Age Works: What Corporate America Must Do to Survive the Graying of the Workforce (Paperback)

~ (Author) "The demographics of the baby boom point to a future in which there will be a much older workforce-one that may be far too small..." (more)
Key Phrases: younger boomers, first boomers, many older workers, United States, New York, Bureau of Labor Statistics (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The aging of the baby boomers could cause a severe labor shortage--an "economic catastrophe"--and many businesses are unprepared, according to Beverly Goldberg. In Age Works, Goldberg says there are not enough younger workers to replace the mass of retiring baby boomers in the coming decades. If businesses are to succeed amid "this demographic shock wave," they need to adopt a "new social contract" with workers, especially skilled ones. A lot of older workers are currently retiring early because of downsizing and age discrimination, writes Goldberg, vice president of the Century Foundation, a New York think tank. She writes: "Corporate America will be forced to create a work environment that will turn a graying, disillusioned workforce into eager workers. This challenge is enormous." Goldberg points to corporations such as McDonald's and Days Inn that are already creating the sorts of flexible, part-time jobs with benefits and promotion opportunities that attract retirees back to work. She details how Oracle and GTE fill technology jobs with innovative training programs for older workers. Age Works is intriguing reading for business leaders worried about their future staffing needs, as well as for anyone interested in the far-reaching effects of aging baby boomers on the economy as a whole. --Dan Ring --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

Matthew E. Likens President, U.S. Renal Dialysis, Baxter Healthcare Corporation In Age Works, Beverly Goldberg has developed a comprehensive analysis of the shrinking American workforce of the next two decades and suggests creative approaches for organizations to use to overcome these demographic trends. This is must reading for executives who view employees as a critical differentiator in the marketplace. -- Review --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (April 29, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743242610
• ISBN-13: 978-0743242615
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,814,568 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Where Have All the Workers Gone?, March 5, 2000

By	Jonathan Lehrich (Cambridge, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Age Works: What Corporate America Must Do to Survive the Graying of the Workforce (Hardcover)

Workers these days are like snow shovels in a South Carolina blizzard - not enough to go around. Some of the causes are simple statistics: economy up, unemployment down, working-age population falling, employers' demand outstripping supply. But others are cultural. Large corporations, the traditional source of jobs, are often perceived as uncaring engines of depletion, exhaustion, and downsizing. The young are choosing options, from lifestyle to stock, while workplace veterans opt for the dignity of early retirement over the desolation of forced termination. Employers' alternatives are stark: expand their supply, increase their appeal, or prepare for shortfalls and belt-tightening. Recruitment, retention, recession - remorse.

Were companies to examine their own assumptions on hiring and firing, they would find a pervasive and self-destructive premise: old is bad. But as Beverly Goldberg argues in _Age Works_, employers - indeed, society as a whole - have built this premise on an ill-considered, ill-defined congeries of prejudices and presuppositions. Believe it or not, Americans age 55 and above take fewer sick days, adapt to new technologies successfully, and are more loyal to their employer than are their colleagues thirty years younger. And perhaps more importantly, they may be the only untapped workforce available. As hidebound organizations throw fortunes at untested youth, others more far-seeing (including Travelers, GTE, and Baxter Health Care) actively recruit, train, and depend upon senior workers. In a shrinking labor market, corporations and their HR departments may find a surprising competitive advantage in coaxing older employees away from the brink of an often sterile and impoverished retirement.

Eager to dismiss this challenge to their standard practices, naysayers and doomsayers will demand proof. Fortunately _Age Works_ reads more like a position paper than a business book, and like any good position paper, it's loaded with facts. Age Works is the ideal volume for anyone itching for a statistical analysis of the American workforce 1950-2050, in all its hues and strata. Arguably Goldberg's love of statistics verges on addiction, but in the pharmacy of authorial dependence, statistics are a pretty benign habit. More distracting, although again less than fatal, is the book's policy-wonk style. Goldberg stands foursquare in the school of tell-`em-what-you're-going-to-tell-`em, tell-`em-, tell-`em-what-you-told-`em, and _Age Works_ sometimes reads like an executive summary that cannot bear to end.

Nonetheless, _Age Works_ is a cogent, serious, undeniably well-supported piece. Even those who resist the proposed solutions (admittedly the book's weakest section) will find the diagnosis difficult to dispute. Like it or not, America's workforce will continue to grow smaller and grayer over the next twenty years. And by the time the population bounces back, corporations' hiring practices will have appealed to all ages - or to none.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Age Works, August 25, 2000

By	R. BraytonBowen "[e-mail]" (Louisville, KY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Age Works: What Corporate America Must Do to Survive the Graying of the Workforce (Hardcover)

If managers think they have problems attracting and retaining human capital in today's economy, they haven't seen anything yet. Get set for the massive wave of retirements over the next ten (10) years. Beverly Goldberg conveys a compelling picture of why managers need to learn the value of recognizing, retraining, and retaining older workers. Age Works is a wakeup call to those caught up in the wastefulness of our "throw away" society. Older workers are a precious resource that can ill afford to be squandered. Ms. Goldberg demonstrates a better path and presents concrete ways for managers to benefit from the graying of America.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good numbers, good advice, thoughtful ideas for the future, February 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Age Works: What Corporate America Must Do to Survive the Graying of the Workforce (Hardcover)

I read the book because of my interest in the aging of the workforce, and it's worth it for the info and practical advice on retaining and managing older workers. An added bonus is her account of the sources of today's disaffection in the workplace for workers of all ages; two decades of mergers, downsizing, outsourcing, firing and rehiring with lower wages and fewer benefits, etc. have turned many workers from career-minded employees who identify with their jobs to disillusioned individuals who feel less and less connected to what they do and who they work for. The book is easy to read and free of jargon.