Media mogul Moses Znaimer coined the term Zoomer to refer to the demographic group that used to be known as the baby boom generation. (Boomers plus zip equals zoomers.) As such, this group represents a vast talent pool of mature workers who can contribute to the success of your business.
How Zoomers can help your organization
Studies show that mature workers have high job-satisfaction rates and take pride in their work and careers. Mature workers offer experience, emotional maturity and loyalty in the workplace. They practise teamwork and believe in service to others. Furthermore, mature workers care about the fate of their organizations and invest themselves to help it succeed.
In a recent Canadian Federation of Independent Business survey, 75 per cent of respondents said that older workers bring these attributes: a strong work ethic, experience, qualifications and loyalty.
How you can reach Zoomers
- Visit Zoomer-oriented websites: www.carp.ca; www.50plus.com, www.senioryears.com, www.Retiredworker.ca, www.55pluspros.ca.
- Post jobs at community centres, churches, shopping malls and at community events.
- Contact professional associations, their related publications and university alumni associations.
- Advertise in traditional newspapers, television news shows, AM radio
- Read publications that target the 50-plus demographic. Special interest publications focusing on financial management, gardening or travel are other possible sources for connecting with the older worker.
- Attend conferences and seminars focused on mature workers (i.e. Summit on Mature Workers Conference).
- Attend awards ceremonies celebrating the best 50-plus employers (previous winners include Home Depot and Avis-Rent-A-Car).
- Contact recruitment specialists experienced in sourcing and hiring mature workers
You may already know promising Zoomers
You may have had employees take early retirement for various reasons. Some former staff may be willing to return.
- Develop a “casual worker program” to directly hire or re-employ an on-call pool of workers, with limited benefits and no pension
- Create a “retirement pool.” Maintain a list of the interests and skills of recent retirees for short-term initiatives and specific projects.
- Keep in touch with your retirees through a newsletter; invite them to social events
- Create a mentorship program – special programs/workshops/knowledge sharing
- Send a newsletter or email blast to existing employees requesting referrals of excellent mature workers – and offer an incentive (i.e. $100 bonus per referral).
Recruitment strategies
- Look at your business communications and recruitment practices. Criteria like “high energy” and “motivated” need to be balanced with references to “experience” and “skills”.
- Use positive wording in recruitment advertising, such as “all candidates welcome” or “this company values workers of all ages.”
- Post part-time as well as full-time positions. Make reference to workplace flexibility.
- Populate your website and marketing materials with images of staff of all ages.
- Explore ways in which the skills of older workers can be transferred across roles, businesses and even industries.
- Offer flexible benefit packages wherever possible.
Working options and incentives you can offer Zoomers
- Temporary, part-time, contract or seasonal work
- Flexible and/or shorter work weeks
- Compressed work weeks: working longer days in a shorter work week (40 hours in four days rather than five eight-hour days).
- Extended vacations
- Phased retirement
- Telecommuting
- Financial incentives
- Modified work duties
- Having mature employees mentor the younger workers
- Training sessions for professional development
- Offering available benefits (health, disability, life insurance)
- Job sharing – two part-time employees sharing responsibility for one full-time position.
- Leaves of absence – can be paid or unpaid with the employee’s job guaranteed upon return
To learn about Zoomers as a labour source, read How Zoomers Can Help Your Business.
Some information in this article was provided by WorkBC and Venture Kamloops. It was originally published in a joint venture, entitled The WorkBC Employer’s Tool Kit: A Resource for British Columbia Businesses Booklet 2 – It’s about Ability – How to Attract, Retain and Engage Mature Workers, and is reprinted with permission. For more information, please visit www.workbc.ca and www.venturekamloops.com. Other material excerpted from Barbara Jaworski's “KAA-Boom: How to Engage the 50-plus Workers and Beat the Workforce Crisis.”
