Over the coming decades “Mature Workers” (defined as age 50+) will be one of the largest sources of talent available. Given this reality and the invaluable nature of older workers’ experience and skills, organizations must develop both acquisition and retention strategies to employ the mature workforce and stay competitive. That’s where SHRM, the SHRM Foundation, and AARP come in.
About 10,000 of the 77 million U.S. Baby Boomers have been turning 65 every day since 2011, and large numbers of them have already retired, taking with them their insider knowledge and skills. Since 2010, the SHRM-AARP Partnership has sought to increase awareness of issues facing older workers and to provide strategies and resources to address those issues. The bottom line is that older workers have unique skills and traits that are crucial for the U.S. economy to compete globally. HR and other leaders must develop strategies to retain and engage Baby Boomers while also transferring their knowledge to younger employees, leveraging their skills after they retire, and recruiting older talent when necessary from outside.
SHRM and the SHRM Foundation have been pursuing this goal as part of their “Aging Workforce Initiative”, funded by a $900,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. They have developed a suite of resources, research and practical tools to provide effective practice applications to help HR professionals understand and solve Aging Workforce issues. To access these tools and learn more about the joint research studies, check out the SHRM Foundation’s website.
To learn more, I invite all of you to join us during the June 5th (2pm ET) SHRM-AARP webinar, “Building an Age Diverse Workforce: SHRM and AARP Insights.” I will be joined by Tony Lee, SHRM’s Vice President of Editorial, and Jean Setzfand, AARP’s Senior Vice President of Programs. In this free one-hour webinar we will discuss best practices for attracting, hiring and retaining workers age 50+ to develop an age-diverse workforce at your organization. Register now for this Age Diverse Workforce webinar.
Viewing this entire presentation, either as a live event or archived, counts for one SHRM Professional Development Credit (PDC) for recertifying the SHRM-CPSM and SHRM-SCPSM credentials. This presentation has also been pre-approved for one credit hour toward PHR/SPHR/GPHR General recertification.
Beth McFarland, Acting Executive Director, SHRM Foundation