Making the Workplace a Friendlier Place for all the Generations

According to Graham S. Toft, a senior fellow at Thomas P. Miller and Associates in Indianapolis, many older workers will choose to remain an active part of the work force. "I don't think we fully recognize how big an impact the baby-boom phenomenon will have on continuing to work--not on retirement," he is quoted as saying in an article by Julie Cope Saetre for The Indianapolis Star. "Toft said research is showing a noticeable change in the attitudes of workers 55 and older about working beyond the age of 65."

It's not a deliberate oversight, says Toft. Rather, the labor pool has been relatively plentiful and the concept of an aging work force has developed gradually.

"It's not something that dramatically impacts you in one year," he said. "It's a stealth phenomenon. We kind of accept it as it comes. We recognize in the workplace you can have three generations of workers now working in the same place. And that wasn't so 27 years ago. And it could be even four generations (if) people keep working into their 80s."

In the same article, Saetre also writes about Duke Energy's 4-year-old Senior Leader Program, through which Duke reaches out to its older employees by allowing them to work as independent contractors, or keeping them on the payroll on a part-time basis.

Source: Indianapolis Star "In age of an aging work force, wise employers keep door open" (November 1, 2006)