Keeping older workers

Tuesday, April 22, 2008 | 2:04 a.m.

As companies brace themselves to weather the nation’s economic slump, some are using flexible scheduling and other tactics to avoid losing their older and more experienced workers to retirement.

Workers from the Baby Boom generation (Americans born from 1946 to 1964) are reaching retirement age, and more companies are realizing that they “could lose everyone who remembers how they handled the last economic downturn,” Alison Sander, a trends analyst at Boston Consulting Group, recently told The New York Times.

So instead of retirement parties and gold watches, workers in their 50s and 60s are receiving offers of telecommuting, shorter work weeks and new duties that are more consultant-like. In return, companies can hang on to these valuable employees long enough for them to transfer knowledge and skills to younger workers.

And many older workers are taking the bait. After all, these jobs typically come with the full income of their previous positions and, almost more important, health insurance. Workers who retire before they are 65 are not eligible for Medicare.

To maintain health coverage, younger retirees must find individual coverage, which is difficult, or pay the full monthly premium for coverage under their old company policies. And the latter is available to them for only 18 months, after which they must obtain private coverage on their own.

Although such retention plans are increasing, they are not typical, experts told the Times. Most companies are well aware that their workforce is getting older, but few have found ways to take advantage of the institutional knowledge while allowing these older workers more freedom.

For example, IBM is retaining some of its older managers by releasing them from their old duties and paying them to develop computer curricula for universities or help IMB employees exchange information and ideas on a company intranet page.

It is refreshing to see that more employers are acknowledging the experience and value that older workers bring to the office. People who remain mentally active and gainfully employed with health insurance coverage are likely to live healthier, fuller lives. And it proves that growing old gracefully does not have to be done from a rocking chair.