Recruiting the Older Worker

An interesting article hit my e-mail box from ASTD. It addresses a topic that is starting to gain steam: recruiting the older worker:

Older Workforce Requires Variety of Recruitment Strategies
Penn State Live (07/08/08)

Penn State, the American Management Association, and the Human Resources Institute examined the recruiting, retention, and training policies used by 208 employers across the United States. The number of younger workers eligible to take up open positions vacated by retiring Baby Boomers is small, but companies must remember that older workers that stay on the job are doing so because they cannot afford to retire or they are interested in pursuing meaningful work.

The Penn State study reveals that employers utilize a variety of strategies to recruit and retain older workers. About 58 percent of employers offer older workers flexible schedules, while nearly 50 percent of companies offer older workers cash incentives. Nearly 32 percent of employers surveyed stated they keep in touch with older or retired workers by inviting them to holiday parties and other events. As for training, researchers discovered that older workers are best trained together as a group, and training programs should be tailored to connect previous work experience and knowledge with new material. Moreover, the study revealed that older worker respond more readily to newspaper advertisements and referrals and enjoy extended lunch breaks and employer-sponsored health fairs. Additional data gathered by the study can be found in the book “Working Longer: New Strategies for Managing, Training, and Retaining Older Workers.”