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WHY A RETIREE MAY BE YOUR NEXT NEW HIRE

February 07, 2024 Employee Experience
By Wendy Helfenbaum


Remember "quiet quitting"? Well, it’s shifted into a "quiet return," according
to a recent Pew study. 

A growing number of older workers have been heading back to the office since the
pandemic, in some cases in search of bridge jobs to combat the effects of high
inflation, while others are being wooed to resume their jobs in the wake of
continued labor shortages. 

While this wave of ‘unretirees’ could alleviate one of the key challenges for
today’s organizations — the continuing global skills shortage, especially for
hard-to-fill senior roles — companies may need to adapt their culture to attract
and retain this valuable talent pool. Working with an older workforce and
tapping into their wealth of experience requires leaders to provide greater
flexibility, promote DEI initiatives and create a positive learning environment.

Here’s what to keep in mind when recruiting, onboarding and supporting older
workers.




THE 'UNRETIREE' MOVEMENT: WHO ARE THEY?

Nearly half (45%) of employed older workers describe themselves as retired, even
though they’re working more than ever. According to the Pew report, about one in
five Americans ages 65 and older held a job in 2023 — twice as many as 35 years
ago — and they’re working more hours than in the past, too.

More specifically, this group of over-65 workers currently employed represents
close to 11 million people, roughly four times more than in the mid-1980s, with
women representing 46% of the group.

And according to the report, workers aged 75 and up are the fastest-growing
group in the workforce.

Related Article: Recruit for Fit by Aligning Expectations and Reality


THE MATURE WORKER ADVANTAGE

Treat older adults as individuals rather than making broad assumptions, suggests
Maura Porcelli, senior director of the National Council on Aging’s Senior
Community and Employment Program, a federally funded training initiative for
people over 55.   



“Employers think mature workers won’t have the right skill set or that they're
going to have health complications,” said Porcelli. “Much of this is driven by
the messaging we see in the media and not in reality. 2024 is going to be the
peak year of individuals turning 65. This is an exciting time to see this shift
in terms of employers being more open to older workers than they may have been
in the past.”

Older workers contribute to the profitability and stability of organizations,
she added. "They’re less likely to change jobs quickly, and they're more
accustomed to traditional workplaces. They bring a lifetime of work experience
to an employer, which is of great value."

Mature workers also tend to be more flexible because they’ve gone through many
cycles of change over the course of their careers. There are lots of technical
and soft skills mature workers bring to the workplace, Porcelli said.

Related Article: Worker Shortage? Tell That to the 'Older Workers'


DISCUSS FUTURE PLANS AND OPPORTUNITIES JUST AS YOU WOULD WITH YOUNGER EMPLOYEES

Older workers continue to have professional goals, so don’t assume they’re just
killing time until they leave your organization, warned Porcelli.



“A mature worker might have much less responsibility at home, and they're
excited about learning new skills and tapping into training that they might not
have had access to in the past. The biggest mistake we can make is to make
assumptions about what their objectives are without having open, candid
conversations with them,” she said.

“Retirement in the traditional sense is not the right fit for everybody;
[retirees] might miss the intellectual stimulation, camaraderie and being part
of a team. People want to stay engaged and we want those individuals to be as
competitive as the next candidate for those jobs because they bring a lifetime
of skill and experience to any employer.”

Neil Charness, a distinguished research professor and director of the Institute
for Successful Longevity at Florida State University, said older workers bring
knowledge they've amassed over many years, including how to get along with
people.

“In knowledge-dependent and people-dependent industries like selling insurance,
people tend to peak in their fifties, maybe even their sixties,” he said.

“There are certain advantages people acquire on the job over time, particularly
about how to get around in the workplace — people skills, soft skills, specific
knowledge in a particular industry — which maybe a younger worker wouldn't
have.”



Mature employees can also share the important lessons they’ve learned to benefit
younger workers, added Porcelli. 

“They’ve seen so much over the lifetime of their careers: learning how to
overcome challenges, being part of a business expansion or a contraction, and
understanding conflict resolution, communication and interpersonal dynamics with
prospective clients — these are in-demand skills younger employees can observe
in their older colleagues and then learn how to navigate those situations,” she
said.

Related Article: Recognizing the Value of Untapped Talent


RETHINK THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

The Pew study found the fastest-growing group of older workers returning to the
office are aged 75 and up, and one challenge facing this group is technology
readiness, said Charness. 

“There’s a fairly large digital divide as a function of age, so companies will
need to provide additional support and training opportunities for older workers
to be able to make use of the systems that are currently in place,” he said.



“We've done some research on managers' biases towards older workers, and
probably the number one bias with respect to technology is that they can't use
it. The research literature shows that yes, they can, but it may take them
longer to get up to speed."

In the end, Charness said, organizations that do this right may even get older
workers who are better than their younger counterparts.

This makes having access to training is so critical for organizations trying to
tap the unretiree advantage. These workers must have ways to stay up to date on
things like software packages, said Charness. 

“Having adequate and timely tech support to help you if you're willing to engage
in the learning is even more important in being able to retain older workers,”
he said.


DEI SHOULD BE INCLUSIVE OF AGE

An age-diverse workforce can drive positive results for organizations, says
Charness.



“Early research on this was done in Germany on car assembly, a physical labor
situation, and it turns out mixed teams of younger and older workers were more
productive than pure younger worker teams,” he said.

Other studies have shown age-diverse work teams are more innovative and
efficient as varied groups learn from each other, adds Porcelli. 

“When we have a mosaic of different ages across all the different demographics
of diversity, it creates a fabric that makes us stronger organizations. Yet age
is very infrequently considered a diversity factor in organizational diversity
plans. We encourage leaders in business and organizations to be very deliberate
about including age as a diversity element.”

Related Article: Corporations Are Reevaluating Their DEI Programs


TOMORROW'S NEW NORMAL

Employees returning to work after retirement, or those working well past the
conventional age of 65, may be a new normal, said Charness. 



“Leaders need to get used to it because there's a dearth of younger workers in
the workforce. People need to fill positions and where is the growth going to be
coming from in terms of available workers? It's going to be from the older
segment of the population,” he said.

Charness speaks from experience. His own department lost a ton of people during
and after COVID, and the team was struggling with having to onboard new people
to replace experienced people. "We had lost a lot of the institutional knowledge
about how the department works and how to get things done, so we’re hiring back
a lot of people part-time who had retired to come in and help.”

Porcelli said leaders often consider what it takes to attract younger employees,
but now it’s time to stretch that mindset.

“We need to think about what's going to be attractive to mid-career and older
workers as well. Think about the whole experience, not just the recruitment
part, but the ongoing support in training and thinking about their futures,” she
said. 

“Create that inclusive workplace, making sure you're in a community that's
tolerant of differences of diversity across the board — and age is an important
piece of that.”




ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Wendy Helfenbaum is a Montreal-based freelance journalist and television
producer with 25 years’ experience. A long-time board member of the American
Society of Journalists & Authors, Wendy has written hundreds of print, digital
and television stories about career and leadership strategies, HR best
practices, diversity in the workplace, job searching, marketing, networking,
education and business. Connect with Wendy Helfenbaum:

Main image: DESIGNECOLOGIST | unsplash


TAGS

 * onboarding
 * digital workplace
 * upskilling
 * dei
 * labor market
 * rto
 * retirees
 * employee experience




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