In this episode of the Business Review, career strategist Kerry Hannon reveals why an aging workforce can be a boon to businesses - and how companies can tap into that wealth of knowledge and experience.
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The numbers don’t lie: there is a dwindling supply of young people joining the workforce, while millions of baby boomers are retiring every year. And that employment gap just keeps growing.
From manufacturing to the service sector, many businesses have already found a solution—fill open jobs with older workers. The reason is simple: with maturity comes stability, says financial and career strategist Kerry Hannon.
An older worker brings experience. They bring loyalty. They’re not job-jumping. Hiring is really expensive. Once you’ve made a commitment to somebody, you don’t want them jumping ship. And that’s not going to happen typically with an older worker.
With many seniors willing and able to work into their golden years, companies have an unprecedented opportunity to prosper from all of that accumulated knowledge and experience.
They bring this sort of ballast to the workplace. They’re seasoned. They’ve seen it before. And so they often can create these wonderful inter-generational teams, and we’ve seen lots of studies now about how multi-generational teams are more productive than any in the workplace.
Flexible hours, part-time schedules, and creating consulting and mentoring positions are some ways employers can tap into the enormous knowledge-base and expertise of older workers. The experience, for both employer and employee, can be invaluable.
Employers need to reconsider this experienced workforce as really vital to their interests.
THE BUSINESS REVIEW IS A PRODUCTION OF KWBU, LIVINGSTON & MCKAY, AND THE HANKAMER SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY.
