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On the 4th of July in 1776, an estimated 2.5 million people lived in the USA.
Today, 302 million people are crowded into our slice of this small planet.
A person born in 1776 could expect to live 35 years.
A person born today can expect to live 80 years.
And, a happy 2nd birthday to us at Ageless in America,
one of America's smallest firms doing some of its biggest work!
The 4th is AIA's birthday. Reaching the two-year milestone means we've survived startup. We are having fun and doing more good for America's maturing workplace and workforce.
Ageless in America™ was founded by Brad Taft. Carleen MacKay added her contribution this year after leaving her full-time role as the mature workforce subject-matter expert with Spherion, one of America's largest recruiting and staffing firms. Here's a reminder about Ageless in America's charter:
- We conduct rigorous studies of the mature workforce in order to continue to demonstrate our deep level expertise in a variety of situations, such as in presenting keynote speeches, developing and delivering teleseminars and live workshops for delivery to or by your teams, writing newsletters, providing demographic studies, partnering with others with similar business interests and, overall, by educating American leaders about the competitive advantages of engaging and retaining mature workers.
We assist employers with developing recruiting, re-development and retention strategies on behalf of the mature workforce.
We assist individuals to develop new career strategies in order to continue to work, in some meaningful capacity, throughout their adult years.
Thanks for your continued support. We may be the scouting party but you are the true pioneers of a shared future
when 4 generations will routinely share the American workplace.
Last month we wrote about the reasons for people to work longer.
We explored research that confirmed that people with low levels of depression, high levels of intellectual stimulation, and frequent social interaction and support are likely to live longer than most. We trust we made the case that work is one fine way to reach our shared goals of longer and better lifetimes.
This month we are writing about the reasons organizations need people to work longer.
We hope that your organization's leaders will see the many benefits of engaging a maturing workforce as an integral part of their business strategies. We trust you will help them to think about older workers in new ways by pointing out that smart organizations are prepared to adjust to changing demographics NOW.
THE BUSINESS REASONS ORGANIZATIONS NEED MATURE WORKERS
- The economy's shift toward knowledge-based jobs and away from physical labor will favor mature workers with established higher levels of education and credentials who can increase competitive advantages and improve ROI for employers. Until sheer numbers of our youth dramatically increase their educational investment in math, science and technology, we will desperately need qualified mature workers to continue to contribute.
The mature workforce offers employer's one of the best opportunities to combine experience with flexibility and, hence, lower costs associated with engaging a workforce that often prefers project or flexible work options.
Employers struggling with the high costs of turnover and re-training will discover the savings associated with investing in a stable, experienced workforce who actually have some past performance that will demonstrate their ability to contribute to the bottom-line.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics makes the case that there will be a worker shortage of nearly 10 million people by 2010 as mature workers continue to exit the workforce. Aon Consulting, Mercer Consulting, SHRM and others have chimed in by stating that recruiting talent from all generations is at the top of critical issues in 2007 as it is this year when demand seriously begins to outpace supply.
Mature workers are more likely to be work-centric than "Y" ounger generations and there is an apparent trend in younger generations who want the trade-offs not available to people in work-intense jobs. As work becomes faster paced and more competitive in the global economy, it makes good business sense to combine the advantages offered by all generations.
What is the greatest business risk to be found in the exodus of mature workers? Is it the loss of experience? The failure to transfer key knowledge? The lack of planning for succession? In buying into the myths that we ourselves made up about aging? How about your organization?
Who is at the greatest business risk? Utilities, oil and gas production, healthcare, the public sector, the non-profits and other organizations are "feeling" the effect of mature worker retirements NOW. Gaps in competencies and skills, serious shortcomings in service – all are being affected. These sectors are but the beginning of a wave of demographic change that will soon put most companies at competitive risk if they cannot retain experienced workers in an economy where there are, simply stated, not enough qualified younger workers to replace them.
Why are some employers late in adapting a business strategy to recruit, develop and retain mature workers? (1) Despite strong evidence to the contrary, some employers associate higher costs with recruiting mature workers. It is long past time for employers and mature workers themselves to understand that pay must be based on marketplace need and not on obsolete longevity based "merit performance" plans. (2) Some employers buy into the myth that you "can't teach older workers new tricks." It is time to replace this myth with hard facts and to continue to offer development opportunities throughout the work/life cycle. (3) Some employers do not count the real cost of replacing workers. One estimate about the cost of replacing an experienced worker of any age (source: AARP) is 50 percent of the person's annual salary and much more if the position involves specialized skills and knowledge.
How is your employer doing? Has your company taken a first step and assessed their business risks as the result of the aging of your workforce? Have they studied their demographic profiles or are they, like the four in five companies that Manpower surveyed in May of this year, failing to implement retention strategies to keep older workers participating in the workforce?
carleenmackay@agelessinamerica.com
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