Productive Aging Programs Help Employees Manage Age at the Workplace

In a post by U.S. News & World Report blogger Philip Moeller, Kristin Tugman--senior director of health and productivity at Unum--outlined the five components of a productive aging program. According to Tugman, beyond mentoring, prospective labor-force shortages mean many employers simply cannot afford to let older workers retire or walk out the door. In particular, in manufacturing and physically challenging occupations such as nursing, employers "are recognizing the creep up in terms of their employees' average age" and the "clear impact of continuing repetitive, hard labor."

Productive aging programs include:

1. a rigorous demographic analysis of an employer's aging workforce today and projected into the future;
2. employee wellness programs with specific older-employee components;
3. chronic condition management, perhaps with special emphasis on obesity;
4. flexible work environment; and
5. job enrichment programs, which value older workers and seek to leverage their motivation with respect to their return to work and their staying at work.

Source: U.S. News & World Report "Employers Slowly Enrich Programs for Older Workers" (March18, 2013)