Saturday, November 16, 2019

Mr EH visits an age friendly company - Hustler Daily Thumbs Up - November 14



Hello fellow Encore Hustlers

Mr EH apologies for not posting for the last couple of weeks but he has been traveling on a back-to- back week of holiday in Washington DC and New York City and then a week of visiting a suppliers shop in Alabama.

There will be a couple of posts upcoming relating to some observations during the DC/NYC visit but this post is about Mr EH finding a workplace in Alabama that not only values older workers but actively encourages them to stay working.

The shop is located in a small town in rural Alabama, midway between Birmingham and Atlanta.  Surprisingly enough this company, nestled in the hills near the end of the Appalachian Trail, is fabricator that manufacturers equipment for the military, aerospace, oil & gas, and medical devices.

While having an opening meeting with the company president, the topic of retaining and hiring workers in the current tight labor market came up.  According to the president, when a long term employee retires decades of hard to replace experience also walks out the door.  Rather than trying to recruit and train a new employee the company has taken the tact of offering retention bonuses.  For example if a senior worker agrees to stay another year the reward will be a $10K bonus.

What a switch from the attitude of many companies that are clamoring to find ways to push aging workers out the door.  Of course it helps that company is privately owned, with the president also being the founder.  An aerospace engineer and veteran fighter pilot, he has, at age 75, no plans to retire since he still having too much fun running his company.

Hopefully this attitude of appreciating and rewarding older workers will become a model to other companies.

Cheers,
Mr. EH



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