The Hidden Resource
Employee Management Articles
Submit Articles Back to Articles
Are you attracting the best employees to your workforce? Do you have a well
developed plan to seek out and attract the highest caliber of prospective
employees, and if so, are you overlooking a very large and growing source of
quality recruits? The number of articles appearing in the news in recent years
alluding to the scarcity of qualified workers seems to grow every week.
Companies are spending a significant amount of money trying to attract, hire,
train and retain a quality workforce. They advertise in newspapers, hold job
fairs, hire employment services, saturate the online job banks and canvas the
universities, but are you neglecting a highly qualified and experienced pool of
workers who are right in front of you?
As your business grows, creating new openings, and as older workers retire,
it is getting harder and harder to attract those valued recruits. The
competition is stiff and the temptation to switch employers grows as salaries
and signing bonuses rise. It seems the pool of capable and experienced workers
is shrinking, lengthening the recruitment periods, extending the time it takes
to get a new hire up to speed, and increasing the percentage of employees who
simply can't perform to your expectations. But in fact, there is a qualified
pool of employable workers out there, and they're hiding in plain sight.
BEST KEPT SECRET
I'm talking about those workers out there over 40. They comprise a very large
and highly skilled group of workers who are still capable of contributing in the
workplace for many more years. They come from every field, every size company,
every product line, and they're looking for work. Unfortunately very few
employers have a plan to attract and hire these individuals. No one will admit
it outright, but they actually have a strict tendency to avoid this resource
altogether. You want workers with a strong ethic. You want loyal workers who
will show up every day, on time, and contribute to the health of your
organization. You want knowledgeable workers with a diverse background and a
wealth of experience. You want workers who will hit the floor running and
produce results from day one. Yet, you recruit the younger demographic who more
often than not, are substantially lacking in many of these areas.
THE MYTHS
We all know the reasons: the older sector costs too much, they take too much
time off, won't learn new skills, don't stay on the job that long, take too many
sick days, and they are not that eager to accept change. These reasons, however,
are myths in most cases and with a little planning; an older worker can be a
valuable asset to your organization.
Most of these older workers have a long and well documented track record. It
is a simple task to determine how well they have performed, if they have kept up
to date with the latest technology, how they have contributed to the success of
their previous employer, what their attendance record is, and what level of
loyalty they possess. Yet we dismiss this evidence without much thought, compete
aggressively for the younger worker, and grouse if they turn out to be less than
what was expected.
Those older workers whom we believe can't or won't learn new skills know
exactly what you think of them. They came to the realization a long time ago
that in today's competitive market, the need to keep up to date is paramount.
Remember, they've been around a while, they've seen the days of working for the
same employer until retirement go by the wayside, and they've seen their years
of loyalty and hard work rewarded with forced retirements and meager raises.
They've seen their picture of retirement fade into obscurity as today's economy
forces them to work farther into their "golden" years and they've accepted the
fact that to make it to that ever moving finish line they will need to remain
competitive in their field.
As for not staying on the job that long, statistics actually show that older
workers remain on the job nearly twice as long as younger ones. The younger
worker knows all too well that employers are competing fiercely for their
skills. They too have come to realize that the day will come when they will be
squeezed out of the workforce and have taken the attitude that loyalty is no
guarantee for the future and, therefore, are always on the lookout for that
"better" opportunity. All workers have become aware that they have much more
leverage if they leave on their own, rather than waiting until they have been
released, for whatever reason, and as a result today's culture views job hopping
as a perfectly acceptable means to furthering one's career. So by hiring, or
better yet, retaining that older worker you have effectively secured a loyal
employee who knows it's tough to find another good job at this point in life and
is much more willing to do what it takes to stay on.
Attendance records are better for older workers than younger ones. Older
workers have seen what poor attendance does to your chances for advancement.
Time tends to make us creatures of habit, but one habit worth keeping is that of
getting up in the morning and going to work. Older workers have been doing it
for years and tend to do it without forethought.
Probably the most common barrier to hiring the older worker is the mindset
that older workers are too rigid in their ways and aren't willing or capable of
adapting. The older worker has been on the job for long time and as a result has
seen many new approaches come and go, they've seen them succeed and they've seen
them fail. Because they've seen many of these failures they often will be more
likely to question the validity of change, but don't forget, they've seen what
works as well. They are not rigid because they reject change outright, but are
merely skeptical of the reasoning involved. They can accept change as readily as
younger workers, provided the grounds for change are valid and explained. The
irony is that we want our staff to use good judgment and to continually look for
possible pitfalls and strive to prevent them from occurring, yet when they
question our rationale, we label them rigid or unwilling to change. By keeping
older workers involved and informed, as we should do with all our employees,
they will not only be more flexible, but can be willing agents of change.
It is true that more vacation time, pensions, and health care in some
instances is more costly for older workers, but these costs are often offset by
the lower turnover among this class. Conversely, the higher turnover of younger
workers is realized in significant costs to recruit, hire and train them.
TAP INTO THAT RESOURCE
When hiring a younger worker you anticipate the negative possibilities that
can arise if you don't train, mentor, and manage them properly. In an effort to
minimize this risk we have many programs in place to grow these workers into
experienced reliable team players. Why shouldn't we afford our aging workers the
same attention? Instead of looking for reasons to replace them, we should be
finding ways to hire and keep them. If hiring on an older worker still seems too
risky, take advantage of those low risk or nonbinding hiring options. By using
an employment agency you can easily "try out" prospective employees. These
agencies will do all the leg work for you from background and reference checks
to interviewing and salary negotiations. If you are not satisfied, you are not
obligated to keep them on, simply have the agency find you another and try that
recruit for a while. This option not only gives you an out, but removes the
direct burden of vacation, healthcare, pension and other benefit costs.
Another great option is the myriad of independent consulting firms in your
area. A large percentage of these companies can provide tailor made support and
services at reasonable costs. Again, like the employment agencies, these
contracted services are a write off, allow you to discontinue the services if
you are not satisfied and remove the training and benefit costs associated with
direct hires.
There is a wealth of knowledge at our doorstep, a vast resource of
experienced and capable employees who can hit the ground running and positively
impact your bottom line. You should be developing plans to attract and retain
these workers, and not just because there are profits to be made, but because it
is the right thing to do.
© 2007 James J. Cavalluzzi
About the Author
Mr. Cavalluzzi is the founder and owner of CONSOLUTE, LLC. His extensive
background in engineering dates back to 1978. He gas worked in the metals,
plastics, aeronautics, design and manufacturing fields.
In 2006 he formed Consolute, LLC to apply his skills in operations,
management, design, manufacturing, testing, cost savings, and site procurement
and development.
President - Consolute, LLC
Big Bend, Wisconsin
email: jim.cavalluzzi@consoluteonline.com
Follow us @Scopulus_News
Article Published/Sorted/Amended on Scopulus 2009-07-28 13:44:16 in Employee Articles
