Aging Workforce Provided By: Employco USA, Inc
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The Aging Workforce Provided by: Employco USA, Inc. This HR Toolkit is not intended to be exhaustive nor should any discussion or opinions be construed as legal advice. Readers should contact legal counsel for legal advice. © 2019 Zywave, Inc. All rights reserved. The Aging Workforce | Provided by: Employco USA, Inc. Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................ 3 The Aging Workforce and You ................................................................................... 3 What You Can Do ...................................................................................................... 3 HR and the Aging Workforce ...................................................................................... 4 Making Your Workplace Flexible for the Aging Workforce........................................ 4 Offering Caregiver Support ....................................................................................... 5 Creating a Mentorship Program ................................................................................ 6 Providing Benefits Education Opportunities ............................................................. 8 Medicare Education .........................................................................8 Retirement Education ......................................................................9 Legal Considerations .................................................................................................. 11 What laws are in place to prevent age discrimination? .......................................... 11 Employee Benefits and Age Discrimination ............................................................. 11 Can I ask employees to waive their rights? ............................................................. 11 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 13 Appendix.................................................................................................................... 14 Flextime Policy ........................................................................................................ 15 Paid Time Off Policy ................................................................................................. 16 Telecommuting Policy ............................................................................................. 18 Workplace Flexibility Scorecard .............................................................................. 21 Mentorship Program Sign-up Questionnaire.......................................................... 22 Medicare 101 Infographic ....................................................................................... 23 5 Ways to Get Ready for Retirement Infographic ................................................... 24 2 The Aging Workforce | Provided by: Employco USA, Inc. Introduction In today’s age of the multigenerational workforce, your organization likely has employees from four different generations: the baby boomers, Generation X, millennials and Generation Z. While millennials have become the most predominant generation at many organizations, it’s estimated that 35 percent of the U.S. labor force will be 50 years old or older by 2022. The Aging Workforce and You Unlike in decades past, people are working longer than ever and delaying retirement. With this comes several advantages, including: • More experienced workforce • Increased professionalism/maturity • More opportunity for mentorship programs between experienced and entry-level employees Many of these advantages are only possible through baby boomers working for years, which has allowed them to gain invaluable skills, experience and knowledge of their position, company and industry. When these employees leave, though, they take this honed knowledge with them. This can create a serious skills gap within your organization, a disadvantage that 52 percent of SHRM survey respondents have identified. Despite knowing the benefits older employees offer to their organizations and the major downsides that their impending retirement present, only 35 percent of HR professionals have analyzed what the aging workforce’s departure will mean for their business. What You Can Do This toolkit serves as an introductory guide to developing an aging workforce strategy at your organization. It includes resources on how to accommodate the rapidly aging workforce through workplace policies, education and benefits, how to develop a meaningful recruiting and retention strategy, and how to implement a mentorship program at your business. Please note that this guide provides an overview of potentially applicable federal, state and local laws for educational purposes only. For legal advice, please consult legal counsel. 3 The Aging Workforce | Provided by: Employco USA, Inc. HR and the Aging Workforce It’s up to you and your organization to develop a compliant strategy to recruit and retain older employees. Being successful in this goal can require lots of effort on your end, especially if you haven’t been focusing on doing so yet. As previously mentioned, baby boomers are remaining in the workforce longer than ever before. As their years of experience increases, so does the value of their skills and inherent industry and company knowledge. If you don’t plan accordingly, failing to recruit or retain these types of employees can cost your business in more ways than one. In addition to avoiding discrimination, in a tight labor market such as the one the United States is currently experiencing, it’s important to not dismiss a candidate just because of their age. Sometimes, the candidate who’s the best fit for the position and your company may not be who you first thought of. In addition to spending money filling an unexpectedly open position, your business may also experience a skills gap as newer, less seasoned employees typically don’t have the depth of knowledge that a seasoned worker may have. To avoid facing high turnover costs and a skills shortage, it’s imperative that your company makes an effort to recruit and retain older employees. Consider implementing these strategies to recruit and retain older workers: • Create and cultivate an age-positive culture. • Offer flexible working schedules and arrangements (flextime). • Provide ample health and wellness support. • Offer caregiver/caregiving support. • Make targeted skills training a priority. • Introduce a mentorship program at your organization. Using these strategies at your company can help you leverage the skills of experienced employees after they retire, transfer experience and knowledge to younger employees, retain older employees and recruit more experienced, older workers. Making Your Workplace Flexible for the Aging Workforce According to a National Institute on Aging study, 60 percent of retirees would be willing to return to work if they were offered flexible scheduling. What’s more? Twenty percent of retirees would be willing to take a 20 percent pay cut to receive a flexible schedule. Having a flexible working environment means that your organization defines “work” differently and, as a result, new guidelines are established for when, where and how employees get tasks done. For 4 The Aging Workforce | Provided by: Employco USA, Inc. employees, flexibility makes it easier to manage work, health and family obligations. It allows individuals to engage in their roles as a professional, parent or grandparent, coach, avid exerciser or homemaker all at the same time. Workplace flexibility also makes it easier to manage health care appointments. There are many types of flexible working arrangements being implemented across the nation, which include: • Part-time employment (reduced work hours) • Flexible scheduling (employees are available within core hours during the day, but may vary the times they arrive in the morning and leave in the afternoon) • Telecommuting (working from a remote location) • Compressed workweeks (working a full schedule in fewer than five days) • Telecommuting (working entirely through an electronic system without a formal work schedule or location) • Unlimited paid time off (PTO) policies Employers may offer these options on an as-needed basis or as part of formal programs for all employees. Employers can also create a workplace that is entirely flexible with no defined work schedule (known as a results-only work environment). Most employers tend to land somewhere in the middle and have formal yet flexible arrangements. See the Appendix for flexible workplace sample policies. Offering Caregiver Support The National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP estimate that 70 percent of working caregivers suffer work- related difficulties due to their dual roles. Moreover, caregivers are forced to miss an average of 6.6 days of work annually because of their caregiving responsibilities. The annual cost of lost productivity due to caregiver absenteeism amounts to more than $25 billion. As the baby-boomer generation continues to age, it is likely that younger employees will take on caregiver responsibilities. Of the 129 U.S. benefits managers surveyed by the Northeast Business Group on Health (NEBGH) and AARP, 66 percent agree that caregiving will become an important issue to their workers over the next five years. Forty-five percent of these managers say that caregiving benefits are one of their top 10 priorities for health and benefits issues. According