just be educated in the first 20 years of
life. Instead, adults must consider lifelong learning, since technology is rapidly
changing and becoming outdated. Today
adults are finding that delaying all leisure until later life is also no fun,
and ultimately not healthy. Increasingly,
individuals and employers are looking for ways to combine education, work, and
leisure in a way that is satisfying and practical.
Traditionally, only
university professors could enjoy sabbaticals. Now, while still in the
minority, some companies are offering sabbaticals as a strategy to re-educate,
re-stimulate, and re-energize their employees.
By offering a sabbatical employers are finding that they can keep loyal
employees who become burned out, and provide for ongoing education and training
that will ultimately make the organization up-to-speed with state-of-the-art
technologies.
Since learning should be
thought of as an ongoing and lifelong process, it also means that organizations
will need to adapt training to the needs and issues faced by older
workers. What are the training and
educational issues that are unique to older workers?
¨
Don’t make
assumptions about older adults. It’s
dangerous to assume that older adults don’t have exposure to technology, or
have certain preferences when it comes to training methodologies. Ask before making these assumptions.
¨
Show older adults
the benefits of the learning. Like all
adult learners, older adults need to understand “what’s in it for me.” Show them the payoff, whether it be the
ability to perform the job better, safer, to qualify for a promotion or pay
increase, or to improve efficiency.
¨
Create self-paced
learning. Since all learners learn at
different paces, provide options to allow all learners to advance at a pace
that’s comfortable.
¨
Be accessible. Insure that print is large enough, sound
systems adequate to support the needs of older learners.
¨
Use multiple
methodologies. While some older adults
learn best when provided with print materials, some find that other training
methods work best.
¨
Involve older
adults in the process. If possible, use
an older adult as a trainer, or as a key student to demonstrate new
learning. One computer training company
based in
¨
Build upon
experience. Older workers have a wealth
of experience, so build upon that experience.
Assumption Shift Six:
Our final shift in assumptions is from the thinking that retirement is
the “American Dream”, to the idea that retirement is a terrible waste of human
resources.
Several years ago the cover story for Worth magazine was
titled, “Don't Retire: There are Better
Goals in Life.” The feature article
suggested that since the retirement age of 65 was established at a time when
few people lived to that age, perhaps retirement age should be redefined, and that
a more meaningful dream be created. There are many older adults who are
interested in continuing to work in some way, and never completely
retire--especially when they can redefine what it means to work. This is the excitement of “unretirement”—creating
new choices for working in a way that is rewarding and satisfying.
Another key strategy for
modifying the American Dream is to provide diversity training for managers on
the issues of managing a diverse workforce.
In addition to training all managers on intergenerational issues,
employers may also want to form a task force for addressing older worker issues. For example, companies such as Honeywell and
AT&T have created affinity groups, which are groups of older employees who
meet regularly to talk about issues that are of importance to them. For example, the older worker group at
Honeywell, called OWLs (the Older Worker League) creates awareness around
benefits issues (like the new high impact aerobics class being offered that fails
to accommodate the older participants, and pension
benefit design).
Employers should also
recognize that there are excellent resources for support within the
community. These resources include such
organizations as
¨
State agencies on
aging
¨
AARP
¨
National Council
on the Aging
¨
Community-based
resources
Older workers are an
increasingly important labor market segment, and today’s employers will need to
focus on recruiting and retaining this valuable resource in the coming
years. To capitalize on this changing
shift in demographics, human resource professionals must rethink assumptions
about older adults and aging, and develop new policies and programs.
Cathy Fyock, CSP, SPHR, is an
Employment Strategist, and is on faculty for SHRM’s HR Generalist Certificate
Program and the Recruitment and Retention Certificate Program, and the author
of UnRetirement and America’s Work Force is Coming of Age. She can be reached at cathy@cathyfyock.com.
Put This Article into Action
Consider these questions as you prepare your
organization for the opportunities in attracting and retaining older workers.
Assumption Shift One
¨
What are the
major myths about older adults that still persist in your organization? Why?
How might these be changed? Will
it take training, a new awareness, revised policies and program?
¨
How do you refer
to older workers and older adults?
Should you revisit the language that you use in referring to older
adults? How can you ensure that ageist remarks
are seen in the same way as racist and sexist remarks?
Assumption Shift Two
¨
Does your
organization have any policies or programs that could be perceived as
discriminatory? Where are you
vulnerable? Where do your policies hold
back older workers?
¨
Are there
opportunities to manage in performance issues, as opposed to managing them
out? What needs to change in your
workplace?
¨
Do you offer the
same educational and training opportunities to older workers as you do for
their younger counterparts?
Assumption Shift Three
¨
Are you thinking
creatively to keep valued, qualified workers?
¨
What innovative
schedules are you already using to recruit and retain all workers? Are there some opportunities to use new schedules
to attract and retain additional older workers?
Assumption Shift Four
¨
What are you
currently doing to attract older adults?
¨
Do you let older
workers know that you are interested in them?
To what extent do you use targeted strategies? What recruitment activities could you use to
attract more qualified older adults?
Assumption Shift Five
¨
Do you permit
older adults the same access to training and educational opportunities within
your organization?
¨
What are you
doing to ensure that all your employees have up-to-date, marketable skills?
¨
Are your learning
opportunities age-friendly? If not, what do you need to do to make education
and training more accessible to older workers?
Assumption Shift Six<