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Older workers' value gains recognition
Dallas --- Hank Mann of Austin, Texas, hasn't thought about retirement. The 63-year-old engineer is too busy diving into murky waters and inspecting locks and dams for Stanley Consultants.
"I'm having too much fun," he said. "As long as I've got the energy, I'm sticking with this."
His bosses are glad he feels that way. Iowa-based Stanley Consultants Inc., which designs buildings, highways and power plants around the world, tries to hold onto older employees as long as it can --- a third of its work force is older than 50.
More companies are beginning to think like Stanley Consultants, which tops AARP's list this year of the 50 best employers for workers over 50.
These employers are devising flexible working arrangements, offering benefits such as long-term care insurance and allowing employees to phase into retirement over several years.
"Guys like Hank have a lifetime of engineering know-how," explained Bob Berg, Stanley Consultants' human resources manager. "We don't want that experience walking out the door."
Lorrie Foster, a research director for the Conference Board, says employers' attitudes spring from corporate self-interest as much as altruism.
"Sixty-four million boomers are poised to retire over the next decade," she explained. "Depending on what they do, there may not be enough younger workers with the right skills to replace them."
Some labor analysts are predicting a shortage of as many as 10 million workers by the end of the decade.
Executives who have recognized the problem work in economic sectors such as health care, retail and utilities, where companies already are having trouble hiring enough workers, he said.
In 2001, when AARP published its first list of the top employers of mature workers, it got 14 entries.
This year, it fielded 145 applications --- a clear sign to AARP senior research adviser Kathi Brown that more companies want to be acknowledged as good places for workers older than 50.
Growing awareness of the aging work force recently prompted IBM Corp. to launch a consulting service to help businesses cope with the expected loss of knowledge and talent as boomers retire.
"Executives may know this is a looming problem, but they don't have a good sense of what may be going on with their own organization," said Eric Lesser, an associate partner with IBM. "We'll help them understand how vulnerable they are to the boomer exodus and how to manage it."
