With aging workforce, is health care ready?
April 1, 2007 6 minutes read
With aging workforce, is health care ready?
'Double whammy' of retiring nurses, shortage
All employers are witnessing the "graying" of their workforces, as the median age of American workers continues to creep up. Health care as an industry appears to be facing the effects of the aging labor pool sooner than others, one expert says, and as a result, the rest of the nation's employers are looking to health care to show them how to make the most of a mature workforce.
So far, however, health care hasn't done as much as it should to set the standard, according to Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, PhD, director of the Center on Aging & Work/Workplace Flexibility in Chestnut Hill, MA. "We consider health care to be early adapters to the aging labor force, and while we're finding health care employers are aware of the aging labor force, by and large they aren't doing a lot to get ready," Pitt-Catsouphes says.
It would be logical to prepare in advance, because the oldest of the baby boomers are just shy of retirement age, she says. "But employers look at it and think 'It's not today's crisis,' and they're right. But it is next year's crisis, or the year after that," Pitt-Catsouphes says.
Occupational health nurses — in addition to being a graying workforce on their own — are going to play important roles in making their workplaces attractive and accessible to older workers. According to the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses in Atlanta, 28% of its membership of occupational health nurses is age 57 to 66; 39% is age 47 to 56.
But health care is getting some things right, apparently. The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) ranks the best employers for people older than 50; in 2006, more than half were hospitals or health systems.
Pitt-Catsouphes says those singled out represent the creative thinking that health care is employing to attract and retain older employees. "We look at [the number of health care employers listed by the AARP] and say it's probably a sign that health care agencies are experiencing more organizational pain around the aging labor pool than other industries are," she suggests.
Among the reasons for that is an ongoing shortage of nurses, which makes every retiring nurse a loss more keenly felt by a hospital or health care facility, and the rigors of working in a hospital, such as musculoskeletal demands, shift work, and overtime. "As a result, health care employers aren't an institution that can afford to look the other way" in planning for an older workforce, Pitt-Catsouphes says.
Consider how to 're-engage' employees
A study Pitt-Catsouphes is undertaking at the Center on Aging &Work/Workplace Flexibility is the Age & Generations study, which will examine how the changing demographic is affecting the health care industry. Among the topics of the study is how information and knowledge is transferred between older and younger health care providers. Also to be studied is how positive interactions among health care workers of different generations can contribute to health care outcomes.
"When you look at extending careers, and re-engaging people in a new way, the time to start that conversation is in midlife adults, or even younger in nurses, I think, because you want them to think of nursing as a career over their lifespan, so that they don't get to age 55 and think, 'I can't wait to leave,'" she explains.
One way to "re-engage" nurses and other health care workers, Pitt-Catsouphes suggests, is to lobby for giving them more options on how they work. Often, Pitt-Catsouphes sees nurses who would like to work longer, but don't want to work the same schedule of long hours they have throughout their careers. "Hospitals are 24/7, and it can be very demanding, so some are doing some interesting innovations, with different kinds of flexibility," she says. (For examples of what AARP applauded in some employers' efforts to attract and retain older workers, see story below.)
Some examples of hospitals and health care systems that are trying to flex with their changing employee demographics include the following: • Mercy Health System of Janesville, WI, offers numerous flexible work options, including a weekender program (nurses work only on weekends), traveler option (nurses work six - 13 week assignments), nursing float option (nurses are guaranteed benefits while floating departments), registry pool option (they work 48-96 hours per month with benefits), 8/10/12 hour shift options, work-at-home option, and work-to-retire program (work reduced hours seasonally). • Lee Memorial Health System in Fort Myers, FL, offers nurses and other employees a seasonal-months-off (SMO) program, which provides for up to six months off during the slow season (typically in the summer). The SMO program is available to full-time and part-time workers. During their SMO, employees are able to continue their health, dental, vision, life, and long-term care insurance at the same rate they were paying for these benefits before the SMO. Another unique program is the "reduced schedule" program, which allows workers to reduce the number of hours they work up, to six months. Employees in this program typically stay in the Southwest Florida area and are able to come to work, if needed (with at least a 24-hour notice). Employees in this program continue to receive their full benefits, as well as accrue paid time off for hours worked. Lee Memorial also uses senior placement agencies to recruit mature workers or retirees. (See agencies listed in the resources, at the end of this story.) • MidMichigan Health in Midland has a "Retire/Rehire" program that allows retirees the opportunity to leave the health system for six months and then have the option to return to work on an 800-hour annual schedule while still collecting full retirement benefits. The health system offers up to a $500 bonus for any staff member on the program who passes a certification. Retirees often return to the health system as volunteers to stay connected, with 515 volunteers currently active. Resources To learn more about recruiting older employees, contact senior placement agencies such as: • Experience Works, a national agency that pairs low-income seniors with employers. 2200 Clarendon Blvd., Suite 1000, Arlington, VA 22201. Phone (866) 387-9757. • Operation ABLE: Coaching and referral service; provides counseling to employers interested in retaining and attracting older workers. ABLE stands for "ability based on long experience." 131 Tremont St., Suite 301, Boston, MA 02111. Phone: (617) 542-4180. Web site: www.operationable.net. • Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP), part of the AARP Foundation, helps financially eligible individuals 55 and older remain in or re-enter the workforce. Provides training for workers and referrals for employers. National office phone: (202) 434-2020; state SCSEP offices located nationwide. To find a local office, visit the AARP SCSEP Web site at www.aarp.org/scsep. |
Look beyond hours and benefits
If you are looking to help your employer retain and attract older workers, it's important to consider other types of satisfaction that employees get from their jobs, outside of pay and benefits.
Javon R. Bea, president and CEO of Mercy Health System, said at a recent hearing of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging that incentives that allow employers to ensure satisfactory workplaces for the aging workforce is money well-spent, as his system found when they made a major investment in lifting devices to assist employees in patient care. "Mercy Health System employs 3,856 workers, [and] of those, 28% are over the age of 50," Bea told the Senate panel. "A decade ago, when analyzing the impending shortage of health care workers, we knew we needed to put programs in place to recruit and retain older workers."
Besides the variety of flexible work schedules noted by AARP, Bea says Mercy Health invested more than $250,000 in a low-lift program and is a leader in Wisconsin's statewide safe lifting initiative. Among the equipment added to protect employees from back injury are Hovermatt patient repositioning mats, EZ Lift battery/electric patient lifting systems, and ErgoSlide no-lift patient transfer mats. (See resources below for more information.)
From a business perspective, "offering programs to retain older workers has proven to be a successful decision," Bea says.
Resources
For more information on preparing for an older workforce, contact:
AARP Best Employees for Workers Over 50. Free complete listing, with descriptions of innovative programs, available at www.aarp.org/money/careers/employerresourcecenter. Under "Best Employers for Workers Over 50," click on "Honored in 2006."
For more information on the following low-lift products, contact the following manufacturers:
- Hovermatt patient repositioning products. Manufactured by HoverTech International, D.T. Davis Enterprises, 513 S. Clewell St., Bethlehem, PA 18015. Phone: (800) 471-2776.
- EZ Lift battery/electric patient lifting systems. Manufactured by Kinetic Concepts, 8023 Vantage Drive, San Antonio, TX 78230. Phone: (800) 275-4524.
- Ergo Slide no-lift patient transfer systems. Manufactured by ErgoSafe Products. 2351 Grissom Drive, St. Louis, MO 63146. Phone: (866) 891-6502.
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