Older Workers Wanted: The Good News and the Bad

A feature article by Milt Freudenheim in the New York Times (registration required) touts new recruiting efforts by a number of nationally prominent companies to find older workers. In settings as varied as Borders bookstores, Home Depots, Pitney Bowes and Walmart, a serious effort is being made to lure people out of retirement by offering health benefits, flexible hours and computer training. Home Depot even offers a “snowbird special” – winter employment in a Florida store, summer employment back up north. This workforce expansion is a very promising development, tapping a traditionally underused resource.

Employers cited in the article praise the reliability of older workers. There is less turnover than with younger recruits. Older workers bring a host of skills to the job. Retired teachers (who love books) become a valued resource in bookstores. A retired electrical contractor can do more than point a Home Depot customer in the right direction; he can actually provide meaningful advice.

Higher Risks
Speaking as an older worker, I applaud this effort to expand the workforce. At the same time, employers need to stay focused on the age-related risks that older workers bring to the job. For a detailed discussion of these risks, there is no better source than an article originally published in the Journal of Workers Compensation and now posted by its authors at the Ohio Bureau of Workers Comp.

The Ohio study examines the recovery rates of workers, by type of injury and by age. Not surprisingly, older workers (those in the 65 to 74 year range) recover more slowly than do younger workers. For example, the article cites a Work Loss Data Institute study of disability durations for lumbar disc problems. For workers in the 45 to 54 year range, the duration has a factor of 1.10; in the 65 to 74 year range, the factor is 1.64. This is just common sense: the older you are, the longer it takes to recover from injuries.

The Ohio bureau also studied the average cost of injuries in Ohio by age. They found that for workers over age 70, the average cost was about $5,000. For workers 50 to 59 years old, the average cost drops to $3,300.

Safety Factors
To keep older workers safe, employers need to focus relentlessly on “good housekeeping.” As we age, our peripheral vision decreases and our reflexes slow down. We are at risk for slips and falls, for momentary inattention, for strains and sprains. Employers should minimize the lifting, stretching and bending required of older workers. I thought about this recently in a Home Depot store, where high shelves full of relatively heavy merchandise are common. When an older worker and I retrieved a heavy shelving unit together, I could not help but think that we were both at risk.

In today’s workplace, risk managers must anticipate potential catastrophes, including terrorist attacks and other types of workplace violence. In these unfortunate circumstances, older workers are at higher risk for injury. They may not hear warnings as well as other workers. They tend to be less mobile and flexible in response. Their cardio-vascular capacity and respitory reserves may be less than those of younger workers – to put it simply, they might not be able to run from danger as quickly.

Impact on Comp Costs
Virtually all state workers comp systems contain retirement assumptions that are now obsolete. In the old days, we assumed workers would retire at age 65. With Social Security benefits being pushed to age 68 and perhaps beyond, everyone is going to work longer -- even those not motivated to do so. When 70 year old workers get injured, the assumption will be that they intend to keep working. In other words, they will be entitled to temporary total, temporary partial and permanent benefits, just the same as those provided for younger workers.

I suspect that as we push retirement further and further into the future, there will be an impact on workers comp costs. An aging workforce is at higher risk for injury and for prolonged disability. Indeed, some older workers lacking retirement plans may well view workers comp as a virtual pension. In any event, the disability costs associated with an aging workforce will eventually work their way into the rates employers pay for their insurance.