Download Age Works: What Corporate America Must Do to Survive the Graying of the Workforce eBook

Workers these days are like snow shovels in a South Carolina blizzard - not enough to go around. Some of the causes are simple statistics: economy up, unemployment down, working-age population falling, employers' demand outstripping supply. But others are cultural. Large corporations, the traditional source of jobs, are often perceived as uncaring engines of depletion, exhaustion, and downsizing. The young are choosing options, from lifestyle to stock, while workplace veterans opt for the dignity of early retirement over the desolation of forced termination. Employers' alternatives are stark: expand their supply, increase their appeal, or prepare for shortfalls and belt-tightening. Recruitment, retention, recession - remorse.
Were companies to examine their own assumptions on hiring and firing, they would find a pervasive and self-destructive premise: old is bad. But as Beverly Goldberg argues in _Age Works_, employers - indeed, society as a whole - have built this premise on an ill-considered, ill-defined congeries of prejudices and presuppositions. Believe it or not, Americans age 55 and above take fewer sick days, adapt to new technologies successfully, and are more loyal to their employer than are their colleagues thirty years younger. And perhaps more importantly, they may be the only untapped workforce available. As hidebound organizations throw fortunes at untested youth, others more far-seeing (including Travelers, GTE, and Baxter Health Care) actively recruit, train, and depend upon senior workers. In a shrinking labor market, corporations and their HR departments may find a surprising competitive advantage in coaxing older employees away from the brink of an often sterile and impoverished retirement.
Eager to dismiss this challenge to their standard practices, naysayers and doomsayers will demand proof. Fortunately _Age Works_ reads more like a position paper than a business book, and like any good position paper, it's loaded with facts. Age Works is the ideal volume for anyone itching for a statistical analysis of the American workforce 1950-2050, in all its hues and strata. Arguably Goldberg's love of statistics verges on addiction, but in the pharmacy of authorial dependence, statistics are a pretty benign habit. More distracting, although again less than fatal, is the book's policy-wonk style. Goldberg stands foursquare in the school of tell-`em-what-you're-going-to-tell-`em, tell-`em-, tell-`em-what-you-told-`em, and _Age Works_ sometimes reads like an executive summary that cannot bear to end.
Nonetheless, _Age Works_ is a cogent, serious, undeniably well-supported piece. Even those who resist the proposed solutions (admittedly the book's weakest section) will find the diagnosis difficult to dispute. Like it or not, America's workforce will continue to grow smaller and grayer over the next twenty years. And by the time the population bounces back, corporations' hiring practices will have appealed to all ages - or to none.

We've all heard how the population is getting older. So what? So read Beverly Goldberg's book to find out. Containing well-researhed chapters, the book avoids any tone of panic while it carefully demonstrates some of the stark realities confronting society in the future. In short, companies and managers are going to have to change. They won't be able to shun older workers because of an "ageism" bias (which happens frequently now!) and they won't be able to ignore the needs of older workers (work hours, special training, ergonomics) because they falsely believe "they're expendible."
But the book is more than a primer on old-age workers; it is also a challenge to what we think are the rules for "retirement." Goldberg shows that there is a silver lining to a graying population. She shows both workers and corporations that there are other ways to retire than abandoning the workforce. Read her prescriptions for new flexible work arrangements and you'll even start to re-think your own plans for retiring.
Whether digging into the policy dimensions -- or the personal ones -- Goldberg's book is a shake-up call for anyone getting older or managing people who are getting older. Look in the mirror and you'll quickly note that the book was written for people just like you!

If managers think they have problems attracting and retaining human capital in today's economy, they haven't seen anything yet. Get set for the massive wave of retirements over the next ten (10) years. Beverly Goldberg conveys a compelling picture of why managers need to learn the value of recognizing, retraining, and retaining older workers. Age Works is a wakeup call to those caught up in the wastefulness of our "throw away" society. Older workers are a precious resource that can ill afford to be squandered. Ms. Goldberg demonstrates a better path and presents concrete ways for managers to benefit from the graying of America.

I read the book because of my interest in the aging of the workforce, and it's worth it for the info and practical advice on retaining and managing older workers. An added bonus is her account of the sources of today's disaffection in the workplace for workers of all ages; two decades of mergers, downsizing, outsourcing, firing and rehiring with lower wages and fewer benefits, etc. have turned many workers from career-minded employees who identify with their jobs to disillusioned individuals who feel less and less connected to what they do and who they work for. The book is easy to read and free of jargon.

I found the book particularly valuable because it not only presents the reasons why companies must persuade older workers to remain in the work force but it provides concrete suggestions for alternative work arrangements that will make older workers willing to stay on. Its suggestions for retraining and examples of companies that have retrained older workers successfully are very persuasive and useful.
Thanks, Beverly Goldberg, for highlighting this untapped resource!
Sarah Ritchie Project Manager Social Security Network

I read Age Works with great interest since I have been involved with this problem for 25 years and have recently published a web site exclusively for older workers. It is a free non- profit referral service. Go to seniorjobbank.org

Since the idea of totally retiring is not something that appeals to me, I found the suggestions for building different kinds of flexible work arrangements very thought-provoking. The numbers in the first couple of chapters will help build a compelling case for allowing those who want such arrangements to have them. I also found the stories of those who wanted out fascinating-they are an indictment of companies for the ways they handled downsizing and mergers. It clearly is time for all businesses to rethink their dealings with the people who work for them and to reconsider the value of older workers.