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Associated Press Business News: Retirees, Training Step Into Labor Gap - MSN Money
Antoinette Lucero figured she'd never find a job. Unemployed and on welfare for five years, she wondered who would hire a deaf woman with little training.
But the 29-year-old single mother learned about a free program sponsored by staffing company Manpower Inc. to earn certification in electronics assembly. She's now an inspector and assembler at Sennheiser Electronic Corp. in Albuquerque, living in her own apartment and saving for her daughter's college education.
"It's a career for me, it's not just a job," Lucero said. "So there's a big difference. I never felt before that I had a career."
Companies are starting to get creative when it comes to filling jobs, looking to hire people who may be underemployed, sometimes disabled like Lucero, or luring back retirees by offering flexible hours. Staffing companies like Manpower and others say it's already tough to find skilled labor. Things are only going to get worse with the nearing retirement of the baby boomer generation, they say.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates 10 million jobs will be unfilled in 2010, when the first wave of boomers retires.
There are an estimated 78 million American boomers, who were born between 1946 and 1964. Worldwide shortages are expected for sales representatives, engineers, carpenters, plumbers and other jobs, according to Manpower, which last year placed 4.1 million people on permanent, temporary and contract positions in 72 countries.
Clients of the Milwaukee-based company are starting to plan for the impending shortage, often by first asking their employees about their retirement plans, said Jonas Prising, president of Manpower's North American operations. He estimates people 55 and older make up 15 percent to 20 percent of the work force.
"They can't just ignore it. They have to think about it and then decide how to plan for it," Prising said of the shortage.
Express Personnel Services is telling its 75,000 clients about the upcoming shortage and ways they can prevent it, said Linda Haneborg, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma City-based staffing company. She said the company's 500 franchises want clients to realize that there are now several different generations in the workplace and they all must be made happy if companies are to survive.
"We have every mix imaginable within the workplace," Haneborg said. "It's the most unique time in the history of the American workplace that we have ever experienced."
Manpower, Express Personnel and other staffing companies identify and create candidates for jobs through various free training programs.
Manpower has worked for years with the Department of Labor and public and private groups to identify people who are on welfare, unemployed or disabled who might be candidates for employment, said Melanie Cosgrove Holmes, vice president of corporate affairs for Manpower's North American operations.
Lucero entered a two-month Manpower-sponsored program called TechReach in March, taking courses in electronics with many other deaf people. At the end of May she was placed at Sennheiser, though she still works for Manpower. She said she and other deaf people excelled in the program because of tutors who translated technical information into American Sign Language. That wasn't available to her when she tried to go to college, she said.
Now Lucero, who lost her hearing at 2 due to meningitis, is the only deaf employee at Sennheiser. She jots notes to communicate with co-workers and they do likewise, though an interpreter is available, she said. She plans to take more courses, some on her own, to earn additional certification, and hopes to be hired permanently by Sennheiser.
"I am really happy that there are people out there to give us a chance, to give me a chance to show I can work and contribute to this world," she said.
Some 10,000 people were trained by TechReach last year alone. Since it began in 2000, the program has taught people skills in machinery and those necessary for keeping any job, such as arriving on time and dressing appropriately.
"It all boils down to diversity because we need to utilize every person that is able to work," Cosgrove Holmes said. "Diversity used to be the right thing to do. Now it's a business imperative."
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao encouraged attendees of a Hispanic rights convention in Milwaukee this summer to consider working for the government, which will have 60 percent of its work force eligible for retirement in the next 10 years.
Chao later told the AP that companies should consider retirees, who are often healthy and still want to contribute and earn money when they leave the work force.
"They're disciplined, they've got good work habits, they're steady reliable workers," she said. "They're experienced and they should not be discriminated against in the work place."
That's exactly what Principal Financial Group has noticed with its program called "Happy Returns," which brings retirees back on a temporary or permanent basis, said Kathleen Souhrada, director of employment for the retirement fund and asset manager, based in Des Moines, Iowa.
The program through the local Manpower branch has brought between 35 and 40 retirees back to the company, though they become employees of Manpower. Because they don't come back as employees of Principal Financial Group, they're able to continue withdrawing from their retirement plans.
The employees are offered flexible hours and need little training because they're used to the company's culture, Souhrada said.
"We knew that we had some great experience that our retirees had and we wanted to leverage that experience in a way that worked well for our retirees," she said.
Jacquie Timmons, 67, retired in 2000 after 41 years with Principal Financial but got bored after a year. Through the Happy Returns program she now works three days a week, often on new computer systems or monitoring company contracts.
One of the best parts is the flexibility, she said. She can plan lengthy trips to Hawaii, Alaska and Europe, and as long as she gives notice, her absences are covered. Even as she nears 68 years old, she has no plans to slow down.
"I get my challenge and I'm around people and I still like to travel," Timmons said. "And I have flexibility so I've got it made."
Antoinette Lucero figured she'd never find a job. Unemployed and on welfare for five years, she wondered who would hire a deaf woman with little training.
But the 29-year-old single mother learned about a free program sponsored by staffing company Manpower Inc. to earn certification in electronics assembly. She's now an inspector and assembler at Sennheiser Electronic Corp. in Albuquerque, living in her own apartment and saving for her daughter's college education.
"It's a career for me, it's not just a job," Lucero said. "So there's a big difference. I never felt before that I had a career."
Companies are starting to get creative when it comes to filling jobs, looking to hire people who may be underemployed, sometimes disabled like Lucero, or luring back retirees by offering flexible hours. Staffing companies like Manpower and others say it's already tough to find skilled labor. Things are only going to get worse with the nearing retirement of the baby boomer generation, they say.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates 10 million jobs will be unfilled in 2010, when the first wave of boomers retires.
There are an estimated 78 million American boomers, who were born between 1946 and 1964. Worldwide shortages are expected for sales representatives, engineers, carpenters, plumbers and other jobs, according to Manpower, which last year placed 4.1 million people on permanent, temporary and contract positions in 72 countries.
Clients of the Milwaukee-based company are starting to plan for the impending shortage, often by first asking their employees about their retirement plans, said Jonas Prising, president of Manpower's North American operations. He estimates people 55 and older make up 15 percent to 20 percent of the work force.
"They can't just ignore it. They have to think about it and then decide how to plan for it," Prising said of the shortage.
Express Personnel Services is telling its 75,000 clients about the upcoming shortage and ways they can prevent it, said Linda Haneborg, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma City-based staffing company. She said the company's 500 franchises want clients to realize that there are now several different generations in the workplace and they all must be made happy if companies are to survive.
"We have every mix imaginable within the workplace," Haneborg said. "It's the most unique time in the history of the American workplace that we have ever experienced."
Manpower, Express Personnel and other staffing companies identify and create candidates for jobs through various free training programs.
Manpower has worked for years with the Department of Labor and public and private groups to identify people who are on welfare, unemployed or disabled who might be candidates for employment, said Melanie Cosgrove Holmes, vice president of corporate affairs for Manpower's North American operations.
Lucero entered a two-month Manpower-sponsored program called TechReach in March, taking courses in electronics with many other deaf people. At the end of May she was placed at Sennheiser, though she still works for Manpower. She said she and other deaf people excelled in the program because of tutors who translated technical information into American Sign Language. That wasn't available to her when she tried to go to college, she said.
Now Lucero, who lost her hearing at 2 due to meningitis, is the only deaf employee at Sennheiser. She jots notes to communicate with co-workers and they do likewise, though an interpreter is available, she said. She plans to take more courses, some on her own, to earn additional certification, and hopes to be hired permanently by Sennheiser.
"I am really happy that there are people out there to give us a chance, to give me a chance to show I can work and contribute to this world," she said.
Some 10,000 people were trained by TechReach last year alone. Since it began in 2000, the program has taught people skills in machinery and those necessary for keeping any job, such as arriving on time and dressing appropriately.
"It all boils down to diversity because we need to utilize every person that is able to work," Cosgrove Holmes said. "Diversity used to be the right thing to do. Now it's a business imperative."
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao encouraged attendees of a Hispanic rights convention in Milwaukee this summer to consider working for the government, which will have 60 percent of its work force eligible for retirement in the next 10 years.
Chao later told the AP that companies should consider retirees, who are often healthy and still want to contribute and earn money when they leave the work force.
"They're disciplined, they've got good work habits, they're steady reliable workers," she said. "They're experienced and they should not be discriminated against in the work place."
That's exactly what Principal Financial Group has noticed with its program called "Happy Returns," which brings retirees back on a temporary or permanent basis, said Kathleen Souhrada, director of employment for the retirement fund and asset manager, based in Des Moines, Iowa.
The program through the local Manpower branch has brought between 35 and 40 retirees back to the company, though they become employees of Manpower. Because they don't come back as employees of Principal Financial Group, they're able to continue withdrawing from their retirement plans.
The employees are offered flexible hours and need little training because they're used to the company's culture, Souhrada said.
"We knew that we had some great experience that our retirees had and we wanted to leverage that experience in a way that worked well for our retirees," she said.
Jacquie Timmons, 67, retired in 2000 after 41 years with Principal Financial but got bored after a year. Through the Happy Returns program she now works three days a week, often on new computer systems or monitoring company contracts.
One of the best parts is the flexibility, she said. She can plan lengthy trips to Hawaii, Alaska and Europe, and as long as she gives notice, her absences are covered. Even as she nears 68 years old, she has no plans to slow down.
"I get my challenge and I'm around people and I still like to travel," Timmons said. "And I have flexibility so I've got it made."