Why Some Companies Hire Older Employees
Posted by servScene on June 29, 2009
While we’re all familiar with the concept of “ageism” – discrimination against older people — in the work place, there are actually some companies that deliberately choose to hire older employees.
An example is Wal-Mart, the well-known discount supercenter. Wal-Mart likes to hire retired people to be “greeters,” the people who stand in the doorways and hand out coupons or baskets.
I think part of the reason they hire older people is because they’ve realized this demographic represents major savings for their company. They don’t have to pay them as much, for one thing, and they can usually keep them at part-time hours — since they are retired and probably pulling a pension from another job. But most importantly, they don’t have to worry about making them full-time and paying them benefits, because they are already covered under Medicare.
I wonder if companies like this that hire older people ever offer supplemental health insurance to their employees. Surely it wouldn’t cost as much as the usual group plans, and might be a good way to attract older employees. For instance, they could offer Medicare supplements in Florida as part of their benefits package.
Companies are always going to gravitate toward employees that cost them less money. While most companies focus on hiring high school and college students for part-time jobs, Wal-Mart has recognized that older employees also offer the potential for substantial savings.
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