The Best Employee Benefits for an Aging Workforce

As leaders in ergonomics and injury prevention for global workforces, we are seeing a trend in our workforce – older employees are postponing retirement and working longer.  For us, it means using solutions and strategies to improve workers’ health, workspace environments, stretching programs and onsite physical therapists where needed to ensure healthy, happy employees.  Sometimes, our work comes through the Risk & Safety team, sometimes through a Workers Compensation Director and sometimes as an employee benefit through Human Resources.

For companies in today’s world, an aging workforce often means working with us on solutions to reduce workers’ compensation injuries, especially soft tissue injuries and making sure the workforce is as productive as possible.  Because productivity has a lot to do with personal motivation and wellness, we often use the term “Win Your Day,” which means making the most of your day and your life.  This crosses into employee benefits as well as employer savings. 

Below are some of the best employee benefits we have seen for an aging workforce.

• Work Environment Accommodations – ergonomic workstation evaluations, appropriate furniture and virtual training on work habits that keep employees healthy.
  
  
• Flexible Hours and Telecommuting – making sure your employees are able to take time off when they need it, especially in the older workforce. We have seen flexible hours, to enable a more rounded family approach in all sorts of interesting ways – including hour swapping among employees and telecommuting options.
  
  
• Assistance in retirement planning – this perk helps an aging workforce plan for eventual retirement, as their needs may be changing.
  
  
• Stretching & Exercise Reminders – we find these to be extremely beneficial in both the office and warehouse / industrial environments. Simple stretching and exercise breaks improve health and reduce injuries.
  
  
• Onsite Therapists – having an onsite therapist, who comes to your workplace on a scheduled basis, allows employees to catch early symptoms before they become an injury and promotes a feeling of importance among your workforce. In addition, it saves money in workers compensation injuries and time off work.

The most interesting thing about these employee benefits is when we also researched the best employee benefits for millennials and suprisingly, many of their favorite benefits are similar.  Younger workers want more flexible hours.  They want accommodations to their work environment.  They may not have the aches and pains of an older employee, but prevention now will help them establish healthy work habits and keep the entire workforce healthy and more productive longer!

We hope this article was interesting to you and invite you to download our one page study, “How to Improve Health & Safety with Ergonomics, a look at Health as an Employee Benefit.”

You will learn how we helped a global organization improve employee health and safety with Ergonomics.