Looking for a Silver Lining

As the US looks to fill the skills gap, aging employees are fast becoming a hot commodity. But, as Borders’ Dan Smith explains, managing them brings a fresh set of challenges.

America has a staffing problem, and the Baby Boomers want to help. That’s the message coming from Dan Smith, Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Borders, who believes his company’s efforts in recruiting and managing a more mature workforce are already paying dividends.

With 1200 retail stores and more than 34,4,000 employees worldwide, Borders has strategically positioned itself to reap the benefits of employing this demographic to help ring in store sales. “Older employees tend to be a lot morevery dependable,” he says. “They show up to work everyday. They make good decisions in selecting the job that they selectsuits them as individuals. And they’ve been around the block a few times, so when they make a career decision they know what they’re getting into. Overall, better decision-making, stability, customer service and loyalty – all combined with more knowledge – wraps up into a really great candidate.”

This high level of dependability also translates into reduced turnover rates, which means lower recruitment, training and replacement costs. “The turnover of those that are over 50 is significantly less than those under 30,” Smith continues. “You’re six times more likely to lose somebody that’s under 30 than over 50 in a given year, and that’s big important because it has training and other cost implications.” involved.”

Borders has certainly benefited from placing its faith in so-called ‘silver-collar’ workers. The retailer has witnessed a dramatic shift in their employee demographics as a result of their its targeted recruitment of workers over the age of 50. In the last six years, Borders’ percentage of employees in this age bracket has risen from six to 17 percent, and is projected to reach 25 percent over the next three years. “What sells books more so than anything else is somebody’s an employee’s knowledge and willingness to share it,” says Smith. “So , so to have someone who is well read and has experienced a great deal over his or hertheir lifetime – and is also knowledgeable about what it is that we sell in theis available in-store – is typically is better educated very valuable to our customers. Our stores are a type of kind of likea community center, and older people tend to enjoy this at community involvement.”

Smith believes the shifting demographics have been a good fit with the Borders’ store image and brand personality. “The older demographic matches up with our brand really well,” he says. “There’s a certain vibrancy to the brand and we aim to have vibrant employees, regardless of what age they are. Another part of our brand is to be passionate and knowledgeable, which again cuts across all ages. But a big element of our brand is focused on the community, and hiring older workers who want to be an active part in their communities clearly fits into that part of our brand as well. E, so verything about hiring older workers clearly matches up with our mission to be the being the headquarterspreferred place for information and entertainment knowledge and entertainment.which is what our vision is.”

Not only does the mature worker naturally fit the Borders brand personality, it also makes it easier to match customer demographics with employee demographics; more than 50 percent of all book purchases in the retail industrynationwide are made by customers in the 45-and-over age bracket. Results have proven that Borders stores consistently perform better the more closely the employee base reflects the demographics of the local customer base and the diversity of the surrounding community. “What we’ve found is that if the employees in our stores match reflect the consumer demographics that areof customers shopping those storesin our stores, our sales results are better,” Smith states.

Another key statistic that has been instrumental in Borders’ strategy to tie customer demographics to employee demographics is that the Baby Boomer generation happens to be the most economically powerful segment of consumers in the country with 70 percent of the total economic buying power. “The Baby Boomers are a force as it relates to buying product in America,” Smith says. “We know that over half of our book purchases in the industry come from those that are over the age of 45, so if we’re going to really cater to that customer then we have to have people in the stores that think like them, look like them and act like them. That’s clearly part of our strategy.”

Whilst excited by the opportunities such a strategy offers, Smith also acknowledges that employing older workers is not without its difficulties. “The key is getting the word out on the street that you’re interested in those over 50, because not every company is,” he says. “Many companies either don’t have the need or don’t see the value.”

So how is Borders approaching this challenge? “I’d say the biggest thing is Wwe’ve really consciously shifted our benefits and tried toto appeal to many diverse employee audiences and part-time workers. Older workers in particular often find Borders’ benefits to be of value,” explains gear our benefits to give something to part-time older workers that they value,” Smith. “At a time when most companies are walking away from benefits for part-time employeesrs, we’ve added medical, dental and vision benefits for those working as little as one day a week so they have access to a pretty goodan appealing healthcare plan. Also, the flexibility of the scheduling has been really hugeimportant; it’s okay if somebody wants to be part-time and work just one day a week. We also like to think that Borders is a great place to work, offering an environment where people can have fun and just be themselves. Borders is all about openness and diversity. In our stores, people get to be who they areemployees are valued for their individuality and older workers really appreciate that.”

So despite the fact that the first Baby Boomers are celebrating their 60th birthday this year, the generation remains as dynamic as ever, and Smith believes companies will increasingly look to this vibrant sector of the labor pool to meet their employment needs. “People are living much longer these days and starting to retire a little bit earlier so they’ve got a good number of years of retirement. They so people want to stay active,” Smith says.“Part of the Baby Boomer DNA is they want to stay activeremain involved in things, they want to contribute, they have a lot ofmany hobbies and things goalsthey want to do they want to pursue. When you combine the need to work with the desire to stay active and to keep learning, it’s led to this resulted in a new definition of retirement.”