These ideas are good whether you get the bonus of older employees or not.

For companies and organizations, there is a surprising silver lining to the dark cloud of inflation which jumped 7.9% over the past year—the highest spike since 1982.

The Dark Cloud

New Inflation Forecasts

First the bad news: According to a report last Friday by Bloomberg, “Economists have boosted their U.S. inflation forecasts—again—and downgraded expectations for economic growth through most of 2023.” This, Bloomberg said, underscores the “growing risks to the outlook as the Federal Reserve tries to curb the fastest price growth in decades.”

Increased Chance Of Recession

“The consumer price index will now average 5.7% in the final three months of the year, up from the 4.5% estimated a month ago, according to the median forecast of 72 economists in a Bloomberg survey. The chance of a recession over the next year also increased to 27.5% from 20% in March. The March CPI report will be released Tuesday,” the news outlet reported.

Impact On Retirees

The recent rise in living costs is forcing retirees to turn to skilled freelance work to help supplement their income. According to some studies, more than 20% of them have gone back to the workforce as independent contractors, said Zoë Harte, the chief people officer for jobs marketplace platform Upwork.

The Silver Lining

The good news and silver lining is the fact that retirees who are returning to the workplace are providing a welcome and unexpected source of knowledge, expertise—and a competitive advantage—for companies and organizations.

A recent study of 700,000 older workers in New York City by Columbia Public Health found that, for small businesses in the Big Apple, there were 10 advantages to retaining and hiring older workers.

The list includes:

Older workers are skilled and experienced.
They stay in jobs longer and take fewer days off.
They have a strong work ethic.
They retain a businesses’ knowledge and networks.
The perceived technology gap can be overcome.
Older workers provide that the best teams are multigenerational.
Older workers play a critical role in training the next generation of workers.
They provide customers with consistency and personal attention.
Older workers attract more business.
Older workers are part of the business brand.

Reality Check

Upwork’s Harte observed that “The past two years of the pandemic have created a phenomenon that we call ‘The Work Awakening’ where professionals are rethinking their careers, reevaluating their priorities, and exploring new ways of working. This approach has led people to place greater emphasis on flexibility and spending time with family and friends, and less time on commuting or an antiquated ‘9-to-5, 5 day a week’ work model.

“In this new era, remote work has become highly valued, and rather than return to a full-time job with strict hours in an office building, many older folks are turning to freelancing to increase their earning power, gain more job flexibility, and pursue their passions, while maintaining their independence and ability to make their own schedules,” she said.

“This especially applies to older workers as they reach retirement age or consider a return to the workforce post-retirement,” Harte concluded.

Profile Of Boomer Freelancers

According to a report commissioned by Upwork and conducted last year by independent research firm Edelman Data & Intelligence, 21% of Boomer workers are freelancers; 8% of Boomers who are freelancers are retired.

Boomers vary in how they classify their freelance work, this includes full-time freelancers (23%), part-time freelancers (59%), and full-time employees who earn extra income from freelance work (16%).

Advice For Business Leaders

Harte noted that “businesses that bring on retirement-aged freelance professionals to bridge the talent gap can do several things to help them acclimate and successfully navigate remote independent work.”

She said the list includes:

Adding age diversity training into their broader DEI programs.
Being as inclusive as possible for meetings and gatherings.
Being very clear about expectations and overly communicative whenever possible.
Building or incorporating existing tools and resources, like playbooks or training, that teach team members how best to work together as a distributed team.
Offering accommodations for flexible work.
Providing opportunities that let older workers leverage their years of expertise or tenure.
Reevaluating job descriptions for generational jargon and lingo (digital ninja, rockstar consultant, etc.) that could turn older workers away.