Work & Retirement

Age smart employer NYC: Compendium of strategies and practices

2013
Finkelstein, R., Owusu, S., & Roher, R. (2013). Age smart employer NYC: Compendium of strategies and practices. The New York Academy of Medicine.

Ruth Finkelstein

As the population grows older and the percentage of older workers goes up, employers will need to create ways to meet the changing needs of their workforce. The writers of this report discuss new workplace ideas for older workers. They call for more research, monitoring, and a sharing of best practices. Many employers in NYC are developing good ideas to make sure that older workers can continue to work and are valued. Leaders who are already doing this work need to be recognized by their peers. The Age Smart Employer Awards are one way to popularize great ideas that serve us all. The research suggests that age-smart workplaces share three characteristics:

• A frank and data-driven recognition of workplace age-diversity, starting with a review of the ages of people in a workforce
• Workplaces that value age diversity and where workers of different ages share their strengths
• Business plans that understand the needs of older workers