Mather LifeWays Begins New Aging in the Workplace Project

By Richard Shank

Overview

Mather LifeWays recently finished pilot testing its new Aging in the Workplace Survey. The survey is designed to provide employers with strategic aging-related workforce management information. With a large percentage of the 78 million Baby Boomers planning to remain in the workforce past traditional retirement age, organizations in the nonprofit, private, and public sectors will need tools and resources to make the best use of their knowledge and skills in order to increase organizational effectiveness and business performance.

360 Survey

The survey covers three primary focus areas related to aging and the workplace in addition to measuring job satisfaction of the workforce:

Retirement: Examining employees’ knowledge of retirement policies, retirement plans, and their willingness to work beyond the typical retirement age.
Intergenerational Communication: Assessing the intergenerational workforce dynamics by measuring the level of conflict and cooperation that exists between workers of different ages.
The Impact of Caregiving on Work: Providing employers with an estimate of the prevalence of unpaid caregiving performed by their employees and its impact on the workplace.

In the coming decades, many professions and employers are facing potential labor shortages with the population aging. Employers will be better positioned to manage this workforce transition if they are able to assess the retirement planning activities of their workforce. This survey is designed to provide that information directly to them.

Furthermore, this demographic change has brought four generations of workers into the workplace simultaneously. The ability of these generations to communicate effectively and form functional workgroups will be important to the overall success of the employer. With such a wide span of age groups now working side-by-side, the concept of teamwork needs to be reconceptualized alongside a comprehensive understanding of intergenerational communication.

Finally, the prevalence of caregiving for older parents and other relatives is expected to increase concomitant with the population aging. This increase will compound the conflicts that already exist between other forms of caregiving and work (e.g., child care). As employees age, they face the increasing prospects of caring for their aging parents, and many will become active and involved grandparents. Both of these types of caregiving, if unsupported by employers, are known to increase absenteeism and decrease worker productivity.

A recent MetLife study has estimated that U.S. businesses will lose from $11.4 to $29 billion a year because of employee caregiving. With this in mind, it is important for employers to better understand the caregiving issues among their workforce. They will be better situated to provide the type of support employees need to manage the inevitable conflicts between caregiving and employment, and thus, be better able to reduce caregiving-related costs.

Results of the Pilot Test

A number of interesting findings were noted during the pilot testing phase across all three focus areas of the survey. The most significant findings were:

Cooperative and meaningful intergenerational communication is very important in determining the level of job satisfaction experienced by employees. Previous research indicates that teamwork is an important driver of job satisfaction, even when working conditions and pay levels are rated negatively. Our analysis suggests that intergenerational communication be given careful attention whenever teamwork issues arise in the workplace.
A growing talent pool of potential recruits will exist among retirees. The pilot test demonstrated that workers are planning on working post-retirement in at least a part-time capacity. Many employees suggested they would like to take on a consulting role that utilized the expertise they had accumulated during their careers.
A significant proportion of employees of all ages are heavily involved in caregiving, including caring for older adults. About one-third of all employees were currently engaged in a caregiving relationship with an adult over the age of 18. The rates were similar across all age groups, though the proportion of caregivers over the age of 45 was slightly higher than for younger coworkers.
Those involved in caregiving reported an elevated level of burden and stress related to their caregiving, and were likely to experience absenteeism and other workplace or career disruptions (e.g. reduced working hours, change in work status) directly related to caregiving activities. Furthermore, they reported disruptive conflicts between their roles as employee and caregiver.

As we further test this survey in additional organizations throughout 2008, we plan to offer the survey, comprehensive report, toolkit materials, and other aging-related resources at a competitive fee to other organizations beginning in 2009. If you would like information about the Aging in the Workplace Survey, contact Dawn Lehman at dlehman@matherlifeways.com.

Like the new format? Tell us what you think: askaia@matherlifeways.com