Overview
This fall, professionals from across industries met at the third annual Aging by Design conference to discuss how the maturing workforce is transforming today's corporate environment. Sponsored by Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts, the two-day conference highlighted the need to develop business designs that lengthen the career life of the mature worker, and provide an accommodating professional environment that allows everyone to work at their full potential.
Speakers from across the country gathered to discuss the latest research on the business implications of a maturing workforce, as well as various approaches to interacting with the aging population. John Evans, business development manager, IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center, and Ed Vitalos, associate partner, IBM Human Capital Management, presented "Employer strategies for adapting to a maturing workforce."
Evans and Vitalos focused on the need to redefine traditional views of retirement and find new ways to increase the professional longevity of the maturing worker. They also shared IBM's strategy for engaging the maturing workforce by providing technology that makes learning and performing easier for older employees. By using technologies such as IBM WebAdapt2Me or IBM Easy Web Browsing, employees can work more productively and efficiently while creating a work environment that is more flexible and accommodating to prospective employees. Evans and Vitalos explained that this strategy allows organizations to retain their employees while at the same time attracting new talent.
Other Aging by Design speakers included Dr. Mary C. Gilly (University of California), Dr. Hope Jensen Schau (University of Arizona), and Dr. Mary Finley Wolfinbarger (California State University, Long Beach), who discussed the need to design Internet access to meet the needs of seniors. In contrast, Gary Moulton, (Microsoft), explored the question of whether the aging workforce would use technology if accessibility and usability features were improved.