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With legions of Baby Boomers approaching retirement age, employers may soon be facing a shortage of skilled, knowledgeable workers and a loss of institutional knowledge. Now more than ever, it is imperative that employers begin viewing their older workers as their most valuable assets. Written by experts in the field of workforce education and the management of older workers, Working Longer gives recruiters, managers, and trainers the tools they need to nurture and empower these vital employees.

William J. Rothwell, Ph.D. (State College, PA), is Professor-in-Charge of a graduate program in Workforce Education and Development at Penn State University. Diane Spokus (University Park, PA) is an adjunct instructor at Penn State University. Joel Reaser (Arlington, VA) is S. V. P. at the National Older Worker Career Center. Harvey Stearns, Ph.D. (Akron, OH) is the Director of the Institute for Lifespan Development and Gerontology at the University of Akron.

Foreword	p. xi
Preface	p. xv
Acknowledgments	p. xxiii
Advance Organizer for This Book	p. xxv
Introduction	p. 1
Older Adult Workers in Today's Work World	p. 3
Defining Adult and Older Adult Workers	p. 6
Self-Management	p. 9
Organizational Issues	p. 13
Working Longer	p. 15
Changes in the Work Environment	p. 16
Challenges to Be Faced	p. 18
Work in the Same Organization or Move?	p. 21
Careers in Later Life	p. 23
Support from Employers	p. 29
Decision Making and Work Opportunities	p. 32
Midlife Changes	p. 33
Summary	p. 35
Adapting the Workplace to Accommodate Physiological Age-Related Changes in Older Adults	p. 36
Aging: A Global View	p. 40
Biological Aging	p. 40
Psychological Aging	p. 50
Social Aging	p. 52
Older Adults Continuing to Work	p. 53
Designing the Workplace for Older Americans	p. 54
Stereotypes About Aging	p. 56
The Americans With Disabilities Act	p. 57
Minorities in the Workplace	p. 63
Work Issues	p. 66
Active Older Workers	p. 66
Adapting the Workplace for Older Adults	p. 67
Summary	p. 68
How to Train Older Adults: Aging Influences on Cognitive Tasks	p. 69
Translating What We Know into Adult and Older Worker Training	p. 72
Summary	p. 80
Design	p. 83
Instructional Design for Training Older Workers	p. 85
ADDIE Model	p. 85
Individual Differences	p. 98
Training	p. 99
The Value of Training Older Workers	p. 101
How Older Adults Learn Best	p. 104
Guidelines for Training Older Adults	p. 105
Transferring Training Results	p. 105
Training Modalities	p. 106
Older Adults as Learners	p. 107
Diversity Training	p. 109
Summary	p. 110
Improving Learning Performance	p. 112
Workplace Learning Competence and Its Importance	p. 112
Workplace Learning Competence and Workplace Learning Climate	p. 113
Learner Characteristics of Older Versus Younger Adults	p. 116
Implications of Learning Principles for Training Older Adults	p. 117
Summary	p. 126
Career Development for Adults and Older Workers	p. 127
Self-Management: Career and Retirement	p. 127
Obstacles to Self-Management	p. 144
Models of Career Development	p. 146
Looking to the Future	p. 151
Recommendations	p. 155
Future Directions	p. 157
Summary	p. 158
Managing Organizational Knowledge	p. 167
What Employers Can Do to Plan for an Aging Workforce	p. 169
The Evolving Workplace	p. 169
Getting Ahead of the Trends	p. 172
Action Steps for Preparing for the Workforce of the Future	p. 197
Summary	p. 200
Resources List	p. 201
Notes	p. 214
About the Authors	p. 234
Index	p. 239
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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Preface

The United States, and indeed the world, faces an employment crisis because of changing demographics. As is well known, millions in the baby boom generation are now eligible to retire—or soon will be. This could create a global talent crisis, which has prompted many organizations to launch succession planning or talent management programs.

But, ironically, although their retirement may cause the talent shortage, baby boomers may also be the solution to the problem—if they remain in, or return to, the workforce. If employers and individuals alike would retire traditional notions of retirement and revisit their stereotypes of older workers, then it might be possible to recruit, retain, and develop or train older workers more effectively. Such a reassessment of talent could be mutually beneficial to, and help meet the needs of, employers and individuals alike.

Sources of Information

As we began writing this book, we decided to explore state-of-the-art practices in recruiting, retaining, and developing older workers. We consulted several major sources of information:

1. A tailor-made survey. In 2006–2007 we surveyed HRM professionals about practices with older workers and also asked those employers to provide a parallel survey to older workers. Selected survey results, which were compiled in January 2007, are published in this book for the first time. While the response rate to this survey was disappointing, the results do provide interesting information. This survey is described more completely at the end of this Preface.

2. Web searches. We examined what resources could be found on the World Wide Web relating to important topics in this book.

3. A literature search. We conducted an exhaustive literature review on best practices and common business practices in recruiting, retaining, and developing older workers. We also looked for case-study descriptions of what organizations have been doing to recruit, retain, and develop older workers.

4. Firsthand in-house work experience. All four authors of this book qualify as members of the “older worker” category. Our own opinions and firsthand experiences are thus valuable.

5. Extensive external consulting and public speaking. The authors have spoken to many people around the world about the topics raised in this book. The thinking in this book does not represent a U.S.-based opinion alone. Instead, thoughts of people from many cultures are reflected here. And, indeed, those opinions are worth knowing about, since the world—not just the United States—is experiencing an aging crisis and a pending talent shortage.

The purpose for using these sources was to ensure that this book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date treatment of typical and best-in-class practices in recruiting, retaining, and developing older workers.

The Scheme of This Book