Maybe older workers are the answer

June 9, 2023/Business/

Yesterday’s Funeral Director Daily article centered on the fact that many, especially in the Millennial age group, are seeking what they term a “Work-Life Balance” in their careers and our article pointed out that many who have worked in the funeral profession find that balance lacking in their lives. As was mentioned yesterday, that has caused some stress on finding professional employees for many funeral homes.

I had hardly finished writing that article when I stumbled on this article from Yahoo Finance entitled, “Employers are becoming more open to hiring older workers.” It appears, as one is quoted in the article saying, “In many ways, the pandemic opened doors for both employers and (older) workers as a result of the intense labor shortage and the rapid evolution of flexible work arrangements ranging from schedules to remote work.”

Up until that time many older workers sometimes felt left out in job interviews or seemed to be the “odd-person out” in a company’s layoff situation. However, it appears that the pandemic brought older workers back into the sight line of employers and, for both the employers and the workers, the situation seems to be working very well in this day of labor shortages.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Could it work in funeral service? Most funeral homes have no shortage of part-time older workers who help at visitations and funerals but they aren’t licensed staff and cannot always do the work that many of the licensed staff says keeps them, sometimes, too busy. But, could funeral homes help themselves by offering part-time positions to retiring funeral directors? . . . .What about a position to a retiring funeral director to come in two or three days a week to make arrangements or maybe to direct funerals so the other, younger directors, could either direct a funeral or make an arrangement that day instead of having to do both.

Or maybe a retiring funeral director could be scheduled to come in some mornings to prepare the deceased for visitations. . .or to operate the crematory. . . anything to free up the younger funeral directors who then could have what they term a better “Work-Life Balance”.

During these last few years lots of things have been tried to alleviate the employment issues. . We have almost full classes at the mortuary schools, and we are looking to military veterans to join our ranks, but maybe just a bigger shout-out to the grayer generation, asking for a little help would work. . . and it might be good for them. As another older worker in the Yahoo article stated, “I wanted to keep working and find a purpose at this stage of life, and there is a vibrancy from being around younger people that is not quantifiable.”

I think that reasoning about being around younger people is a palpable issue. As we age we all seem to like to stay on top of what the younger generation is doing and thinking. . . .what better way than to work alongside them one or two days per week.

Finally, older workers may be able to put a little bit more camaraderie into your business. And, maybe that can raise the boat for the entire organization. Another quote from the Yahoo article from a director of social trends states this, “Though they make up a small share of the labor force (7%), older workers are among the most satisfied with their job overall and with various aspects of their job, such as their relationships with their co-workers and their manager. They’re also more likely to find work enjoyable and fulfilling, and less likely to find it stressful or overwhelming, compared with younger workers.”

My suggestion to owners and managers. . . . if you haven’t tried this kind of process for understaffing issues, maybe it is time to give it a try. Reach out to recently retired funeral directors and ask them if retirement is what they thought it would be or would they like to come back to the funeral home on a part-time, less stressful schedule.

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