Module 9: Overview—Careers and Aging Workers

1. Workforce Planning: Aging and EmploymentModule 9: Careers, Knowledge Transfer and Workplace FlexibilityBarbara McIntosh, Ph.D., SPHR • 2014 The development of this content was made possible through the support from a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

2. Module 9: Overview—Careers and Aging Workers • Managing organization commitment and career engagement. • Knowledge transfer. • Retention and transitions. • Recapturing retirees in the future. • Managing hours of work.

3. Career Engagement and Aging Career: A sequence of positions, jobs or occupations that one person engages in during his or her working life. Career engagement: Defined within the context of a single internal labor market (one organization). Traditional career model: Upward mobility and leveling off at some point before exit (retirement). (Some older models showed decline before retirement.) Career transitions:Exploring and moving into new careers after age 40.

4. Organization Commitment by Age

5. Research Questions Are there significant differences in the importance of different job characteristics as predictors of career engagement? Do these predictors change for different age cohorts? The answers to these questions suggest what managers can do to increase organizational commitment.

6. Research Evidence on Career Engagement McIntosh, B., Reinier, K., Palumbo, M., & Rambur, B. (November 2003). Job characteristics as predictors of career engagement in older nurses. Washington, DC: Gerontological Society of America. Methodology: • Mailed survey to 3,000 registered nurses in Vermont in 2002 (n = 7,028). • 1,574 of 2,778 surveys were returned for a response rate of 56.7%.

7. Dependent Measure: Career Engagement A career engagement measure (Cronbach’s alpha = .82) was created from the following: How satisfied are you with: • Promotion opportunities in my organization. • The support for continuing education in my organization. • The attention paid to career development.

8. Measures: Independent Variables Age. Education. Years in current position. Full-time or part-time employment. Plans to leave job in less than five years. No plans about staying in current position. Job involvement. Job characteristics.

9. Results: Determinants of Career Engagement—Age Cohort Analyses < 40 years of age Educ. level -.18** Yrs. position -.15* Leave < 5 -.17* Feedback job .16* Feedback from others .24** Adj R² = .16 n = 218 40-55 years of age Autonomy .22*** Feedback from others .31*** Dealing w/others .15*** Adj. R² = .28 n = 614 55+ years of age/NOT retiring Patient care -.21* Leave < 5 -.18* Job involve .18* Feedback from others .27** Adj. R² = .27 n = 116 55+ years of age PT/FT -.13* Patient care -.11* Leave < 5 -.16* No plans -.13* Job involve .17** Autonomy .17** Feedback from others .22** Adj. R² = .27 n = 288

10. Discussion • Managerial implications. • Older nurses in this study had higher levels of career engagement than younger nurses. • Feedback from others is critical to all ages. • Autonomy is significant after age 40. • Working with others is significant for those between the ages of 40 and 55. • Feedback and job options are critical for older nurses. • These results could be generalized to other professions, but there should be additional testing. • Data do not show how we change as we age (cross-sectional data limitation).

11. Retention and Career Transitions Capitalizing on older workers’ job satisfaction. Value added for the organization. Definitions: career, development and career transitions. Managing careers and employee development. Capturing explicit and implicit knowledge (knowledge transfer). Individual career stages. Career choices and preferences. Retention tools.

12. Capitalize on Job Satisfaction

13. Value Added Through Attention to Careers and Development Needed talent will be available. The organization’s ability to attract and retain talented employees will improve. Minorities and women will have comparable opportunities for growth and development. Employee frustration will decrease. Cultural diversity will be enhanced. Organizational goodwill will increase.

14. Definitions Career: Patterns of work-related experiences over one’s lifetime. Advancement in a job. Advancement in a profession. Stability in work over time. Development: Long-run (intermediate) general training for possible future positions. Career development: Long-term success of people in the organization. Career transitions: Exploring and moving into new careers after age 40.

15. Managing Careers: Employee Development • Performance is the prerequisite. (Accountability and recognition, the exchange). • Shared responsibility: • Identify aspirations—career goals. • Target experiences, time frame, pay-offs. • Think outside the box for older workers. • Development of educational/retooling sabbaticals. • New roles in the organization (knowledge transfer). • Reverse mentoring. • Interorganizational exchanges.

16. Individual Career Stages: Career Choices and Preferences Stages: Exploration. Establishment. Mid-career. Late career. Choices and preferences: How do these change as we age?

17. Late Stage: Employer Concerns • According to a 2011 AARP survey of more than 1,000 HR directors, 24% of employers said they were very concerned and 39% were somewhat concerned about losing knowledge and critical experience as older workers retire. • In 2010, the National Science Board estimated that one-fourth of the U.S. engineering and science workforces were ages 50 or older and beginning to retire. • Many utility experts project that during the next five to 10 years, many utilities will lose critical workers. Half of their current workforces are expected to retire across all job classifications (EUCI, 2014). • Half of the U.S. oil industry is eligible to retire in five years.

18. Knowledge Transfer Concerns

19. Knowledge Transfer Plans

20. New Roles: Knowledge Transfer Types of knowledge: Explicit. Implicit (rule-based and know-how). Tacit (know-how). Deep tacit. Transfer tools: Interviews. Documentation. Training. Storytelling. Mentoring/coaching. After-action reviews. Communities of practice. Source: DeLong, D. (2004). Lost knowledge. New York, NY: Oxford Press.

21. Knowledge Transfer and Cohort Considerations

22. Mentoring: Multipurpose Tool • Mentoring is a mechanism for knowledge retention. • Mentoring provides older workers with a new role. • Reverse mentoring offers challenge and development. According to a 2009 study comparing Generation Y and Boomer employees, 66% of Generation Y men look to Boomers for professional advice over other generations, and 60% look to them for advice on how to deal with colleagues and operate in the workplace. More than half of Generation Y women look to Boomers for advice in these spheres. Nearly 60% of Generation Y reported having a mentor, and 42% of that group’s mentors were Boomers (Hewlett et al., 2009).

23. Retention Tools Tap into changing development and career preferences; transitions. • Movement within the organization. • Sabbatical—re-tool. • Secondment—increased opportunity for community service (corporate social responsibility, or CSR). Offer flexibility. • Hours. • Location. • Responsibilities.

24. Recruitment and Retention Strategies Aimed at Older Workers

25. Flexibility is Key: Hours and Location • Surveys consistently find that older workers plan to work past the traditional retirement ages of 62-65 but not on a full-time or year-round basis (see slide 27). • In 2012, 72% planned to work in retirement. • 29% planned to work part time for interest or enjoyment. • 23% planned to work part time for the income. • The shift over time has been toward earning more income (see next slide).

26. Still Planning to Work

27. Continuing Shift to Part-time Work for Older Workers

28. Flexibility Options • Hours. • Number. • Scheduling. • Flexible location. • Sporadic employment after retirement. • Time away. • Contract, temporary and seasonal work. • Reduced hours in a different industry or occupation (bridge employment).

29. Flexibility: Same Occupation and Industry • Flexible hours. • Part-time employment—35 hours or less. • Job-sharing. • Part-year employment. • Phased retirement—gradual reduction of hours and responsibilities. • Flexible schedules. • Alternative workweek arrangements—compressed workweeks. • Flextime—adjustable start and end times; split shifts.

30. Flexibility Options • Flexible locations. • Telecommuting—home office, satellite or neighborhood office, hoteling. • Job relocation—snowbird programs where employees can work in a warmer climate for part of the year. • Sporadic employment after retirement. • Time away. • Contract, temporary and seasonal work. • Reduced hours in a different industry or occupation (bridge employment).

31. Flexibility: Phased Retirement Programs Allows older workers to reduce or modify work as they approach retirement. Enables workers who are eligible for retirement to collect some portion of their pensions while continuing to work. Permits rehiring of organization’s retirees. Gives retirees the option of working for others or starting their own businesses.

32. Leading-Edge Solutions: MetLife Recommendations 2007 Create and leverage a network of former employees. Rehire retirees indirectly on a per-project basis when pension restrictions prevent direct re-employment. Hire retirees with special expertise to work on critical projects.

33. Leading-Edge Solutions: MetLife Recommendations (continued) Tap into the expanding pool of older people seeking employment. Treat phased retirement and flexible work options as a managed program, not just as a vaguely defined policy. Create effective knowledge-sharing relationships between older mentors and younger workers.

34. Leading-Edge Solutions: MetLife Recommendations (continued) To encourage some employees to remain in the workforce past the age of 65, sponsor benefits and retirement planning workshops that focus on the economic consequences of leaving the workforce. Make knowledge transfer an explicit part of any job when rehiring a retiree.

35. Supplemental Slides The individual perspective. • Personal strategies. • Reshaping work; alternatives. • Negotiating change. • Negotiating; process issues. • Understanding your employer’s response.

36. Transitions:What Am I Going to Do With the Rest of My Life? • Emerging perspectives on the last third of life and productive activity. • Freedman, M. (2007) Encore: Finding work that matters in the second half of life. New York, NY: PublicAffairs. • Also see Civic Ventures and AARP Experience Corps. Lessons and networking • Grassroots nonprofit organizations: • The Transition Network (www.thetransitionnetwork.org). • Women Venture (www.womenventure.org).

37. Individual Perspective: Enhancing Your Career Know yourself. Manage your reputation. Build and maintain network contacts. Keep current. Balance your specialist and generalist competencies. Document your achievements. Keep your options open.

38. Reshaping Work: AlternativesWhat Are Your Goals? Flexibility Part-time employment. Part-year employment. Phased retirement. Job change Promotion: management responsibilities. Lateral move: it is time to do something different. Consultant: contract relationship.

39. Stay in current job but . . . Drop some content components; add others (job enrichment versus job enlargement). Add creativity piece. Add a mentoring role for yourself. Reshaping Work: AlternativesWhat Are Your Goals? (continued)

40. Negotiating Change It’s all in how you ask. Personal style. Gently refuse to accept no. Do you need me to collect more information? Can we revisit this in six months? Let’s keep thinking about this and try to make it work for both of us. Remember, you are a valuable, experienced resource!

41. Negotiating with Management:Process Issues Present your case and yourself. Send a brief note or executive summary ahead, so the manager is prepared. The most important negotiating skill is listening. When negotiating, pay attention to: Other side’s spoken communication: responsive or passive aggressive or negative? Other side’s physical communication: body language, eye contact. Your physical communication. Your reaction to their offers, suggestions or refusals.

42. Negotiating Internal Change:Intrapreneur Challenges Getting acceptance for ideas in a larger bureaucracy is difficult. Smaller organizations may not have resources (money, time, flexibility, expertise) to support change. Moving ideas from conception to reality takes time (and emotional energy). Frustration is common in trying to make change. Instability and constant restructuring in many industries (workforce issues will be around for a while). Adaptation versus innovation (buy-in and ownership).

43. The Employer’s Response Understand and respect your employer’s perspective. It has never been done before (habit; practice creates a comfort zone). “If I let you do this, everyone will want to do it” So . . . What are the cost implications? Place your request in a win-win position. Be open to development and other options. DON’T GIVE UP! YOU ARE VALUABLE!

44. Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life. Confucius