Managing Senior Employees

Provide flexibility and training to retain seasoned workers

By Judy Rakowsky, Freelance writer/editor

Although most employed workers say they expect to work well into retirement or never completely retire, they do hope their jobs will conform better to their lifestyle. Seniors are looking for flexibility, support and satisfaction to stay in jobs. That means employers need to adjust to those expectations if they are to retain these experienced workers as the labor force shrinks. Retaining and getting the most out of senior employees requires:

Flexibility in work hours, assignments and job sharing.
Mentoring programs to share knowledge and build teamwork.
Training older workers in new technology and skills.

Know the law on work hours

Even though workers are clamoring for flexible or compressed work hours, state and federal labor laws still apply.
Try: Consult the U.S. Department of Labor-Flexible Schedules before you agree to a particular schedule. Also, the Families and Work Institute has materials that show the benefits of workplace flexibility.

Set consistent policies and practices

Seniors are drawn to options such as flexible schedules, job sharing and compressing their work week into fewer, longer days.
Try: Visit the Families and Work Institute for a variety of tools to help you set up flexibility options for all workers and avoid being accused of discriminating by channeling senior workers to part-time and nontraditional schedules.

Retain valuable senior employees

It’s easier to keep senior workers before they leave by allowing for phased retirement and taking advantage of their knowledge and experience while they are on your team.
Try: Set up a retention program that includes helping hiring managers talk to employees nearing retirement age in a way that avoids the risk of age discrimination problems. Keeping senior workers means maximizing them.

Set up mentoring programs

You can leverage the skills of seasoned workers and pass them onto younger workers, who share their comfort with cutting edge technical skills.
Try: Set up a peer mentoring program but not before you carefully define your goals and instruct the participants in how to constructively approach the arrangement. You need to also periodically evaluate how the program is working. PeerMentoring.com and AdvanceMentoring.com also have a host of resources available about mentoring.

Provide ongoing skill training

Workers of all ages need to update and develop their skills, but training is crucial for senior workers.
Try: Provide regular training in various forms from formal classroom instruction to job rotation and individual tutoring. You can also consult Experience Works, a national nonprofit that trains older workers, or Senior Community Service Employment.

Give seniors recognition and support. Tell them when they do a good job and support them if they make an error.
Set goals, convey them clearly and celebrate when they are met.
Seek input from senior workers and use it. They have valuable experience to share and are not as likely to offer it as their younger counterparts.
Create opportunities for open discussion to deal with intergenerational issues in the workplace.