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Michael Zey
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MICHAEL HOGUE / Staff Artist
Iowa-based Stanley Consultants Inc., which designs buildings, highways and power plants around the world, tries to hold on to older employees as long as it can – a third of its workforce is over 50.

More companies are beginning to think like Stanley Consultants, which tops AARP's list this year of the 50 best employers for workers over 50.

These employers are devising flexible working arrangements, offering benefits such as long-term care insurance and allowing employees to phase into retirement over several years.

"Guys like Hank have a lifetime of engineering know-how," explained Bob Berg, Stanley Consultants' human resource manager. "We don't want that experience walking out the door."

Lorrie Foster, a research director for the Conference Board, says employers' attitudes spring from corporate self-interest as much as altruism.

"Sixty-four million boomers are poised to retire over the next decade," she explained. "Depending on what they do, there may not be enough younger workers with the right skills to replace them."
Some labor analysts are predicting a shortage of as much as 10 million workers by the end of the decade.

"That's quite a reversal from years of labor surpluses, when employers never had to worry about finding someone to replace the employee who just left," said Michael Zey, author of Ageless Society.

Because businesses have grown accustomed to a labor surplus, most corporate executives still haven't focused on the impending labor shortage and brain drain, Mr. Zey said.

Executives who have recognized the problem work in economic sectors such as health care, retail and utilities, where companies are already having trouble hiring enough workers, he said.

In 2001, when AARP published its first list of the top employers of mature workers, it got 14 entries.

This year, it fielded 145 applications – a clear sign to AARP senior research adviser Kathi Brown that more companies want to be acknowledged as good places for workers over 50.

Companies' growing awareness of the aging workforce recently prompted IBM Corp. to launch a consulting service to help businesses cope with the expected loss of knowledge and talent as boomers retire.

"Executives may know this is a looming problem, but they don't have a good sense of what may be going on with their own organization," said Eric Lesser, an associate partner with IBM.

"We'll help them understand how vulnerable they are to the boomer exodus and how to manage it."

Besides coaching employers on ways to keep and attract older workers, IBM will help them learn to pass knowledge from one generation to another and preserve the institutional memory, he said.

'Featured employers'

AARP is also collaborating with businesses interested in tapping into the mature workforce. The organization has signed up 24 "featured employers" committed to recruiting, hiring and retaining older workers.

"Companies are realizing that an aging workforce isn't a burden on health care and pension costs so much as it could be an opportunity to be leveraged," said Emily Allen, director of the AARP Foundation's workforce initiative.

A million seniors visited the AARP featured employers' Web site in its first year, checking on opportunities with companies such as Borders Group, MetLife Inc., Principal Financial Group and Walgreen Co.

Bill Corporon, 58, of Dallas used the site to find a part-time job at a Borders bookstore this summer. The Exxon Mobil Corp. retiree wanted to supplement his pension and keep busy.

"I'm a freelance writer, so working in a bookstore is a good fit for me," he said.

Borders' edge

Michigan-based Borders enjoys a reputation as an innovator in attracting older workers.

The bookseller studied the demographics of its market and discovered that half of all book buyers are over 45. It then set out to create a workforce that better reflected its customers.

The company provides medical and dental insurance benefits to part-time workers and allows employees to work half of the year in one part of the country and the other half in another store.

"The option has become popular with retirees who like to spend their summers up north and their winters down south," said company spokeswoman Beth Bingham.

Retailers have made some of the most aggressive pitches for mature workers.
 
Fort Worth-based RadioShack Corp. says it hires older workers because they know how to relate to customers, have a strong work ethic and are role models for younger employees. The retailer advertises on a seniors' employment Web site, seniors4hire.org.

"Older adults understand what it takes to get the job done," said company spokesman Charles Hodges.

RadioShack doesn't hesitate to give older workers key assignments. Cliff Forseth of Wylie retired from the military and managed a succession of Radio Shack stores. The 58-year-old now oversees a Mesquite store, often working 54 hours a week.

"Customers tend to trust us older fellows," he said.

Flexible scheduling

Yet not all mature workers want to put in long days. They prefer jobs that let them pursue other interests. Their goal is to ratchet back on responsibilities yet stay engaged in some way.

Employers are discovering that flexible job arrangements are especially appealing to those workers.

The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, the only Texas employer on this year's AARP list of best employers, says it's been successful at recruiting nurses over 50 because it builds work schedules around employees' personal needs.

"We do anything we can to accommodate them – that may mean letting them work fewer hours or fewer days," said Jim Dorn, vice president of human resources.

At Kaye/Bassman International Corp., a Plano executive search firm, telecommuting has become popular with long-standing employees who want more flexible arrangements.

"Hope isn't a strategy for keeping a valued worker – we sit down with our more experienced employees and together find a way to meet their needs," said managing director Butch Hawking.

Human resource experts say benefit packages are crucial to older employees because many are working for health coverage as much as for the paycheck.

"Extending health insurance to part-time workers who aren't yet eligible for Medicare is the best approach for holding onto people," said Carl Van Horn, director of the Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. "I call it the golden handcuff."

Some companies sweeten their benefits by sponsoring long-term care insurance, said Will Shields, an economist for the Employment Policy Foundation in Washington.

"As boomers begin to take care of their aging parents, many worry about how they will care for their own needs when the time comes. This could relieve them of a major concern," he explained.

Retiring in stages

The Conference Board, a business research group, reports that a small but growing number of companies are allowing older workers to ease out of their jobs and into retirement over several years.

A survey by the Watson Wyatt consulting firm found that two-thirds of older workers would like to scale back their hours before retiring. A third said they would postpone full retirement if their employers offered such an option.

"Phased retirement" follows several paths.
At Dallas-based Texas Instruments Inc., retirees sometimes return as independent contractors on specific projects for a few months, said Betty Purkey, manager of work-life strategies.

"Then they're off for another cruise somewhere," she said.
Procter & Gamble Co. and Eli Lilly & Co. helped create an independently owned business to recruit recently retired workers. YourEncore matches its hundreds of retirees with short-term assignments at P&G, Eli Lilly and other companies.

Mr. Zey says the oldest boomers will become eligible to collect Social Security in little more than two years, so smart employers are developing strategies now for keeping them.

"Businesses can't approach the problem when employees are headed for the exit," Mr. Zey explained. "The planning and preparation should start long before then if companies are to remain competitive."

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