~~~~~~ Senior Solutions ~~~~~~
Is Your Business Senior Conscious?
What do I mean by "Senior Conscious"? Senior Consciousness should be as important to a business owner as profit, but is it? Despite statistical data based warnings to employers suggested adjusting Family Leave policies to address the issue of Elder Care, many employees (especially women), must take time off to handle a parent's health care emergency. Some lose their jobs, or have to quit because taking care of a loved one can't always be done in 3 days.
Most individuals ( business owners or not), realize that people are living longer, but beyond the possibility that they themselves may live to be 90, do they understand how it will impact their lives?
I propose that workers are so worried about paying their bills and meeting business and family obligations that they don't have time to think about much else. Many feel "stuck" with their jobs considering themselves "lucky" in many cases to even have one, as millions of workers have seen their employers close up shop and move to foreign countries. This leads to complacency of thought, and the useful conferencing of ideas between employees and employers which can lead to increased productivity. The Japanese understand the value of employee input and have developed successful management styles which employ it.
As employee stress and depression rise, so do health care costs. This should be incentive to the business owner to develop their Family Leave policies, because healthier workers are happier workers. Any business owner contributing to a worker's health insurance coverage costs, should be interested in doing whatever they can to lower their rates. Including Elder Care provisions such as flexible scheduling, working at home, and offering other in-house services into your Family Leave policy, is a preventive means to decreasing health care costs to the company.
The percentage of workers needing to take an indefinite amount of time off to help a parent when a health care crisis occurs, continues to rise. (Table 1)
There is another direct relationship between employee productivity and stress and depression. As stress and depression over conflicting responsibilities between employee and family increase, productivity declines. (Table 2)
What does your business do to accommodate this need? Is your business progressive in its thinking on this matter or are you lost in an archaic paradigm of business management? Are you Senior "UnConscious"? Telephone menus for instance DON'T work for Seniors! Younger people don't like them either! Do your customers hear one when they call your company?
Being Senior Conscious encompasses more than having a Family Leave policy that understands that doing so will save you money and increase your profits. As the word is defined, conscious according to Webster, means "capable of or marked by thought, will, design, or perception". It is also defined as " done or acting with critical awareness", "likely to notice, consider, or appraise". Accordingly, a "conscious" business owner would be aware of all things "Senior" such as spending patterns, marketing trends, preferences and other factors that can be easily determined for the elderly.
By being Senior Conscious your business will thrive, NOT decline as Boomers begin to enter the "Senior Market". Your company will either be on board and "conscious", or left behind as your competitors "Wake up and smell the coffee".
There are many factors effecting today's economy that you may not have any control over. You can however, increase your chances of continuing your business success by incorporating "Senior Consciousness" into your planning.
Businesses need to understand the needs of the Elderly, and what the effect of an elder crisis will mean personally to you, your colleagues, and your valuable employees. If you forget how valuable your employees are, try running your business without them!
Senior Solutions of Pinellas County is here to assist your business through consultation services. Please click below to begin developing a Senior Conscious plan for your business. Be proactive instead of reactive to changing conditions in the work force.
