The United States has a problem finding enough people to go to work. In fact, every "Developed Country" has that problem because every country in "The Developed World" is top-heavy on demographics with the US actually being an outlier in the "more balanced" direction.
The period from 1990-to-2015 was marked by corporate "de-risking" of obligations toward their employees. Defined benefits pensions, for example, were eliminated in favor of defined-contribution pensions.
Another trend in the US was legally mandated shortened of the "vesting" period before employees became eligible for health insurance.
Consequently, there was very little "cost" to the employee to job-hopping.
With employee retention numbers in the septic-tank, there is no incentive for employers to "up-skill" (train) employees beyond what is legally mandated (safety, hostile-workplace, etc.) If a firm DOES train an employee, they are likely to see that employee depart the company and work at a competing firm.
Sidebar: One strategy that has been used is to pay the employee's tuition as a LOAN that will be rescinded after some time period...like five years. If they leave before that time elapses then they owe the balance. I don't know how often that strategy is used.
What will it take to get retirees back into the work-force?
From the macro-standpoint, there is a screaming need to make the work-place more attractive to workers over the age of 60.
At a minimum, the defunding of Social Security benefits by $1 for every $2 of earnings over $23k should be eliminated. That is the equivalent of an additional incremental tax-rate of over 50% because it is in addition to Federal and State Income taxes. (NOTE: This defunding is only during the portion you receive SS benefits before your legal retirement age of 66 years and some months.)
Additionally, senior citizens beyond a certain age should be granted a priori status as visually-impaired with respect to night-driving and FMLA accommodations of one-day-a-week freedom to schedule medical treatment/doctor visits.
Second Sidebar: I was in the locker-room in the gym when two other gym-goers started talking about Rufus.
GG1: "Hey, did you hear Rufus (not his name) got fired?"
GG2: "No. What did he do?"
GG1: "He didn't update his compliance spread-sheets for TEN WEEKS."
GG2: "Yeah, I guess they had to fire him. Sucks to be him, though."
The point is that there are tedious details of every job-bundle that most younger employees would be willing to scrape-off onto "seasoned", less aerobic coworkers. Many of those tasks could be performed during daylight hours on a part-time basis.
Intersectionality victim-game
Another factor that has driven many seasoned employees out of the work-market is the virulent, dysfunctional victim-game. Somebody decides you "disrespected them" and they file a grievance with Human Resources. BAM! There is no presumption of innocence. The senior employee is in the barrel.
I can offer a partial solution. Seasoned retirees could be hired as internal-consultants and get paid per-unit-of-production. The younger employees who believe they are disrespected do not need to send work to the internal-consultants. They can do it themselves or they can send the work to a different internal-consultant.
An example would be the compliance spread-sheets and "Visual Management" arts-and-charts. Counting the number of up-dates on compliance sheets can be automated and a per-update fee can be negotiated. The number of graphics that are updated daily can be counted and paid-per-sheet.
Yeah, I get that the updating the arts-and-charts is SUPPOSED to be done by the supervisor or team-leader so they know what is going on. But in my experience the arts-and-charts are updated at the end of the shift and are backwards-looking obituaries and given the fog-of-war, many of the entries are plausible speculation of what MIGHT have happened during the shift.
Getting seasoned employees back to the workplace
Given the tumultuous economic times, more of us will find ourselves forced to go back to work to make ends meet.
Can any of my readers offer tips for employers or suggest "accommodations" that will make positions more attractive to seniors and/or help us be more productive?
ERJ, I am not in this bucket (yet), but it occurs to me making Social Security non-taxable would be a huge start. Currently taxing those benefits as well as any additional earnings is disincentivizing to anyone, let alone people who may or may not need the money.
ReplyDeleteThat is the government side. For the industry side, they could probably do things like flexible hours or alternative benefits that appeal to older folks.
One thing that they will need to address: I suspect most older folks (including myself) have neither the time nor the patience for much of what passes as company mandated trainings that are not health and safety. They might find a way address that as well.
My dad works for a small engineering company - no one retires from it; they just work fewer hours as they age.
ReplyDeleteHe is 79; last year he worked 30 hours the whole year. 3 years ago he worked a month including a trip to Kuwait.
It's a way for people to keep their hand in and a way for the company to retain access to specialized talent they don't need often. I don't know how they handle benefits for these very part time workers.
This is a fairly extreme example, but the idea is a good one IF a workable agreement can be made.
Most federal agencies have a "seasoned worker" program that allows them to hire a retiree full or part time to provide critical skills. I've never seen it used so I don't know how well it works. (which may be a sign in itself!).
As a federal employee doing technical work, I've seen agencies hire people in their late 50's and early 60's, even when they admit they only plan to work to 62 or 65.
Jonathan
You can thank senator pedo joe for any tax on social security.
ReplyDeleteSince I retired I joke that I don't know how I had time to go work for someone else. Seriously though, as some have stated above, taxes are a huge thing. Because I have a pension, the government steals somewhere between 2/3 to 3/4 of my social security, that I worked many hours on both full time and part time jobs to receive that pittance back. And that gets taxed yet again. Give it all back to me, don't take any more out of my paycheck, and give me a serious senior citizen tax break, and MAYBE I'll consider going back to work. Probably not though, because the government ALWAYS lies, cheats, and steals, and I'm comfortable with the way my life is now. I have plenty of work around my little homestead and time for more enjoyable activities when I want.
ReplyDeleteI see SS as a lost cause, said cause being lost when Congress was allowed to start monkeying around with the money. It was always a bit of a pyramid scheme, and now we've arrived demographically at the awkward part of the pyramid.
ReplyDeleteMy second point is this: I think that Human Resources departments have been the single most destructive force in American corporate culture. They are a 'reversion-to-the-mean' type of function, an equalizer to lowest common denominator. And yet, corporate success is defined by excellence. You just can't square the two, and HR departments are always very well represented at the executive level: They hold the controlling levers of advancement within the organization, so..... guess who advances first and best? That's right.
It's a very good example of Jerry Pournelle's iron rule of bureaucracies:
"Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people":
First, there will be those who are devoted to the goals of the organization. Examples are dedicated classroom teachers in an educational bureaucracy, many of the engineers and launch technicians and scientists at NASA, even some agricultural scientists and advisors in the former Soviet Union collective farming administration.
Secondly, there will be those dedicated to the organization itself. Examples are many of the administrators in the education system, many professors of education, many teachers union officials, much of the NASA headquarters staff, etc. (And HR Departments)
The Iron Law states that in every case the second group will gain and keep control of the organization. It will write the rules, and control promotions within the organization."
We always referred to it as the antipersonnel department.
DeleteI retired four years ago. With that, I don't see any way I would go back. The "woke" and progressive's hold on administration and policy make the workplace unrealistic.
ReplyDeleteTaxes, fiscal issues aside the "culture" has been corrupted in many cases and the older worker would not be welcome or allowed to be who they actually are.
I retired when I hit 62, some years ago. I could not stand working any longer, and wanted to be home, working in the garden, stacking wood, canning, being with my husband. We only get so much time, and can’t buy more of it. My time was worth more than a paycheck.
ReplyDeleteI think a tax break for working seniors might help attract or keep employees, and reduced hours, if they want it.
Southern NH
I'm 70. I'm still working. I like what I do. I'm an outlier.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you do, if you don’t mind me asking.
DeleteI totally agree with those above. It isn't worth the hassle and I let all three of my professional licenses go so that I wouldn't have a target on my back for the tax collectors. I'm done being a provider for the looters.---ken
ReplyDeleteConcur with all. I'm 72 and disabled. I left the full time workforce at 64, not by choice. My specialty is odd enough that other than maybe 20 hours of consulting a year is all I get.
ReplyDeleteWant to make employment more attractive to the people whom actually WORK? Get rid of the "Human Resources" department and the useless drones infesting that hellhole, replace it with a Payroll department and see an enormous portion of the bullshit productive employees detest disappear.
ReplyDeleteIt is entirely possible the reason for lack of seasoned workers is deliberate.
ReplyDeleteI feel very strongly about these reasons because I believe I am one, so take what I say with a grain of salt?
The woke problems you mentioned are a big part of it, but that only partly explains it.
Yes, I have no desire to interact with 'that side' for litigious and HR reasons you mention, just about any Big company is not-even-considered. I am also quite fond of watching it all come crashing down around them in flames.
While I will mourn the dead and wish peace to their families, I will gladly short another 200 shares of Boeing when they find out diversity hires installed the door bolts wrong, again.
I have reached the point I WANT it to all come down, so that we can rebuild in the ashes.
I hear their side talk about the vaxx-deniers, their attempts to control my gun rights, etc., etc., etc. Piss on these people, their wokeism, stupidity, beliefs, and the whole lot of it. I actually want to see them suffer and die a cold, cruel death. They deserve it, frankly. When they're mostly gone, I'll come down from the hills, out of the holler, clean up the remaining ones, and maybe, just maybe, my Grandkids will have it better.
The amount of dead bodies on the horizon is staggering.
Pete, I am a tad behind you and wondering if my "seasonedness" is impacting my job search. Someone can look through my current CV and do the math.
ReplyDeleteI retired from a company at 65 during COVID. OLD NFO will laugh but I worked for 4 companies in 20 years and kept the same desk the whole time. I am constantly asked to come back because they did not fill the position but dumped my duties among three other employees. Co-workers were great and most of the customers were not problems. The corporate BS was just too much and if I never go to a pre meeting, meeting and then follow up meeting again in my life I will die a happy man.
ReplyDelete