Collaborative Health and Safety Solutions for Employers To Keep Older Workers on the Job

Following research finding that Americans are now staying on the clock 10 to 15 years post retirement and that musculoskeletal impairments are at the top of major impairments that aging workers experience, Kenneth Mitchell, PhD, vice president of the return-to-work programs for UnumProvident Corp., has comprised collaborative solutions that can be applied within industries that recognize workers who are older than 50 as a critical part of their current and future workforce. As reported by Jessica LaGrossa for Advance, these steps will help employers maintain employees and their productivity:

1. Identify and reduce risk factors within the older work force: the cost of poor health and aging is influenced through timely risk management.
2. Develop and apply corporate policies that invite and reward worksite flexibility and accessibility.
3. Reward employees for accepting responsibility for personal well-being and protecting work capacity.
4. Provide incentives for continued productivity by supporting services to reduce the impact of complex family barriers to staying productive.
5. Apply corporate resources to measure the impact of productive aging programs and the subsequent return on investment.
6. Offer programs within the organization that promote generational equity in protecting productivity. Reduced productivity is not an older-worker issue, but an all-worker issue.

Source: Advance "The New Workforce: Effective strategies can keep older employees happier, healthier and more productive" (March 24, 2008)