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The number of employees working into their senior years continues to grow for a variety of reasons, with financial need, the failure of private pension plans, and lack of sufficient health benefits being among the most prominent. Older workers typically bring many vital assets to the table, such as solid life experience, better attitudes, work flexibility and an interest in learning new things. However, there are many issues for management to consider when comes to successfully manage an increasingly “graying” workforce. Here are seven of the most common ones:

1. RATIO OF OLDER WORKERS – Compared with the past, their numbers can be expected to grow disproportionately in the years to come. This is not an issue in the US alone – but a pattern being observed globally.

2. LONGER-TERM RETIREMENTS – Today the average number of years that workers spend in retirement is more than 30, compared with just a few years of retirement a century ago. This means that many will choose to remain working part time, while others may take a break to travel and enjoy their free time before beginning their job search again.

3. HEALTH ISSUES – Chronic health problems and age-related disabilities need to be considered. Among employees over 55, arthritis is the number one chronic condition. The implementation of better wellness programs and similar initiatives offers possible ways of avoiding excessive time off for illness.

4. MULTI-GENERATIONS – In the years to come, HR professionals will be increasingly challenged by the need for multi-generational workers to successfully function as a team. Different generations often hold opposing attitudes towards work and life. If not managed properly, these differences could result in ineffective performance in the workplace. The pairing of an experienced, competitive baby-boomer with a lifestyle-centric, laid-back Gen Y employee represents just one of the potential situations. It will take a proactive leader to understand the problems that are likely to arise, and how to preemptively act to avoid them.

5. AGE DISCRIMINATION – With more senior Americans still in the workforce, we can expect to see an increasing number of lawsuits being initiated by disgruntled employees seeking to play the ”age” card. Workers over the age of 40 are protected from discrimination on the basis of age by the provisions of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (which affects employers with 20+ employees). HR will need to be educated on the latest laws and the trends in discrimination-based litigation.

6. SUCCESSION PLANNING – With fewer “young” workers entering the job market due to lower fertility rates in the US and most the industrialized world, succession planning will become more and more difficult. The talent may just not available in every area. Using remote workers from across the country may need to be considered.

7. MEDICAL COSTS – Older employees won’t necessary cost more in healthcare. Although it is a well-known fact that health benefits for older workers are costly due to age-related diseases, younger workers also have a host of cost-related health issues such as smoking, pregnancy, lack of exercise, and obesity. Older workers who qualify may have medicare benefits as well.

Although the change in demographics may change the face of talent acquisition and management, with simple strategies, the change may be a smoother transition for business.

By,

Tricia Folliero

Vice President, Recruitment Division

Tricia on Facebook & Linkedin

As the economy begins to mend itself, we are already beginning to see a slow growth in the formation of new jobs. History shows that for every recession, a rapid period of growth follows shortly thereafter. If you are among the lucky HR professionals to have survived “The Great Recession”, now would be a good time for you to be proactive in rebuilding your recruitment arsenal, since the cease fire on the war over talent will be ending soon. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on who you are) the landscape on which this battle was once fought no longer exists. Your once-trusted weapons of mass dissemination (newspapers, job boards, banner ads, etc.) are the victims of attrition, and the field on which the coming battle will be fought is largely unfamiliar ground. Below are our top 10 ways that you can prepare yourself to fight this ancient war with modern weapons:

1. VIDEO – The expensive days of hiring a professional film crew are over. Purchase your own cheap flash video camera andbegin taking informal videos of company events. Record your employees and encourage them to speak freely regarding those things that set your company apart from other organizations. Upload your videos onto YouTube and have your IT department link or embed the video on your recruitment webpage. This is a sure way to build a grassroots campaign for your recruitment brand.

2. TWITTER – Your organization may already have a corporate Twitter account, but be sure to set up a recruitment channel on this powerful social networking tool. Each department within an organization has different needs, so don’t expect the marketing department to know yours. It takes time to build a good-size following on Twitter, so now is a good time to start preparing your audience for all those positions you are sure to be “tweeting” in the year to come!

3. LINKEDIN – Many battles are going to be won and lost on the web, but if you don’t have a presence on Linkedin– the number one professional site in the world—then you might as well not engage at all. After building your corporate and personal page, join as many “Groups” that pertain to your industry as you can. Like-minded professionals think alike, and when you findsomeone of interest, be sure to send them an “InMail” about a job that you have open. Perhaps they will be interested or, if not, they may be willing to “introduce” you to similarly qualified LinkedIN members.

4. BLOGGING – Start your own blog by signing up at WordPress.com, or ask your marketing department if you can guest-write each month for the corporate blog (I guarantee you they’ll appreciate the offer).You can write about your company culture, your employee recognition program, a spotlight article on your employee of the month, or whatever else you can think of to promote your recruitment brand. The truth is, it makes little difference what you choose to write about, as long as it will be interesting to the millions of people who have access to read it.

5. FACEBOOK – You either love it or hate it, but the fact remains that you can’t ignore it. Do yourself a favor and build your company an active Facebook page and work on increasing your “Friends” and “Fans”. It’s no secret that employee referrals are the best candidates and Facebook is the most effective and least expensive ERP (Employee Referral Program) your company will ever see. Don’t forget to link your Twitter, Blog and LinkedIN accounts with Facebook, as all these recruitment weapons have applications to interlink.

6. WEBSITE – Brand your website career section as an employer of choice. Think about your message… what are you trying to say that will differentiate you among your competitors? Your website should exude this message, and the message should then trickle down to all the social media you are using to broadcast your message…blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Ezine, etc.

7. UPDATED JOB DESCRIPTIONS – Technology is moving faster than the speed of light. Have the foresight to update your job descriptions with the new technology requirements needed for positions that your organization will be looking to fill in the near future. Now is the time to get your job descriptions in order and to start coming up with a strategy for bringing in new talent. Just think how impressed your top brass will be when you hand them a completed job description and strategy before they finish making the request!

8. NICENESS COUNTS – Reinvent how you treat candidates and employees. A recent survey finds that 65% of employees are thinking of jumping ship when the recession is over. Now is the time to create a new, more meaningful “thank you” to candidates whom you turn down. Find ways to foster loyalty by introducing employee recognition programs and focusing more on company pride, morale and appreciation, in order to ensure that you don’t lose the top talent you now have.

9. TECHNOLOGY: MORE TIME FOR YOU – Become acquainted with time-saving technologies that will prove valuable when you are busy with recruiting again. Programs such as “hoot suite”— which allows you to easily schedule your tweets for the upcoming week or month—will enable you to maintain your online initiatives with less effort, and using less of your valuable time.

10. GROUP BUY-IN – Once you understand them yourself, it’s time to train your hiring managers and others in your department on the use of the various social media tools you have put in place as part of the hiring process. Handling social media is a company-wide job, not an HR function. Although your ultimate goal is to make hiring easier and more efficient, other outcomes, such as free PR for the company and increased sales due to better SEO and visibility, are even more important. Keep in mind that the number of people clicking through to websites they searched via social media has surpassed those of people searching through Google. You want to make sure your presence is there!

By,

Tricia Folliero

Vice President, Recruitment Division

Tricia on Facebook & Linkedin