Webinar: Meeting the Needs of an Aging Workforce

In 2023, Bain and Company released a report it called “Better With Age: The Rising Importance of Older Workers.” Among the report’s conclusions: 

• “Too few firms recognize the changing needs and priorities of older workers or invest in integrating older workers into their talent system. 
• “Leading companies focus on recruiting, retaining, reskilling, and respecting the strengths of this group of workers. 
• “Creating roles that benefit both older workers and the company is not just the right thing to do, it’s also a business imperative.” 

Why is recognizing and addressing the priorities of older workers an imperative? Because, as Bain’s analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data determined, workers 55 and older will exceed a quarter of the workforce among G7 nations, including the United States, by 2031. 

Older workers typically have different priorities and needs compared to their younger colleagues, as Alera Group will examine and discuss on October 17 during the next event in our Engage series of employee benefits webinars, “Meeting the Needs of an Aging Workforce.” The one-hour session is designed to help business managers and HR professionals attract and retain experienced workers.  

Benefits of supporting older workers 

Increasingly, management experts see the trend toward an older workforce as a net positive, as Fortune reported earlier this year in a piece titled “Silver lining: The U.S. workforce has more employees over 65 than ever before and it could mean great things for the bottom line.” 

“While generations are not monoliths, research suggests older workers are the most loyal employees and tend to stay in their jobs longer,” Forbes wrote. “According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), companies whose proportion of older workers is 10% higher than that of other firms see 4% less turnover compared with companies with a lower proportion. 

“Not only are older workers less likely to leave,” Forbes continued, “their calmer, more relaxed perspective can rub off on younger workers in an intergenerational workplace.”  

And then there’s this, from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health: “10 Advantages of Retaining and Hiring Older Workers: Lessons From NYC Small Businesses.” 

1. Older workers are skilled and experienced. 
2. They stay in jobs longer and take fewer days off. 
3. They have a strong work ethic. 
4. They retain a business’s knowledge and networks 
5. The perceived technology gap can be overcome. 
6. Older workers prove that the best teams are multigenerational. 
7. Older workers play a critical role in training the next generation of workers. 
8. They provide customers with consistency and personal attention. 
9. Older workers attract more business. 
10. Older workers [particularly longtime employees] are part of the business brand. 

You get the point: Older employees are good to have around. 

How to meet older workers’ needs 

As Alera Group demonstrated in our recent Employee Wellbeing Fair — themed “Live for Tomorrow” and featuring topics addressing multiple quality-of-life issues associated with aging — we’ve long recognized the value and needs of older workers. (You and your employees can access all eight recorded sessions of the Employee Wellbeing Fair here.)  

During our October 17 webinar, you’ll learn how to incorporate such features as these into a cost-effective benefits program:  

• Retirement savings and planning;  
• Menopause benefits;  
• Medicare consultation, including determination of eligibility, comparison to employer plan coverage and pretax considerations; 
• Long-term care options and associated benefits; 
• Best practices for communications with a multigenerational workforce.  

Joining me on our panel of Alera Group experts will be; Andrea Davis, Director of Wellbeing; Gretchen Day, VP of Health Innovation; and Blake Tippett, Partner in our Tippett Moorhead & Haden office. 

You’ll come away with a deeper understanding of older employees’ unique needs, the types of support you can provide them and the legal/compliance issues that may arise as their benefits program evolves. 

REGISTER  
 
 

About the author 

Hayes Stevens 
Senior HR Consultant 
Alera Group 

As a longtime customer advocate in insurance and employee benefits, Hayes Stevens measures success by how achieved based on a client’s objectives. His experience with all aspects of human resources, human capital management (HCM) technology, and employee benefits administration enables him to serve as an expert with all levels of an organization, including C-Suite level, key stakeholders and cross-functional teams. 

Contact information: 

• hayes.stevens@aleragroup.com 
• Connect with Hayes on LinkedIn