Workforce Planning: Aging and
Employment
Module 6: Careers and Aging Workers
Barbara McIntosh, Ph.D., SPHR 2010
Module 6: Overview - Careers and Aging
Workers
• Managing organization commitment and career
engagement.
• Retention and transitions.
• Managing hours of work.
• Recapturing retirees in the future.
• The federal government interface:
> Employment and training legislation.
> Proposed older worker legislation.
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Career Engagement and Aging
• Career: A sequence of positions, jobs or
occupations that one person engages in during his
or her working life.
• Career engagement: Defined within the context of
a single internal labor market (one organization).
• Traditional career model: Upward mobility and
leveling off at some point before exit (retirement).
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Organization Commitment by Age
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Research Questions
Are there significant differences in the importance of
different job characteristics as predictors of career
engagement?
Do these predictors change for different age cohorts?
The answers to these questions suggest what
managers can do to increase organizational
commitment.
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Research Evidence on Career
Engagement
McIntosh, B., Reinier, K., Palumbo, MV., &
Rambur, B. (2003). Job Characterisitcs as
Predictors of Career Engagement in Older
Nurses. Gerontological Society of America,
November.
Methodology:
> Mailed survey to 3,000 registered nurses in
VT in 2002 (n = 7028).
> 1574 of 2778 surveys were returned for a
response rate of 56.7 percent.
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Dependent Measure: Career Engagement
A career engagement measure (Cronbach’s alpha
=.82) was created from:
How satisfied are you with:
• Promotion opportunities in my organization.
• The support for continuing education in my
organization.
• The attention paid to career development.
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Measures: Independent Variables
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Age.
Education.
Years in current position.
Full-time or part-time employment.
Plans to leave job in less than five years.
No plans about staying in current position.
Job involvement.
Job characteristics.
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Results: Age Cohort Analyses
<40 years of age
Educ. level
-.18**
Yrs. position
-.15*
Leave <5
-.17*
Feedback job
.16*
Feedback from others .24**
40-55 years of age
Autonomy
.22***
Feedback from others .31***
Dealing w/others .15***
Adj. R²=.28 n=614
Adj R²=.16 n=218
55+ years of age
PT/FT
-.13*
Patient care
-.11*
Leave <5
-.16*
No plans -.13*
Job involve
.17**
Autonomy
.17**
Feedback from others
.22**
Adj. R²=.27 n=288
55+ years of age/NOT retiring
Patient care
-.21*
Leave <5
-.18*
Job involve
.18*
Feedback from others
.27**
Adj. R²= .27 n=116
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Discussion
• Managerial implications:
> Older nurses in this study had higher levels of
career engagement than younger nurses.
> Feedback from others is critical to all ages.
> Autonomy is significant after age 40.
> Working with others is significant for those
between the ages of 40 and 55.
> Feedback and job options are critical for older
nurses.
• These results could be generalized to other
professions, but there should be additional testing.
• Data does not show how we change as we age
(cross-sectional data limitation).
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Retention and Career Transitions
•Capitalize on older worker’s job satisfaction.
•Value added for the organization.
•Definitions.
•Managing careers and employee development.
•Individual career stages.
•Career choices and preferences.
•Retention tools.
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Capitalize on Job Satisfaction
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Value Added Through Attention to
Careers and Development
• Needed talent will be available.
• The organization’s ability to attract and retain
talented employees will improve.
• Minorities and women have comparable
opportunities for growth and development.
• Reduced employee frustration.
• Enhanced cultural diversity.
• Organizational goodwill.
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Definitions
• Career: Patterns of work-related experiences
over one’s lifetime.
> Advancement in a job.
> Advancement in a profession.
> Stability in work over time.
• Development: Long-run (intermediate) general
training for possible future positions.
• Career development: Long-term success of
people in the organization.
• Career transitions: Exploring and moving into
new careers after age 40.
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Managing Careers: Employee
Development
• Performance is the prerequisite.
(Accountability and recognition, the exchange).
• Shared responsibility:
> Identify aspirations.
> Target experiences, time frame, pay-offs.
• Think outside the box for older workers:
> Development educational/re-tooling
sabbaticals.
> Reverse mentoring.
> Inter-organization exchanges.
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Individual Career Stages: Career Choices
and Preferences
• Stages:
> Exploration.
> Establishment.
> Mid-career.
> Late career.
• Choices and preferences: How do these change
as we age?
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Retention Tools
• Tap into changing development and career
preferences; transitions.
> Movement within the organization.
> Increased opportunity for community
service (corporate social responsibility or
CSR).
• Offer flexibility:
> Hours.
> Location.
> Responsibilities.
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Transitions: What Am I Going to Do With
the Rest of My Life?
• Emerging perspectives on the last third of life
and productive activity.
• Freedman, M. (2007) Encore: Finding Work that
Matters in the Second Half of Life. PublicAffairs.
• Also see Civic Ventures and Experience Corps.
Lessons and networking
• Grassroots nonprofit organizations:
> The Transition Network
(www.thetransitionnetwor.org).
> Women Venture
(www.womenventure.org).
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Flexibility: Hours and Location
• Surveys consistently find that older workers
plan to work past the traditional retirement
ages of 62-65 but not on a full-time or yearround basis.
• 38 percent of Baby Boomers want to cycle in
and out of work.¹
• A majority of workers age 50 and older would
like to have a phased retirement arrangement
at some point.²
Sources:
1. Harris Interactive & Dychtwald, K. (2005). The Merrill Lynch New Retirement
Survey: A perspective from the Baby Boom generation.
www.totalmerrill.com/retirement.
2. Watson Wyatt Worldwide. (2004). Phased Retirement: Aligning Employer
Programs with Worker Preferences. Washington DC: Watson Wyatt Worldwide.
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Flexibility Options
• Reduced hours in the same occupation or
industry.
• Phased retirement.
• Sporadic employment after retirement.
• Reduced hours in a different industry or
occupation (bridge employment).
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Flexibility: Same Occupation and Industry
• Flexible hours:
> Part-time employment.
> Part-year employment.
• Flexible schedules:
> Alternative work week arrangements.
> Sabbaticals.
• Flexible locations:
> Virtual teams (global initiatives) like those
offered by IBM.
> Snowbird programs like those offered by
CVS and Borders Books.
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Flexibility
• Phased retirement:
> Formal programs limited by legal concerns
See: Sheaks, C., Pitt-Catsouphes, M, & Smyer, M.,
August 2007.
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Phased Retirement Program Features
• Allows older workers to reduce or modify work
as they approach retirement.
• Enables workers who are eligible for
retirement to collect some portion of their
pensions while continuing to work.
• Permits rehiring of organization’s retirees.
• Gives retirees the option of working for others
or starting their own businesses.
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Capturing Returnees
• Individuals with high-autonomy and high-demand
jobs are most likely to return to work after formal
retirement (Beck, 1983).
• Those with higher levels of education are more
likely to continue working after age 65 or return to
work (Tillenbaum, 1971).
• White-collar workers are significantly more likely
than blue-collar workers to return (Streib and
Schneider, 1971).
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Leading-Edge Solutions: MetLife
Recommendations 2007
• Create and leverage a network of former
employees.
• Rehire retirees indirectly on a per-project basis
when pension restrictions prevent direct reemployment.
• Hire retirees with special expertise to work on
critical projects.
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Leading-Edge Solutions: MetLife
Recommendations Continued
• Tap into the expanding pool of older people
seeking employment.
• Treat phased retirement and flexible work
options as a managed program, not just a
vaguely defined policy.
• Create effective knowledge-sharing
relationships between older mentors and
younger workers.
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Leading-Edge Solutions: MetLife
Recommendations Continued
• To encourage some employees to remain in
the workforce past the age of 65, sponsor
benefits and retirement planning workshops
that focus on the economic consequences of
leaving the workforce.
• Make knowledge transfer an explicit part of
any job when rehiring a retiree.
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Laws With Older Worker Provisions
(Training/Assistance)
• Older Americans Act.
• Workforce Investment Act.
• Pending legislation.
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Older Americans Act
• Title III state and community grants – AAA:
> Supportive services and senior centers.
> Nutrition services (congregate, homedelivered, school-based).
> In-home frail.
> Needs for special assistance.
> Disease prevention and health promotion.
> Supportive activities for caretakers.
• Title IV training.
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Older Americans Act (continued)
• Title V: Community Service Employment
Program for Older Americans (SCSEP).
• Title VI: Grants for Native Americans.
• Title VII: Vulnerable Elder Rights Protection:
> Prevention of elder abuse, neglect and
exploitation.
> Elder rights and legal assistance.
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Workforce Investment Act (WIA)
• HRC: State.
• WIBs: Local.
• Interagency coordination/partnership:
> Department of Employment and Training
(DET) One-Stop Centers.
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Political Environment 2009:
Two Older-Worker Bills: Senator H. Kohl (WI)
1) Older Worker Opportunity Act (S. 502):
> Tax credit for employing older workers in flexible
work programs.
> Only available to employers providing both a
qualified pension plan and covering 60 percent or
more of health insurance premiums.
2) Health Care and Training for Older Workers
Act (S. 281, 111th Congress):
> Extend COBRA coverage for older workers.
> Improve access to job training programs.
> Clearinghouse of best practices for hiring and
retaining older workers.
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Supplemental Slides
The individual perspective:
> Personal strategies.
> Reshaping work; alternatives.
> Negotiating change.
> Negotiating; process issues.
> Understanding your employer’s response.
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Individual Perspective: Enhancing Your
Career
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Know yourself.
Manage your reputation.
Build and maintain network contacts.
Keep current.
Balance your specialist and generalist
competencies.
• Document your achievements.
• Keep your options open.
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Reshaping Work: Alternatives
What Are Your Goals?
• Flexibility?
> Part-time employment.
> Part-year employment.
> Phased retirement.
• Job change?
> Promotion: management responsibilities.
> Lateral move: it is time to do something different.
> Consultant: contract relationship.
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Reshaping Work: Alternatives
What Are Your Goals?
• Stay in current job BUT………..
• Drop some content components, add others
(job enrichment vs. job enlargement):
• Add creativity piece.
• Add a mentoring role for yourself.
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Negotiating Change
• It’s all in how you ask.
> Personal style.
> Gently refuse to accept no:
• Do you need me to collect more
information?
• Can we revisit this in six months?
• Let’s keep thinking about this and try to
make it work for both of us.
> Remember, you are a valuable,
experienced resource!
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Negotiating With Management:
Process Issues
• Present your case and yourself. Send a brief
note or executive summary ahead so manager
is prepared.
• Most important negotiating skill is listening.
• When negotiating, pay attention to:
> Other side’s spoken communication.
> Responsive or passive aggressive or
negative?
> Other side’s physical communication
body language, eye contact.
> Your own physical communication.
> Your own reaction to their offers,
suggestions or refusals.
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Negotiating Internal Change:
Intrapreneur Challenges
• Getting acceptance for ideas in a larger
bureaucracy is difficult.
• Smaller organizations may not have resources
(money, time, flexibility, expertise) to support
change.
• Moving ideas from conception to reality takes
time (and emotional energy).
• Frustration is common in trying to make change.
• Instability and constant restructuring in many
industries (workforce issues will be around for a
while).
• Adaptation vs. innovation (buy-in and
ownership).
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The Employer’s Response
• Understand and Respect Your Employer’s
Perspective:
> It has never been done before (habit,
practice creates a comfort zone).
> “If I let you do this, everyone will want to do
it” So….
• WHAT ARE THE COST IMPLICATIONS?
• Place your request in a win-win position.
• Be open to development and other options.
DON’T GIVE UP! YOU ARE VALUABLE!
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