Comments on: WHY I LIKE WORKING WITH OLDER PEOPLE

By: Tweets that mention WHY I LIKE WORKING WITH OLDER PEOPLE | -- Topsy.com

Tweets that mention WHY I LIKE WORKING WITH OLDER PEOPLE | -- Topsy.com — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:46:08 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by JanSimpson, Joëlle PEYRET. Joëlle PEYRET said: RT @JanSimpson: Why I Like Working With Older People – interesting read http://bit.ly/6upxad [...]

By: Laura

Laura — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:54:36 +0000

Hi Arsen – Yes, she is inspiring! Let me check with her regarding another article. Can you tell me a little bit about your blog or publication?

By: Arsen

Arsen — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:17:24 +0000

Your 74 year old boss is so inspiring. I’d love to hear more about her. Would she be willing to share her experience in another article? Maybe 10 tips she has learned over the years.

By: Laura

Laura — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:17:13 +0000

Larry – thanks so much for your thoughtful response! I can’t necessarily speak to the formulas that guide company hiring policies but have no doubt that health insurance factors into their decisions. However, your comments speak to ageist policies at play since both insurers and companies are generalizing about the health and well being of people based on their age. As Mike points out in his post, a 60 year old today may be as healthy or healthier than his 30-year old counterpart. I know that most of the people I work with (50+) are really healthy – they exercise (ie. pilates, swimming), are socially engaged and take time to become better educated health consumers.

I’d personnally like to see older people become more vocal about ageist policies. You’re a huge demographic group with lots of political muscle – start excercising it .

By: admin

admin — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:46:28 +0000

Mike left a message about this on my facebook account:

Great article, and not just because I’m 68 years young chronologically. There’s a very large group of us “geezers” who are energetically and totally engaged in life, who don’t really notice that we are growing older (except for the grey hair), often despite health problems that in some cases are very serious.

By: Larry

Larry — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:14:15 +0000

I really enjoyed your post!

Back in the early 80′s I had a conversation with a senior executive of one of the nation’s largest financial institutions and as one would expect in those days he was in his 60′s. During our conversation he warned that America was on the road to collapse because of the increasing costs associated with healthcare and retirement benefits. Senior personnel in a growing number of companies are being replaced at an alarming rate by younger college graduates that have some knowledge but lack the ability and insight gained through experience. He went on to say something like “each rung on the ladder of success is important – if you skip a few rungs you change the balance of business”. The insurance/healthcare industry is forcing companies to skip rungs.

Well here I am in the early 2000′s. I am now 60 and have been on my share of job interviews over the past few years and can say that I am very surprised to see such a large number of hiring and company managers who in their 20′s and are vey uncomfortable interviewing an older applicant and appear to be reluctant to consider applicants who are not within the optimum age & health guidelines set by their insurance provider.

It seems to me that it is not the hiring or HR managers who are to blame it’s the insurance and healthcare industry who dictates who can be hired with a formula of 25 to 35 years of age, no personal or family health issues, weight, non-smoker, etc. This type of formula makes it very difficult for hiring managers to select candidates based on abilities, experience, work ethic, and how much they can add to the growth of the company.

I think it’s time for American business and work force to dictate cost formulas to the insurance and healthcare industry.

Larry