Managing the Mature Workforce

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The Conference Board Brings Breadth of Expertise to Bear on Maturing Workforce Demographic

Building
on more than 25 years of research on older workers in the workplace,
The Conference Board, currently celebrating its 90th anniversary, is
launching an expanded maturing workforce research initiative.

The
effort received generous support from the Atlantic Philanthropies USA,
Inc., in the form of a three-year, $2 million grant to study the
inclusion and engagement of late-career workers in corporations and
not-for-profit organizations.

The Conference Board
will examine the practices and policies of major employers and business
community leaders and related concerns and needs of today’s mature
workforce. The Conference Board plans to share promising practices for
creating and maintaining a workforce inclusive of all generations.

Some 64 million baby boomers active in the U.S. labor force are poised to retire in large numbers by the end of this decade.

"It
is more appropriate than ever to launch this initiative during our 90th
anniversary year because The Conference Board was founded in 1916 by a
group of visionary CEOs who believed that they could both perform
profitably and in the public interest," says Linda Barrington, Research
Director and Labor Economist, and co-director of the grant project team
with Lorrie Foster, Executive Director, Councils and Working Groups at
The Conference Board. "Analyzing the opportunities and challenges that
the aging of the workforce presents to business aligns perfectly with
our continuing mission to help businesses perform better and better
serve society."

The maturing workforce initiative at
The Conference Board is underpinned by strong research capabilities in
Strategic Workforce Planning, Talent Management, and Employee
Engagement. According to Foster, "A unique strength of our research is
that the Research Working Group model keeps it ‘real.’" The Conference
Board Research Working Groups bring together consortia of executives
interested in actionable research on specific business issues. "In
these groups, we have front-line executives serving as research
advisors and resources," adds Foster.

The maturing
workforce initiative at The Conference Board will convene separate
Research Working Groups on mature workforce issues in the private and
not-for-profit sectors. Marketplace opportunities related to the aging
U.S. population will also be addressed in research from the Consumer
Research Center at The Conference Board.

The
Conference Board work will look at mature workers in two distinct
roles-as employees and as potential retirees. It will focus on problems
facing mature workers, the costs and value of mature workers, the
hidden values of their job satisfaction, the impact of rising
healthcare costs on these workers, emerging opportunities from aging
consumer markets, prospects for building a better intergenerational
workplace, and models for retirement. It intends to create new
strategies to help major employers leverage the skills of employees who
are late into their careers. The initiative will also periodically
issue timely briefings and updates.

The Conference
Board initiative team also includes Jeri Sedlar, Senior Advisor to The
Conference Board on Mature Workforce Issues, and author of the
best-selling Don’t Retire, Rewire!, and academic researchers and topic experts who will collaborate with other research organizations working in this field.

The Conference Board took the lead in research on mature workers last year with the publication of Managing the Mature Workforce, a definitive study on how the role of the mature worker is rapidly changing in today’s workplace.

The Conference Board also published a short follow-up report (Age and Opportunity: Plan Strategically to Get the Most Out of a Maturing Workforce)
in April which found that companies benefit by thinking of the issue of
managing a maturing workforce as more than a negative (a problem to be
dealt with). The companies who are succeeding in getting the most of
older workers view the problem strategically as an opportunity for
change within the organization.

The report advises that
even the most basic HR strategy designed to deal with the challenges
posed by a maturing workforce should include three goals: capture
critical knowledge/expertise of retiring workers and transfer it;
develop flexible work arrangements and benefits to suit needs of valued
retirement-eligible employees; and create a culture welcoming to
employees of all generations.

The report also states that
while 90 percent of survey participants in a pulse poll of The
Conference Board Councils for Talent Management and Diversity
executives said managing mature workers was either a very or fairly
important business issue for them, only 55 percent had conducted a
strategic workforce analysis to determine the profile of their employee
populations.

The next report from The Conference Board on these issues will be Strategic Workforce Planning, to be published later this month.

About The Conference Board

More information about The Conference Board.

About Atlantic Philanthropies USA, Inc.

The Atlantic Philanthropies are dedicated to bringing about lasting
changes in the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people through
grant-making. Atlantic focuses on critical social problems related to
aging, disadvantaged children and youth, population health, and
reconciliation and human rights. Programs funded by Atlantic operate in
Australia, Bermuda, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, South
Africa, the United States and Viet Nam. To learn more, please visit atlanticphilanthropies.org.


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