Older Workers Committee Meeting

May 9, 2017: 10:00 AM
Marion Martin Room, 45 Commerce Drive Augusta

OLDER WORKERS COMMITTEE MEETING 05/09/17

Attendees: Don Harden (phone), Peter Letourneau

Staff: Cheryl Moran, Joshua Howe

First, I want to welcome Peter Letourneau as a new member. He recently retired a few years ago from Geiger, where he was a V. P. of several things during his long career there.

Silver Collar Employer Award

Update: We have not received any applications yet. We need to be pro-active as we possibly can. Here is the link for the flyer and application if anyone is asking. http://www.maine.gov/swb/committees/older_workers

Gray is the New Green (Summit on the Aging Workforce)

Don Harden and I attended the Summit on Monday, May 8th in Concord, NH. There was a lot of energy, concern and seriousness in reference to the aging workforce.

Here is some of the take back I want to share:

o Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire have the oldest aging workforce in the Nation. Maine #1, Vermont #2 and New Hampshire ranked 3rd. o One of the big concerns was how to get the word out to small business owners. o Big businesses are aware but not doing much or anything. o Older Workers and millennials have similar demands of flexibility in the workplace. o Reverse mentoring ? opportunity for multi-gens to work together. o Putting the pieces together ? Awareness, Communication, Opportunity and Engagement. o How we market our jobs matter ? the wording needs to be welcoming. o Need to do a better job at providing Data. o Bottom line, the more you retain, the less you will need to recruit. o Need to change Legislation from 20th Century to 21st (not to penalize people on Social Security). o Warning ? Tightness of markets will be astronomical in the future if we do not change.

Other

Cheryl will check to see if she is able to obtain data of services received at the CareerCenters covering age 50 ? 54, 55-65 and 65+. MJL or CWRI may have that data.

Meeting adjourned

Next meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 13 from 10am ? Noon in the Marion Martin room, CMCC Augusta.

Respectfully submitted by Cheryl Moran

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