Written By: Karen Brown
Colorado can Meet Growing Workforce Demands by Keeping Older Adults in the Job Market
Stimulus funding provides rare opportunity for the state to help employers ensure jobs are filled with skilled workforce.Top Takeaways
With a growing aging population and fewer children being born, capitalizing on the experience and talent of an aging workforce is critical to ensure Colorado’s jobs can be filled today and to bridge the gap on the projected labor shortages.
Stimulus funding can support businesses to expand opportunities for flexible work – furthering Colorado companies on the path towards the Future of Work.
Many older adults are interested in working beyond the traditional retirement age.
The aging population in Colorado is the second fastest growing 65+ population in the United States. And for the tenth year in a row, the Colorado birthrate continues to decline. These two demographic changes (see chart below) will alter the state’s workforce in dramatic ways for decades to come.
Today, there are more than 840,000 Coloradans, or 14.6 percent of Colorado’s population over the age of 65 with many seeking opportunities to work past traditional retirement age. Maybe you are one of those people!
Colorado can capitalize on this demographic change by supporting employers that embrace all talent regardless of age. Think six generations in the workplace bringing diverse skills, knowledge, expertise, and wisdom to the table. Designing work and jobs that attract all generations, and including the mature worker will benefit the company bottom line and grow the economy.
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Colorado will receive approximately $3.8 billion dollars in stimulus funding. This funding is to help recover from the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and its significant impacts on businesses, employees, and the communities in which they live.
One logical and worthy investment is to provide an incentive (grants) to companies to build on the changes they are currently exploring regarding flex work. When we focus on how we can tap into the skills and expertise of decades of knowledge it only enhances our investment.
Coupling that strategy with the continued recruiting of all generations will make Colorado a more competitive state with an enhanced multigenerational workforce.
Colorado should duplicate all (or part) of the Singapore WorkPro program that supported more than 3,400 companies employing about 368,000 people between 2013 and 2017! This program focused on enhancing work environments for older adults that ultimately benefitted every generation.
The Singapore WorkPro program was designed by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the Singapore Workforce Development Council (SWDC) to grow the talent pipeline by better preparing employers to engage older adults. MOM recognized that Singapore has one of the fastest declining birthrates on the planet with every generation’s lifespan increasing, in some cases by decades.
To meet the current and future needs of employers, MOM and SWDC provided grants up to $300,000. They used this funding to foster a variety of initiatives, including:
Workplace improvement and job-redesign-
- Support the implementation of work-life strategies, particularly flexible work arrangements (FWAs), with added incentives to sustain FWA utilization for at least 30% of their employer base
- Job redesign grants which could include:
- Equipment automation,
- redesign of HR policies, systems, and benefits,
- training for new recruits
- recruitment advertisements
- Age management grants which could include:
- training courses on management practices including re-employment practices, performance management, and job redesign
- and translating knowledge into good age management polices, practices, and benefits
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- On-the-Job Training Allowance – one to two months allowances for training costs
- Retention incentive given as newly hired mature workers continue work six months or more.
- Assistance for Job Seekers:
- free job preparation training
- bonus to employee if he/she stays with the company 12 months or more
- transportation allowance for low-income workers
Further details on the Singapore WorkPro Program can be found here.
Colorado’s Strategic Action Planning Group on Aging (SAPGA) has proposed to Governor Polis and the State’s Department of Labor and Employment that it replicate the WorkPro program. SAPGA proposes using stimulus dollars to support this programming through 2024 (or the length of use of stimulus funding dollars).
Adopting this program in Colorado with funding up to $50 million dollars for grant sizes up to $100,000 would expedite companies redesign of the workplace to access all talent and be better prepared for the Future of Work. Adding more years of employment (part or full-time) to an older adult’s work span could pump hundreds of millions of dollars back into the state economy.
This funding would build on workforce trends occurring in the last couple decades. In 2018, AARP reported that there were more than 250,000 people 85+ working – a doubling of that population over the last two decades. And the Bureau of Labor Statistics projected that the fastest growth for 2014 to 2024 is the 75+ population with the 65-74 the second fastest growth rate.
Introducing a program similar to WorkPro in Colorado would dovetail on the heavy lifting employers are currently doing trying to figure out and reassess what will work for the company and employees as we emerge from the forced flexible work schedules mandated as a response to COVID-19 pandemic. The grants would allow companies to expand their work and better prepare for the future.
Were Colorado to adopt such a program, it would be groundbreaking in the United States, set a precedent nationally, and build on the efforts at the global level to tap into vast resources. In addition, it would build on other innovative programs that Colorado has embarked on on behalf of older adults and supports its growing reputation as a national leader in the longevity market. Such an adoption would lead to significant growth in the economy as older adults continue spending.
Do you have older family members who want to or need to keep working? Imagine every generation in your family having that opportunity no matter their age.
And for employers, engaging every generation would fill those job vacancies faster getting you back on track.
To learn more, contact Karen Brown.
Other blogs by Karen Brown:
Karen Brown
CEO for Seniors Matter
Ambassador for Aging2.0 Denver Chapter
Member and past Chair for Colorado's Strategic Action Planning Group on Aging (SAPGA)
Email: karen.peffer.brown@gmail.com
Follow: @KPefferBrown
Connect: Karen Brown
