The benefits of using older workers, says Rheinhart, are their experience, dependability, skills, and low turnover, which are a big plus. "They can arrange their hours and work full-time or part-time," he says.
Rheinhart has 750 to 800 temporary employees registered at all times, and with the shortage of skilled labor, he sees the temporary employment field for 50-plus workers growing. Sharon Canter, director of strategic information for Manpower Temporary Services, an international company head quartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, says: "Manpower is employing more and more senior workers who do not want to retire from the work force on a full-time basis. Through Manpower, seniors can maintain a flexible work schedule and earn supplemental income. According to Manpower, 50-plus employees now comprise almost 25 percent of the company's one million temporary workers, and their numbers are continuing to grow.
"We offer seniors a way to repot themselves into new careers through temporary office, light industrial, and marketing assignments. Our skills assessments, which uncover hidden talents, interests, and personal characteristics, enable us to assign senior workers to jobs that they enjoy."
Learning New Skills
Canter continues, "Although senior workers bring years of experience and knowledge to their job assignments, sometimes they want training in new skills. We offer them a way to update their skills for today's automated office. Skillware, Manpower's computer training program, is offered free of charge to our temporary workers. Written in everyday language, the training is hands-on and self-paced. The training is also reflective of the work they'll do on job assignments."
Manpower not only trains temporary employees in the use of computer hardware and software, it also provides training to the permanent staff of companies.
"We've found that senior workers are dependable, hard working, and productive," says Canter. "When equipped with our Skillware computer training, they are also in high demand. Many customers call and request the same senior workers on a consistent basis."
Kelly Services Inc. is another international service company. Headquartered in Troy, Michigan, it provides temporary jobs to a diverse group of customers through its Kelly temporary services division. The company operates more than 900 branch offices worldwide, with 700 in the United States and Canada.
Kelly annually employs more than 580,000 people for short-term assignments at clients' facilities. It serves more than 180,000 customers and supplies temporary employees in more than 100 job classifications.
In 1987 Kelly was having difficulty obtaining temporary employees, particularly on the East Coast, according to Carolyn Fryar, senior vice-president. Says Fryar, "We could not recruit enough people to fill all assignments. We had to find different ways to find people with the skills we needed. We began recruiting over-50 people; we found they were retiring earlier than before, although being retired didn't mean they didn't want to work anymore. We thought this could be a possible solution to our problem and we created Encore in 1987 to target the 50 and older group."
The result, according to Fryar, is that approximately 10 percent of Kelly Services' approximately 560,000 workforce are now 50 and over and they are actively being recruited. "The purpose of Encore," she says, "is to share the advantages of temporary employment with those seniors who want to work. Some of these advantages include flexible scheduling, a variety of work experiences, the chance to meet new people, and the opportunity to maintain current skills or learn new ones."
New Role for Mature Professionals
Houston-based Talent Tree Personnel Services, with more than 100 temporary employment and permanent placement branches throughout the country, has seen, in both its major and secondary markets, a steady rise in the demand for workers in the 50-plus age group. William L. Caudell, senior vice-president, says, "The trend of corporations to employ people on an ‘as-needed' basis, has coincided with the shrinking number of younger people entering the work force and the growing number of retirees. The opportunities for the older workers are obviously increasing."
Caudell points out that unemployment statistics and the business mix of individual markets nevertheless dictate the types and numbers of people that temporary service com panies require. He says, "The key to using temporary help employees is cost-effective productivity that often translates into skills ... if the candidate does not have skills and experience relating to a client's equipment, software or work environment, his or her range of opportunities is obviously limited. Fortunately, these limiting factors can be overcome with proper training. Today the foolish discrimination against age or race is becoming much less of a problem."
Promote Your Skills, But as with any group, knowing how to market yourself is critical, says Caudell. "Although no segment of the society truly fits a stereotype, there is a general belief that the older worker comes equipped with a 'superior work ethic. The older worker should use that to his or her advantage. Sell the strongest attribute, whether it is being on the job every day, being punctual, being willing to help out so that the job is completed on time, or being able to fall back on life's experiences, as they relate to a company's needs.
"Unfortunately, older workers often seem to be their own worst enemy when they are looking for a job. Regardless of how much someone wants to assist you in gaining employment, if you do not believe you can perform a job because of experience, skills, age, or ability, few people will give you a try."
Caudell says that if the older worker wants a full-time position, working first as a temporary is a means of building skills and confidence. And once work performance is proven, full-time jobs often become available. Working as a temporary provides an excellent means to meet the older worker's economic and lifestyle needs.
