The Race for Experienced Employees

A new influx of retired workers returning to the job market could help relieve workforce shortages, but are companies prepared to appeal to this demographic?

After dipping during the pandemic, 'unretirements' are on the rise due to changes in the labor market, waning pandemic concerns, high inflation, and other economic volatility that put nest eggs in jeopardy. As of March 2022, 3.2% of workers who previously said they were retired are now employed again.

This fall and rebound in unretirement has precedent and are more common than you may expect. Prior to the pandemic, from 2017 to 2019, approximately 3% of retired workers had a job a year later. The shock waves of the pandemic caused the moves back to work to plummet to 2.1% in June 2020.

While the unretirement rate may have returned to its pre-pandemic level, workers have reprioritized what they want from an employer. Recent research reveals that 75% of employees would choose to work where people are nice over an employer offering a slightly higher salary, and would change their role, industry, or career path to do so.

Some employers dismiss this as 'lazy' employees looking for a 'soft' work culture that allows them to do minimum work. However, an empathetic employer yields the opposite effect with 74% of employees who work longer hours and report less burnout. Employees are more engaged, more productive, more collaborative, and have less turnover.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics the annual voluntary turnover rate is approximately 25% (1 in 4 employees), costing US businesses a trillion dollars each year. According to Gallup, 52% of this turnover is fixable; exiting employees report their manager or organization could have done something to prevent them from leaving their job.

Yet companies are not gaining much ground with attempts to retain their teams despite spending millions of dollars on initiatives such as DE&I, benefit packages, employee recognition programs, and remote/ hybrid work arrangements. With these added expenses on top of the cost of turnover, most organizations probably can't survive the continued loss of good people.

Companies are not gaining much ground on employee turnover, despite spending millions of dollars on new initiatives.

Hiring 'unretired' workers, a pool of reliable, successful problem solvers, is an opportunity for companies to gain a competitive edge. It falls on recruiters and talent acquisition specialists to learn what the job candidate wants out of their next job before the interview process starts. This enables interviewers to align the right talking points that appeal to each candidate - beyond salary and benefits - so they say YES to the job offer and stay.

What does an employee want beyond salary and benefits? They probably won't tell you because the current false-positive environment of the interview process deems it improper to say what they truly want. They are looking for candid conversations so that both parties can accurately decide if it is a good match, and is rooted in emotional drivers of decision-making such as certainty, autonomy, relationships, equality, and feeling valued. Since these have different meanings and influence for each person, it is necessary to have a platform to quickly ascertain what they are looking for from an employer.

Are you prepared to attract and retain great 'unretired' workers and plug a million(s)-dollar leak in your company?

Ronda Robinson is the founder of Retain My Team?, a pragmatic framework of tools, based on behavioral neuroscience, to attract and retain employees. Ronda has worked in talent development for over 20 years. As a Certified Professional in Talent Development? (CPTD) and Master Performance Consultant, she has won numerous awards, published multiple articles, and has been recognized for accelerating performance for a spectrum of large to small companies. She is a keynote speaker and has conducted custom workshops across the globe. She has been featured on NBC, CBS, Fox News, USA Today, Global Woman Magazine, London Business Magazine, and The Business Woman Today magazine.