Flexibile Work Schedules Urged on Employers by Older Workers

Despite The conventional wisdom that working moms l lead the push to make employers more flexible, Cindy Krischer Goodman, writing for the Mcclatchy Newspapers, reports that studies are showing it is another demographic altogether--older workers--that is getting companies to create job shares, pairing older workers with young moms, restructure jobs, and adapt pension policies to allow older workers to stay on part time or as consultants.

For example, Goodman reports that Miami's Baptist Health South Florida is responding to a nursing shortage by sending out about invitations to retired nurses to return to their former jobs, even in a scaled-back capacity. Even where there are no shortages, such as for lawyers, law firms are encouraging older lawyers to remain as of counsel--a flexible arrangement that allows them to work on a few cases from home or the office, since, as one firm says, "there is a shortage of people who are experienced and have a depth of knowledge in a specialized area."

Source: The Boston Globe "Old pros are leading the charge for flexible schedules" (July 30, 2006)