Employers Say to Older Employees: We Like You

Oct 10, 2011

Sally Field and WAHVEBaby boomers might start to feel like Sally Field.

The actress, well known for her role in ABC TV series The Flying Nun from 1967-70, made an earnest speech at the Academy Awards audience while winning an Oscar for her starring role in the 1984 drama Places in the Heart. Famously, Field gushed: “… I’ve wanted more than anything to have your respect. The first time I didn’t feel it, but this time I feel it, and I can’t deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!”

After Field’s acceptance speech, her line “You like me, you really like me!” was often parodied for being mawkish. Her line, however, actually was a subtle reference some wry dialogue spoken by Field in her prior film Norma Rae—for which she also won an Oscar for her depiction of a union organizer.

Field came to mind when we at WAHVE were reading the Forbes magazine article headlined: “Employers Really Do Like Older Employees…Really.” Blogger Kerry Hannon wrote: “Employers really do like older employees.”

Hannon cited an employer survey from financial services behemoth Merrill Lynch, stating the firm found that “an overwhelming 94 percent of employers feel it is important to retain older employees for a longer period of time before they retire because of the talent and skills they possess.”

WAHVE finds insurance firms like older workers not because they’re in retirement or because they are of a certain age—but because they are productive and cost-effective.

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