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by Loretta Penn
Vice President and Chief Service Excellence Officer
Spherion Corporation
While the rate of new entrants to the workforce continues to decline, the median age of the US workforce is rising steadily. As fewer and fewer new workers enter the labor pool, employers will become increasingly dependent on the mature workforce -- the enormous employed population aged 50 or older. This has significant implications for employers and how they recruit, manage and optimize the graying workforce.
Companies who are not focusing on this issue will face serious challenges in attracting and retaining skilled workers in the future. Forward-thinking employers are already reconsidering their recruiting, development and employee-retention strategies in order to maximize the talents, loyalty and stability of mature workers.
Mature Workforce Benefits
Mature workers can invigorate and improve business performance by lowering turnover and increasing loyalty, stability, experience and leadership. The Spherion Emerging Workforce Studies, conducted by Harris Interactive, reveal that 55 percent of mature workers are likely to stay with an employer for at least the next five years, as compared to 43 percent of workers aged 49 or younger.
And when it comes to loyalty to colleagues, managers and employers, mature workers are more likely to rate themselves as “very loyal” than younger workers. Mature workers also offer stability in an era when younger employees have grown comfortable with job-hopping.
Mature workers also bring decades of work experience and industry expertise to their jobs. Their skills can be called upon to teach and mentor younger workers, analyze and improve processes and build a strong foundation of company knowledge.
Implications for Recruiting and Hiring
Employers must cast a wide net when advertising job openings to make sure they reach mature candidates. Job boards and classified ads may not be as effective as professional associations, professional recruiting firms and community organizations. There’s also a growing pool of experienced managers taking on project work and other flexible or temporary assignments as a bridge to their retirement. These workers can offer a depth and breadth of experience plus proven leadership skills, while giving employers more flexibility in structuring their permanent workforce and associated payroll costs.
Speaking of payroll, most companies tend to link compensation to tenure or experience, filling lower-level positions with the youngest workers and paying less compared to more experienced levels. However, the new reality is there are plenty of senior, experienced people who are willing to fill entry- or lower-level jobs that will enable them to ease into retirement or continue working while collecting pensions or accruing retirement savings. Forward-looking companies are adapting to this trend by adjusting their hiring, compensation and benefit models while removing the traditional ceilings tied to experience and compensation.
Managing Mature Workers
The key to success in managing mature workers is flexibility. While not all mature workers are planning immediate retirement, many have already achieved their core career goals and are starting to move into the final stages of their careers. Climbing the corporate ladder is not typically their focus -- many have been there, done that. What they seek are new and different opportunities to contribute or ways to achieve better balance between their professional and personal lives. These trends include a desire for less job-related travel, reduced stress and a different mix of business and leisure activities.
Optimize a Valuable Resource
Employers can take several steps to make the most of their existing mature workforce, such as:
- Provide mature workers with the flexibility to cut back on office time and work from home or part-time. The freedom to work fewer hours and to telecommute is often viewed as a well-deserved reward for years of service.
- Mature workers often find it extremely rewarding to apply their knowledge and experience to completely new functions and may be very happy to move laterally within an organization. Upward advancement is not their driving force, but a change of pace and a new learning opportunity can be.
- Recognize that mature workers are just as interested as younger workers are in learning, gaining new skills and making a contribution. Employers need to view their mature workers as high-potential contributors and treat them as such, encouraging them to take advantage of training, participate in task forces and project teams and similar opportunities.
Leveraging your mature workers -- and accommodating their unique needs and characteristics -- will pay big dividends for years to come.
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