Stick your head out of your office for a moment and look both ways. If you re like the typical HR executive, here s what you re looking at: half of your company s employees are under age 40, and half are "older workers," in the parlance of many workforce experts and in the eyes of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).

Although HR executives are looking at a lot of older workers, most aren t seeing them for all they re worth, for the full range of opportunities they present.

Further, forty-somethings aren t the only burgeoning group of older workers.

Between 2004 and 2014, the cohort of workers age 55 and up will increase 4 percent annually, a rate four times faster than the overall workforce, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Indeed, 65-to-69-year-olds have shown the greatest upswing in labor-force participation in recent decades, from 25 percent in 1984 to 32 percent in 2003.

Smart Firms Recognize the Value of Older Workers.
Companies are destined to underutilize veteran workers talent if they don t recognize the value of their experience. "Employers need to understand what it means to them in bottom-line terms when they lose their intellectual capital and institutional knowledge as employees retire," says Larry Anderson, president of the National Older Worker Career Center in Arlington, Va.

Employers also need to look closely at how the structure of their benefits programs affects the motivations of older workers. "The average engineer is 52 or 53 years old and is looking forward to very generous retirement benefits," says Deborah Russell, director of economic security and work programs for the AARP in Washington, DC.

But companies are mistaken if they give up on retaining the experience that s concentrated in the upper age range of their workforce. "Many employers are stuck in the industrial-age mindset that people all want to retire," says Gordon Shea, co-author of The Older Worker Advantage: Making the Most of Our Aging Workforce. "If you enjoy your work, you may want to change the conditions of it, but you probably don t want to quit."

Flexibility and Benefits Help Attract and Retain Older Workers.
There are positive steps that employers can take to recruit and retain the wisest workers. Perhaps the most important step is simply to acknowledge that many older workers will only stay on the job if they have a lot to say about the conditions of their employment.

"Employers will have to be flexible, particularly in adopting work schedules suitable to an older workforce," says Anderson.

Flexibility in benefits programs is also key to attracting and retaining older workers. "Employers will need to provide a broader smorgasbord of benefits," says Anderson. "Some retired workers will have benefits from previous employment, but they might like to add dental care or other benefits," he adds.

Of course, when employers think about what older workers want, they need to consider their entire workforce. "We re not saying, Make special provisions for older workers, " says Russell. "Progressive employers recruitment and retention policies and practices are good for all workers."

In fact, in offering benefits with older workers in mind, employers must be mindful of a wide range of anti-discrimination law, says Zack Hummel, a partner with Bryan Cave LLP in New York City. "If you don t offer a benefit to everyone it can get you in trouble, since there are protected categories other than age," such as race and disability, Hummel says.

"We have programs that appeal to all ages of workers, young and old," says Bob Berg, vice president of human resources at Stanley Consultants, an engineering and construction services firm in Muscatine, Iowa. Stanley ranked No. 1 in the AARP s 2005 Best Employers for Workers Over 50. Berg says that older workers are often attracted by Stanley programs such as flexible schedules, profit-sharing, health and prescription coverage and phased retirement.

"We ve always valued our senior people, based on the knowledge and experience they have," says Berg. "We re a technical consulting firm, so our product is our knowledge."

New Frontiers: Phased Retirement and Rehiring Retirees.
Phased retirement, wherein workers choose to work part-time for a year or so as they transition into the next phase of life, can also help employers make smoother workforce transitions. "We re seeing an increase in employers who are offering phased retirement," says Russell.

Facing growing business and a limited pool of qualified, younger talent, some companies are pitching a second career to the cream of their retirees. "Rehiring retirees has become a very lucrative recruitment channel," says Russell. "There are some cost savings" in bringing back former employees. Although rehired veterans may require some technology training, their deep skills and subject-matter expertise often bring them up to speed very quickly.

"We just had a guy last week, 84 years old, who come back on a part-time basis," says Berg. Such an arrangement won t pan out for every company and every octogenarian. But HR executives who do make the most of older workers will find themselves with a competitive advantage in human resources.

About the Author

John Rossheim is a journalist in Providence, Rhode Island who writes about workplace issues, employment trends and changing relationships between employers and workers.  Johnregularly contributes to Workforce Insights, an online resource about emerging labor trends and issues produced by Veritude.

About Veritude

The article originally appeared in Workforce Insights on Veritude.com. Veritude provides strategic human resources - the talent, technology and tactics that growing firms need in order to anticipate and adapt to changes in the workplace. Veritude is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fidelity Investments Company. Headquartered in Boston, the company serves clients throughout the United States and Canada and is part of Fidelity s ongoing investment and leadership in outsourced HR services. To review other articles, research and expert analysis relevant to HR professionals seeking to stay informed, please visit www.veritude.com.  For more information, contact: inquiry@veritude.com or call:1-800-597-5537. 

^©2005 Veritude,LLC.  Reprinted with permission.