Older Workers and Retirees as Volunteers: An Untapped Resource

Older Workers and Retirees
as Volunteers:
An Untapped Resource
Bürgerengagement
von Senioren
June 25, 2010

Cologne, Germany

Celina Pagani-Tousignant

President, Normisur International

Faculty, College Center for Corporate Citizenship,

Center for Corporate Citizenship Deutschland

Tecnológico de Monterrey

Normisur International 2010

Agenda

•  Time of Transformation

•  Aging Process

•  Retirement Plans

•  Employment Patterns

•  Corporate Volunteer Programs

•  Best Practices: How to Engage Retirees


Older Workers

Time of Transformation


What Name?

Baby Boomers
Older Workers
Adult
Experienced Workers Workers

Older Citizens
Veterans

Senior Workers
Traditionals

Older Adults
Mature Workers


How Old?

•  45 and older

•  50 and older

•  55+

•  People in their 60s. 70s. 80s, and 90s

•  65 and over


Changes in Society

Percentage of population in U.S. ages 50 and
older:

13% in 1900

27% in 2000

Over 35% in 2020

Source: Sloan Center on Aging Work, “How Old Are Today’s Older Workers?”,
2005


Labor Force Changes
•  Past

•  Present

Percentage of older workers had Had most signiﬁcant increases in
little impact on the age participation over a 30 year
composition of labor force

period

U.S. older workers (45 and older)
Labor force exit was predictable comprise 37% of labor force

between ages (62-65)

Half of working adults ages 50-64
may delay retirement

16% may never stop working

Source: Sloan Center on Aging Work,
“Older Workers’ Preferences for Work
and Employment”, 2009


Dramatic Changes

•  Older Workers:

•  Aging process

•  Retirement plans

•  Employment patterns


Older Workers

Aging Process


Aging Process
•  Past

•  Present

Fear of growing old

Added years longevity and health

Negative perceptions

Well-being and vitality

Old age=role less

Older workers want to keep
Checked out

learning, working, volunteering
Time disengagement

and contributing to society

Want to live life to fullest

Nursing home

Employment is compatible with
Depression and anxiety

retired living

Source: Sloan Center on Aging Work, “Engaged as
We age”, 2010


Models of Aging: From
Disengagement to Engagement
Produc:ve
Aging

1950
1960
2000
2010

1990
2005

Meaningful
Aging

Disengagement

Successful Aging

Theory

Source:
Sloan
Center
on
Aging

Work,

“Engaged
as
We
age”,
2010
Engaged as
We Age

Successful Aging

Avoiding Disease
Disability

Successful
Aging
Engagement
High Cognitive
with Life Physical Function

Source: Rowen and Kahn


Other Models of Aging
•  Productive Aging

•  Meaningful Aging

•  Elaborates on •  Model that endows later
“Engagement with life”

life with dignity and value
•  “Activities that produce in spite of illness and
goods and services, frailty

whether paid or not”

•  Focuses on: work,
volunteering and care-
giving

“Engaged as We age”, 2010


Beyond Involvement to
Engagement:

Volunteer

Activities

Educational

Activities Engaged as

Care-giving

We Age

Activities

Paid

Employment

•  Source: Sloan Center on Aging Work: “Engaged as We Age”, 2010


Older Workers

Retirement Plans


Retirement
•  Past

•  Present

Retirement=subsidized vacation

Gradual process

Event

Shift gears by reducing work
To be or not to be in the labor hours, changing jobs to new
workforce

lines of work, leaving a career
job, remaining on the career
job, working part-time, phased
retirement, going back to
school, consulting, volunteering
or having a bridge job

Stop working altogether

Source: Sloan Center on Aging Work, “Down Shifting: The
Role of Bridge Jobs After Career Employment”, 2007


Older Workers

Employment Patterns


Are Employers Getting Ready for
the Demographic Changes?
•  AARP (American Association of Retired Persons): “Best Employers
for Workers Over 50” in 2001

•  45% HR professionals: their workplaces are just becoming aware of
these changes

•  SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) reports 43%
members see a problem with loss of talent associated with the
retirement of baby boomers

•  Source: Sloan Center on Aging Work, “Businesses: How Are they Preparing for the Aging
Workforce?”, 2005


Why should companies care?

Human Capital
Diversity
Multigenerational teams
Knowledge transfer
Aging workforce


New Ways of Working

•  Global workforce

•  Competition

•  Operations 24/7

•  High technology

•  Pressure for innovation

•  Four generations at the workplace

•  Source: Sloan Center for Aging Work


Four Generations at the Workplace

•  Veterans 1922-1943 (52 million)

•  Baby Boomers 1943-1960 (73.2 million)

•  Generation X 1960-1980 (70.1 million)

•  Generation Y 1980-2000 (69.7 million)

•  Source: Generations at Work, Zemke, Raines Filipczak


Business Case: Older Workers

Higher performance
Low turnover and productivity More
rates reliable
Stronger
Higher work ethic
customer
satisfaction Serve as mentors
rates Invaluable
experience
Reputation Willing to work
different schedules

Quality of Employment


Source: Sloan Center for Aging Work, “Employers of Choice in Countries of Choice”, 2007

What is His Story?

Married?

Are his kids in college?
Middle School?
New baby?

How is his health?

What is he looking for
from his job?


Age Matters

•  Chronological

•  Generation
•  Career Stage
•  Life Stage

• Source: Sloan Center on Aging Work, “Age and
Generations Study”, 2009 Normisur International 2010

Quality of Employment by Age/
Generational Groups

Succesful Aging


• Source: Sloan Center bon Aging Work, “Age and Generations Study”, 2009

Drivers of Employee
Engagement
Characteristics Employees Bring to Work

Workplace Characteristics

Age (being older)

Number of hours worked (more hours)

Gender (being female)

Satisfaction with training development

Elder care status (not having elder acre Assessment of culture of ﬂexibility

responsibilities)

Perception of supervisor support

Household income

Perceptions of inclusion

Mental health (better)

Perceptions of job security

Physical health (better)

Core self-evaluation (having a better perception
of self)

Source: Sloan Center on Aging Work, “Engaging the
21st Century Multi-Generational Workforce”,
2009


Drivers of Employee Engagement:
Older Baby Boomers
Characteristics Employees Bring to Workplace Characteristics

Work

Mental health (better)

Number of hours worked (more hours)

Core self-evaluation (having a better Perception of supervisor support

perception of self)

“Engaging the 21st Century Multi-
Generational Workforce”, 2009


Older Workers

Corporate Volunteer Programs


Trends in Volunteerism
Among Older Adults
•  According to 2009 surveys by Hartford and AARP,

•  50% of older adults over age 50 volunteer/over 40% of older adults expect to
increase the amount of time spend in volunteer work in the next 5 years

•  Older adults (55 to 64 years of age) like to provide managerial and professional
assistance when they volunteer

•  Collecting food and/or providing ofﬁce services are volunteer activities preferred
by older adults age 65 and over

•  Source: Sloan Center on Aging Work, “Trends in Volunteerism Among Older Adults”, 2010


Challenges

•  Insufﬁcient connections between older adults and
potential volunteer opportunities

•  Outdated volunteer models and opportunities

•  Transportation

•  Cost barriers

•  Source: NGA Center for best Practices, “Increasing Volunteerism Among Older Adults:
Beneﬁts and Strategies for States”, Issue Brief, 2008


Timely Study: 2005
•  Ranks of retired worker population will grow in the next
decades

•  Retirement is being redeﬁned as a transition between paid
work and retirement (bridge jobs, phase retirement and
post-retirement entry to the workforce)

•  Corporate volunteer programs represent a way through
which older workers, retirees and/or alumni can remain
engaged and make signiﬁcant contributions

•  Source: Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship (BCCCC), “Expanding the
Boundaries of Corporate Volunteerism: Retirees as a Valuable Resource”, 2005



•  Lack of connection between
employee volunteer programs and
the changing nature of retirement
in the U.S.



Core Findings
•  47% of the 22 companies in the study include retirees in
their volunteer efforts

•  44% of 17 companies with Dollars for Doers make it
possible for retirees to participate (donations from $300 to
$1,000 per retiree)

•  Only a few strategically target retirees (half of managers
reported low level interest in retiree volunteerism/few
leaders view retirees as an untapped asset)



Core Findings (continued)
•  Shorter-term projects

•  Integrate employees and retirees “intergenerational
exchange”

•  Need to publicize volunteer opportunities

•  Important to develop volunteer DNA before retirement

•  Business case for including retirees



Implications for Companies
•  A multigenerational workforce can provide a competitive
edge in the marketplace

•  Companies that value older workers and offer them
ﬂexible arrangements will possess an advantage in
recruiting and retaining older workers

•  One way of showing that value is through corporate
volunteer programs that support older workers and
retirees’ desire to stay engaged as they age



Best Practices

That Engage Retirees


Best Practices

State Street Verizon Cargill
Corporation Cargill

Johnson Johnson

Xcel IBM
Energy

Boeing Source: Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship
(BCCCC), “Expanding the Boundaries of Corporate
Volunteerism: Retirees as a Valuable Resource”, 2005


Thank You!

Celina Pagani-Tousignant

celina@normisur.com


Older Workers and Retirees as Volunteers: An Untapped Resource

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