Companies Focus On Keeping Aging Workers Fit

Workers taking part in a morning stretching routine at Duke Energy. (Duke Energy Corp.)

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that by 2018 about a quarter of the labor force will be 55 or older.

And a number of companies are trying to find ways to keep older employees working for longer, to avoid the expense of hiring and retraining new workers.

At Harley Davidson, trainers hand out ice packs to workers who are coming off the manufacturing line, while Duke Energy Corp. has instituted a special stretching program for linemen, who work repairing power lines.

Barry Poe, a 53-year-old Duke lineman in Rural Hall, N.C., told Here & Now‘s Robin Young that at 7:30 a.m., his team does a regimen of stretches designed to prepare them for their daily activities.

“If we climb a pole, we have exercises designed for that. If we do underground, we have exercises designed for that,” he said.

Poe says he even does the stretches when he’s not at work.

Workers taking part in a morning stretching routine at Duke Energy. (Duke Energy Corp.)

“I didn’t used to do stretches, and then when the company started doing it… it started making you feel a little better and it become [sic] habit,” he said.

Improved Safety Record

Senior Vice President for Power Delivery Jim Stanley says the program was started to reduce the number of worker strains and muscle pulls, and to keep employees on the job longer.

“It takes four to six years to technically train a line technician, and then another couple of years to get them the experience required to be a fully developed line technician,” Stanley said.

“We want folks like Barry to be working for us and have a career as extended as he wants it to be.”

Stanley says that from a business standpoint, the stretching program, along with a focus on ergonomics, has paid off- they’ve seen fewer workers’ compensation claims and insurance payouts, and the company just completed their second-best safety year.

Wall Street Journal: Keeping Boomers Fit
Los Angeles Times: Rocco Morabito Obituary And Photo Of Linemen

Guests:

Jim Stanley, senior vice president for power delivery at Duke Energy
Barry Poe, a 53-year old Duke Energy lineman in Rural Hall, North Carolina

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http://www.ohioken.com Ken Palosi

Where is Duke Energy’s employment office? I want to apply for a job there. I spent two years working as a temp employee at a regional electric utiltiy in Northeast Ohio and found my experience to be exactly opposite of those who work for Duke Energy. The utility I worked for not only did not value older employees it actually seemed to have a policy of pushing out those employee who were over fifty years old. As an older worker I have found it extremely difficult to get any employment of substance at all. Once I turned fifty years old most employers looked at me as though I was brain dead. With all the baby boomers reaching maturity most employers would be wise to try to utilize the talents of older workers.
- Jryan Bur
  
  Hello @OhioKen:disqus , Sorry to hear about your frustrating experience. Here is a link to the jobs search section of Duke’s website: http://www.duke-energy.com/careers/job-search.asp
  
  Best of luck,
  
  Jill Ryan, H&N
  - Ken Palosi
    
    Thanks Jryan, that is very nice of you.