BusinessTN

Don’t let his gray hair fool you. At 71, Al Jenkins is still a rising star at Broadwater and Associates Group. He’s one of a growing number of seniors working well into their sunset years, as Tennessee small business owners looking to cut costs and reduce turnover are realizing that, when it comes to hiring new employees, older just might mean better.

Historically, employers have often turned away older job seekers, citing concerns about productivity, missed time and health care costs. But more often than not, those concerns are unfounded, says Fran Mazzaferro, associate executive director for Senior Citizens Inc. (SCI), a Middle Tennessee advocacy group working to change the conventional wisdom regarding seniors in the workplace. “It’s a myth that an older worker is going to cost you more,” Mazzaferro says, especially with many of today’s seniors living longer, healthier lives. “Hiring an older worker who is well-trained and knows what he or she is doing is one of the best buys an employer can make.” To help employers find those individuals, SCI provides a range of services, including the Maturity Matters Job Fair in Nashville, an annual event drawing dozens of companies and hundreds of unemployed and retired individuals.

Jenkins, a former sales executive at Service Merchandise, says he tried retirement but was lured back into the business world by a part-time position at Broadwater, a Nashville-based commercial printing and promotional products firm. Like many retirees rejoining the workforce, Jenkins was motivated by a desire to work, not out of economic necessity.

Armed with decades of business sense and customer service experience, he was soon handling an impressive list of accounts, and his work schedule grew from two to three days a week to almost full-time. But, he says, his semi-autonomous role as “solutions consultant” allows him the flexibility to take time off for a grandson’s basketball tournament or to play a round of golf when he feels like it.

The harmonious work arrangement is no accident, says Earnest Broadwater, Broadwater’s president. He says he focuses his hiring practices on seniors for the many benefits they bring to a small business setting. “If Mr. Jenkins wants to take off for whatever reason, that’s fine because I know he’s going to get the job done. We look for people who are conscientious about their work and who are focused on customer service and doing the job right the first time. You can’t beat a senior employee for that. I don’t have to sit here and drill down quotas or really supervise anyone.”

Because of the level of experience employees like Jenkins bring to the office, Broadwater says he is able to run the company “more like a fraternity,” garnering input on important business decisions from everyone in the office. That collaborative atmosphere also creates a sense of ownership among employees, which in turn breeds loyalty and reduces turnover. An older employee is also less likely to jump ship for another company than a younger worker trying to advance a career.

Broadwater, whose formal manner exudes a certain old school ambiance, recognizes what it is about his company that attracts older workers. “Here, we value the senior individual, and they appreciate that what we have here is often completely contrary to the way corporate America sometimes works.” Paying employees on commission rather than expensive salaries, Broadwater can hire individuals who may have been downsized or forced into early retirement by large corporations and reap the benefit of their experience in a way that is economically viable for a small business operating on a thin profit margin. In the next year, Broadwater says he would like to hire three to five additional employees to accommodate more growth.

Working to meet the demand of companies like Broadwater and Assoc- iates is Tennessee’s Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP). The program, which is run by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, matches low-income seniors with employers. Michael Wills hired an SCSEP participant when he needed part-time help at his Cartridge World franchise in Memphis. “I had a great experience,” says Wills, who credits the program with helping to “take my business another step up the ladder.” SCSEP also offers partial wage reimbursement for up to six months to companies that hire their job seekers, making it an even more cost-efficient avenue for a small business burdened by the cost of hiring and training a new worker. Susan Cowden, an administrator for the Employment and Workforce Development Division overseeing the program says that the employers she works with often prefer older individuals “for the dependability and strong work ethic a mature person brings to the job.”

Research by the National Council on the Aging suggests that many more small businesses might soon be following suit. Citing a study by the nonpartisan think tank, Hudson Institute, NCOA warns that the U.S. economy could face a severe labor shortage by 2010 due to the retirement of baby boomers compounded by a lag in population growth from 1965-1985. Who will fill that gap? Broadwater thinks companies would be foolish to overlook seniors. Already, older workers are finding new jobs at an annual rate of 4.1%, compared to 1.8% among the general population, according to NCOA. “There’s all this experience here just waiting to be tapped into,” Broadwater says. “You’d really have to be crazy not to take advantage of that.”