14 Smart Strategies to Prepare Your Company for an Aging Workforce

Members of the Forbes Coaches Council cite 14 ways to prepare for aging workforces, including implementing practices to keep older workers from feeling obsolete by nurturing a "beginner's mind" among teams. Other suggestions include hiring more seasoned professionals, offering sabbaticals, and setting up expectations for all age groups. Ensuring the company values experience also is recommended, as is providing emotional intelligence workshops and coaching. Companies should familiarize themselves with each team member's personal goals and establish roles supporting long-term clients where a broad knowledge of the organization is appreciated. Meanwhile, mentoring and adaptability programs should be provided, and leaders can model the value of a company's tribal knowledge by respecting a tenured employee's views. In addition, employers should be flexible so that older workers' requirements are accommodated, and prepare for this by creating job books to fully document each role in the company. Finally, employee development programs capitalizing on workers' various skills should be developed, while employers' workforce demographics must be balanced based on their strategic direction.