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Seniors are coming back to the workplace on their own terms
Tuesday, June 09, 1998 By Teresa F. Lindeman, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Norman R. Simpson carefully lists the benefits of his job: paid life insurance, profit sharing, a stock ownership plan, a 401(k) retirement account and health insurance.
"I like working for Wal-Mart," said the 71-year-old people greeter who puts in 33 hours a week in the retailer's North Fayette store. "We all call our bosses by their first names."
Wal-Mart, one of the nation's largest employers, long ago figured out that seniors provide a good pool of employees. Out of nearly 23,000 people who work for the company in Pennsylvania alone, more than 2,600, or 11 percent, are over 55.
Pennsylvania's Department of Labor and Industry predicts more employers will soon be discovering older workers. By the year 2005, one of every six workers in the state will be 55 or older. A quarter million of those will be over 65.
By contrast, the state is projecting the number of workers in the 25- to 34-year-old group will drop by about a quarter. "Companies that have traditionally grown by adding large numbers of low-paid younger workers will no longer have this option," a labor department report says.
In the retail industry, many companies have seen the shortage coming and have already begun building a workforce of seniors willing to work for relatively low salaries in return for benefits and flexible hours.
Vince Critchlow, 80, started working at the Giant Eagle in Monroeville nine years ago. After 40 years with Union Switch & Signal and then starting his own house painting business, he took a less physical job as a grocery bagger. He started at minimum wage.
As a member of Local 23 of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, Critchlow gets regular raises as well as health insurance, vision and dental coverage. That's important to a man who carries a snapshot in his wallet showing his prescription medicines lined up along his kitchen counter.
He also likes that his three-day-a-week job gets him out of the house and lets him interact with people of all ages. The college and high school kids are especially interesting. "Their talk is different," he said with a smile. "Sometimes they explain it."
Employers do have to make some accommodations for older workers, said Patty Van Why, the Giant Eagle personnel director who watches over Critchlow and many other seniors on the payroll. The main issues are health and hours, she said.
Seniors are generally not given jobs involving heavy lifting or forced to work nights. Van Why noted that every employee brings some issues to the job. College students only work during the summer, high school kids can't cover the fall days.
But she admits it's easier to make accommodations at a store that might have more than 250 people on staff, than it would be at a smaller place.
Giant Eagle is hiring for attitude, as much as anything, she said. The pre-employment screening test focuses on customer orientation.
Simpson's boss at Wal-Mart, store manager Lloyd Grimes, said all his workers need to interact well with customers.
That's important in a company where the store uniform includes a blue vest splashed with a huge yellow smiley face. As part of his job, Simpson puts smiley face stickers on any willing kids who come through the door, after handing their parents advertising fliers.
His resume includes many years at Trans World Airlines Inc., including work as a ramp agent and in air freight. He also worked at Hertz. "This job is the best of the three," he said. "I'll tell you that."
As the labor force ages, more employers may have to pay attention to the techniques that have helped retailers like Wal-Mart, Giant Eagle and McDonald's build large-scale teams of older workers.
From Ruth Sheppeck's perspective as employment coordinator for the Senior Employment Program in Butler County, the supply of older workers may be tightening up already. The program is run by the Lutheran Service Society through a contract with the Butler County Area Agency on Aging. The state provides some funding assistance.
"I have all kinds of jobs lying here on my desk now for seniors," said Sheppeck, who qualifies as a senior herself, although she declined to give her age. The positions she's trying to fill include retail jobs, driving positions and cafeteria work in nursing homes.
Unemployment rates have dropped so low -- 4.4 percent in Butler in April -- that there isn't a correspondingly large pile of applications, Sheppeck said. "I'm having a rough time getting people to come in."
Older workers may be having an easier time finding jobs without help from county programs. Giant Eagle's Van Why said she's seen a gradual increase in applications from seniors in the past few years.
She sees no reason to worry that her employees will leave for greener pastures. Her staff includes several seniors hired in the early 1990s. One woman had to take a month off, Van Why said, because she loved her job so much she was about to exceed the limit set by Social Security.
"I don't know that they would stay that long if they weren't happy."
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