A6

By Jim Levine
This Week Staff

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Speak Up

There are so many people speaking out now for the "rights" and "protection" of seniors, that I sometimes wonder where society figured we lost our voices to speak for ourselves.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the independence of people as they grow older, and realizing that freedom is so much more than having an affordable roof over one's head, the ability to keep working productively if one wants to, and the unfettered access to health care as needed.

We've all heard that slogan that now that we've added years to a person's life, we face the greater challenge of adding life to those years. But who's responsibility is it to add life to the years?

I think of Art Linkletter, who was among the believers that "attitude is everything" but he took it a step further. The man who made a living with his "Kids Say the Darndest Things" program said the darndest thing himself. He said: "If you're old, enjoy it."

He explained his point of view this way.

"Senior citizens should look forward to old age. Demand your right to be independent, to have dignity, and to have your questions answered." Linkletter said seniors should work if they are able, exercise, eat well and even enjoy a bit of romance.

It seems based on recent news reports out of both New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island that companies are making more and more efforts to attract engaging, productive senior citizens to their labour force.

Just this week, the Prince Edward Island government announced it was looking for seniors to train in tourism and have them work the beaches and tourist bureaus this summer. It makes a lot of sense, since most of the travellers now are seniors themselves, or as we could say, old and enjoying it.

I have a feeling that a senior tourist consultant might have a better idea of what would be a reasonable trail walk or an excellent place to stay than a teen-ager trying to advise me. This is just a great idea all around.

We all know examples of friends and family members who are still labouring very productively within the work force well into their 60s and even 70s. In March, employment among workers aged 55 and older increased by 24,000 according to Statistics Canada. More than two million people in this age group are working, making up 15.3 per cent of the workforce.

In the past year, older workers have shown the fastest employment increase of all age groups, their annual growth rate of 7.9 per cent dwarfing the .9 per cent increase of workers aged 25 to 54.

This is tremendously valuable for companies who are facing a shortage of skilled labour. But companies who want to entice the older worker to join or to stay must understand that certain perks will be much more valuable than the traditional ones offered younger people in the labour force.

For example, flexible work schedules that allow some of the benefits of retirement are extremely popular. A firm can often get 10 excellent months of labour from a senior worker in exchange for allowing them two months off in February and March to go south, or a month off in the summer to enjoy a family vacation with the grandkids.

At a certain age and with a certain financial stability, many people are willing and very able to continue contributing their skills to a company, but they want to take the time to enjoy things that really matter to them as well, especially while they are young enough and healthy enough to travel and play with the grandkids.

Employers who are successfully attracting older workers in the Metro Moncton area are often offering job-sharing arrangements, part-time and on-call work and creating pools of retired experts who are available for special projects.

A recent RBC/Ipsos Reid survey found that four in 10 Canadians still plan to take full retirement when eligible, but 22 per cent of older workers plan to phase it in gradually, while 26 per cent intend to continue to work on a contract basis.

More and more, seniors are showing they are quite capable of carving out a world that works for them. They expect some flexibility, but in return offer experience, loyalty and well-honed skills. It's a win-win situation for everybody involved.