Thursday, 4:30 PM
As baby boomers approach retirement, employers try to keep them working
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Correspondent
Massachusetts General Hospital expanded childcare offerings for employees a few years ago to include a group of workers that officials not previously considered: grandparents.
“We didn’t start it that way because we didn’t realize there was a need,” said Jeff Davis, senior Vice-President for Human Resources at Mass General. "Then some employees approached us."
While only a handful of employees use the childcare for their grandchildren, the hospital’s willingness to accommodate older workers signifies the growing recognition of a looming population problem, elderly affairs experts say. The combination of retiring Baby Boomers and a slower birth rate will leave a significant shortage in the workforce, according to the AARP, a membership organization for people over 50.
That pinch will be especially acute at hospitals and universities, which traditionally have older employees. As Mass. General, for example, 5,000 or almost 27 percent of its 19,000 employees are over age 50.
“We can’t move our population to the sunbelt,” Davis said. “We’ve got to make workers come to us – and stay with us.”
Mass General was one of 50 companies across the country recognized this week by the AARP for demonstrating a “significant commitment to the aging workforce.” The Massachusetts Institute of Technology also made the list for offering, among other programs, flexible retirement programs that allow employees to continue working a few hours a week after they have “retired.”
In Massachusetts in 2004, 14 percent of the labor force was age 65 or older, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The number of people over age 65 in the state is expected to grow to 1.25 million by 2025, from 827,000 in 2005.
“More than half of employers we spoke to acknowledged they are facing a labor shortage,” said Deborah Banda, the state director of AARP Massachusetts. “Only 19 percent of them are doing anything about it.”
