To help with labor challenges, long-term care employers may want to look to retired workers. Many baby boomers who retired now are finding themselves wanting to return to work, and companies are welcoming it, according to MarketWatch. Corporations and small businesses need them more than ever to fill 11.3 million vacancies nationwide.
“As a result, companies and small businesses are trying to lure people in their 60s off pickleball courts and golf courses,” Richard Eisenberg wrote.
The oldest baby boomers are turning 76 this year, whereas the youngest ones, at age 57, could be a decade or more away from retiring, given that they will not be able to collect full Social Security until they are age 67.
Companies are embracing this untapped (former) workforce with new offers of part-time employment and remote work, according to the article.
“They’re starting to see how some of these age-inclusive strategies are going to get them back on their feet [after a rocky time for business during the pandemic],” Brian Kaskie, Ph.D., a University of Iowa College of Public Health professor who also directs the Age-Inclusive Management Strategies program in Colorado, told Eisenberg.
The AARP has noticed an uptick in employers signing up for the organization’s Employer Pledge Program, according to Susan Weinstock, former vice president of financial resilience programming. The pledges to employ older, experienced employees trickled in at first, she said, but before long, 1,000 companies had signed on.
“Mature workers contribute a wealth of unique experiences, skills and perspectives to our workforce that can help us better serve our customers and develop our teams,” David Casey, chief diversity officer at CVS Health and one of the AARP’s age-friendly employers, told Eisenberg.
With the tight pool of available workers, employers want to be seen as age-friendly, according to Eisenberg.
“And it’s why they’re hiring people to work in retirement and letting retiring employees switch from full-time jobs to part-time ones. Often, they’re finding there aren’t enough younger people to get the work done,” he wrote.
According to the results of a Harris poll conducted earlier this year for Express Employment Professionals, some companies are easing the hardship of losing longtime, experienced employees by offering semi-retirement to give both workers and businesses more time to prepare for changes. Alternatively, some companies are trying to ease the retirement transition by bringing former employees back. According to the poll, almost half of employees (47%) say their employer has brought retired employees back, either to be a knowledge expert (24%), act as a mentor to current employees (22%) or handle key client relationships (15%).
