Home > All articles Some Best Practices and Strategies for Engaging and Retaining Older Workers Obstacles continue to exist for older workers seeking continued or new employment and for employers who want to attract or retain older workers. The following obstacles, best practices, lessons learned, and strategies to address some of these obstacles and promote work at older ages were discussed at a recent GAO forum on older workers. Key Obstacles • Some employers’ perceptions about the cost of hiring and retaining older workers are a key obstacle in older workers’ continued employment. • Workplace age discrimination, the lack of suitable job opportunities, layoffs due to changes in the economy, as well as the need to keep skills up to date, are all challenges facing older workers. • Strong financial incentives for workers to retire as soon as possible and some jobs that are physically demanding or have inflexible schedules provide strong disincentives to continued work. Best Practices and Lessons Learned • Use nontraditional recruiting techniques such as partnerships with national organizations that focus on older Americans. • Employ flexible work situations and adapt job designs to meet the preferences and physical constraints of older workers. • Offer the right mix of benefits and incentives to attract older workers such as tuition assistance, time off for elder care, employee discounts, and pension plans that allow retirees to return to work. • Provide employees with financial literacy skills to ensure they have a realistic plan to provide for retirement security. • Treat all employees in a fair and consistent manner and employ a consistent performance management system to prevent age discrimination complaints. Strategies • Conduct a national campaign to help change the national mindset about work at older ages. • Hold a national discussion about what “old” is to help change the culture of retirement. • Create a clearinghouse of best recruiting, hiring, and retention practices for older workers. • Strengthen financial literacy education to help workers prepare to retire. • Make the federal government a model employer for the nation in how it recruits and retains older workers. • Create a key federal role in partnerships to implement these strategies. • Consider specific legislation or regulations to increase flexibility for employers and employees to create new employment models. > More Click here     By K.S. Date 07-04-2008 Print this article | Send to a friend | React to this article