With Aging Populations, Companies Rethink Opportunities for Older Workers

The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that one in four American workers will be 55 or older by 2024, and companies are reconsidering their accommodations of older employees as they work beyond traditional retirement ages, reports the Christian Science Monitor . "People are getting to their sixties with another 15 years of productive life ahead, and this is turning out to be the most emotionally-rewarding part of life," says Brookings Institute Senior Fellow Jonathan Rauch. "They don't want to just hang it up and just play golf. That model is wrong." A 2016 survey of human resource professionals by the Society for Human Resource Management found only 35 percent of U.S. companies have examined the short-term impact of the departure of older workers while only 17 percent have considered longer-term impact over the next decade. Since then, employers have sharpened their focus in this area, according to the Society for Human Resource Management's Alex Alonso. "In most boardrooms, there is urgency around the topic these days, but the conversation is around how to sustain the enterprise, with a focus on how to manage a multi-generational workforce," he says. Still, leading-edge employers are beginning to consider creating alternative career routes for older workers with more flexible assignments and schedules, creating opportunities for them to mentor younger workers, and offering phased retirement. "We're definitely seeing growing concern about the drain of human capital among larger companies, and interest in new models for older workers that retain them longer," says Linda Fried with the Mailman School of Public Health.