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Health Care Matters is edited by Karen A. Hart, RN, BSN, and Sandy Haeberle, RN

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e-mail: healthcare@hodes.com

The Aging Workforce: Implications for Recruiters

By Karen A. Hart, RN, BSN
Senior Vice President

Background

In early 2006, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released projections for the period 2004-2014, noting that the number of people in the labor force aged 55 to 64 is expected to increase by more than seven million during the projections decade. Additionally, the number of workers 65 and older is expected to increase nearly seven times as fast as the total labor force. This is due, in part, to workers postponing retirement. Read More >

RecruitingRx

Perhaps you seek relief from exorbitant search or contingency recruiting fees, or simply need to fill certain jobs in a flash. RecruitingRx, a new solution from the Hodes Health Care Division, can solve these issues and many others.
Read More >

 

The Aging Workforce: Implications for Recruiters
(continued)

The most recent national RN survey (National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses, March 2004) released in March 2006, indicates that the estimated average age of the registered nurse is 46.8, more than a year older than the estimated average age of 45.2 from the 2000 survey. Only 26.6 percent of the RN population was under 40; just 16.6 percent was under 30, and the largest group of RNs was aged 45-49.

We have found while working with clients around the country that many allied health professional groups are also experiencing the phenomenon of aging workers. These groups include respiratory therapists and lab technicians. Many recruiters, human resources managers and hospitals and systems are now preparing for an aging workforce and how this trend will impact the workplace.  

A paradigm shift

For many years, the conventional wisdom has been that the labor force will need to replace aging workers as the vast Boomer generation begins to retire. More recently, however, a trend has emerged of those workers extending their careers beyond what has been considered the traditional retirement age.

Several factors contribute to this emerging trend: Americans are healthier than in past decades; many Boomers haven’t saved enough for retirement; numerous pension plans have defaulted, and many people identify so closely with their careers they hesitate to retire in the traditional sense. Additionally, Americans are living longer, with an average lifespan of 80.1 for women and 74.8 for men. The thought of retiring at 66 and living many more years with no set “purpose” is daunting to many.

Older workers approach retirement in a variety of ways. Some feel mentally and physically capable of handling their normal workload and hours, while some opt to shorten their workweek, either by the number of days worked or the number of hours worked each day. Others retire from one career to launch their dream business or accept a position in an entirely different field. Some people, who are financially able, retire and devote 40 hours or more a week to volunteer activities. Still others return to college to expand their knowledge base either in their own fields or in an entirely new industry.

Thus, your organization may be facing two important issues related to an aging workforce: a wave of retirements, and learning to accommodate those who opt to work past traditional retirement age.

Due diligence

Planning for an aging workforce requires conducting some basic research to see where your staff falls along the age continuum. This will include obtaining internal age demographics and cross tabulating that information by department, position classification, unit and shift. After culling this age data, group your workforce into five-year increments. This will indicate where your vital workforce will be in five, 10, 15 and 20 years.

Another piece of invaluable data is when, on average, your workforce retires. These averages may differ by the varied occupational groups within your health care organization. This information can guide you as you make projections.

Prepare for retirements

An excellent tool for revealing retirements among your staff is to offer retirement seminars that explain your organization’s retirement benefits, social security and other government benefits. These sessions may elicit when some of your staff nearing retirement age plan to exit the workforce. They may also prompt employees who haven’t done so already, to compute their retirement income. That number, in turn, may lead some to extend their years in the workforce. 

Using your retirement data and employees’ ages, you can project your organization’s prime retirement years. You may forecast, for example, a retirement of 10 percent among your RN workforce by 2010.

Knowing where the key “pain point” years are will help you to incorporate anticipated losses from retirements into your overall recruitment plan. This process is akin to how you plan for hires based on vacancy rates and normal turnover.

Retain your older workforce

Along with planning for retirements, it is essential to explore ways of retaining those of retirement age that choose to remain in the workforce. What is your organization doing to assist and accommodate those older workers?

We asked recruiters in our most recent National Metrics Survey from 2004 what innovative recruitment and retention practices they had instituted. Some of those measures apply to an aging workforce. Just 12 percent of our respondents indicated they employ lift teams, and 22 percent reported having admitting nurses for busy hours. Twenty-three percent said they offer special programs/perks/education for those on the night shift.

Some areas to address for retaining older workers:

• Flexible shifts options of 4, 6, and 8 hours, as well as job-sharing

• Patient assignments-cluster to avoid extensive walking

• Lift teams and special beds and equipment to curtail injuries and strain

• Keeping supplies and equipment in central locations so staff does not have to walk to other areas to collect

• Review and adapt benefits package to accommodate different needs

• Use older nurses for non-physical work such as patient admissions and discharges

• Move older nurses and other allied health professionals into areas and positions that maximize on their expertise, while being less physically taxing

• Use older staff as mentors and preceptors

These are just a few ideas to help you retain your older workforce. If you have developed some innovative programs, please email us at healthcare@hodes.com so we may share those ideas with our readership.

Conclusion

The older workforce is larger than ever and growing exponentially. These veteran workers are reliable and have a good work ethic. They also possess institutional memory, making them some of your most valuable staff. We know hospitals and other health care organizations are in the beginning stages of planning for the successful retention and nurturing of these employees. Please feel free to contact your Bernard Hodes Group representative should you need assistance in this area, or email us at healthcare@hodes.com. We’ll be glad to help.

RecruitingRx

RecruitingRx places an experienced health care recruiter in your staffing department. That professional can then tackle numerous recruiting tasks for you, from sourcing, screening and interviewing, through conducting background checks and extending offers. With the RecruitingRx solution, we can also: assess your recruiting process and make recommended improvements; affect change implementation; lend technologies support, and conduct metrics benchmarking. 

For more information, please contact Steve Mitchell, vice president, Hodes Health Care Division, at 978.263.6695 or via e-mail at sgmitchell@hodes.com.

Career Encounters: Men in Nursing Documentary

Inspired in part by the Hodes Men in Nursing Survey, Johnson & Johnson and Kaiser Permanente have sponsored a documentary about Men in Nursing to raise awareness in the general population about opportunities for men in this field. Featured interviews include a nurse practitioner at Cleveland Clinic, a nurse anesthetist in California, a military medical/surgical nurse in the DC area and a nurse educator in the South. Karen Hart of our Health Care Division served on their advisory board.

The documentary will be available in the summer and can be ordered for $40 (this includes shipping and handling) at: http://www.davisgrayinc.com/page6/page10/page10.html