Engineering firm ranks eighth for Best Employer for Workers Over 50
For the seventh year, Stanley Consultants, Muscatine, Iowa, has been recognized by AARP as a Best Employer for Workers Over 50. The company ranked eighth on this year's list of the 50 top firms from across the country. AARP’s annual recognition program acknowledges companies and organizations with policies that best address an aging workforce.
The Best Employers list recognizes companies for demonstrating exemplary practices in the recruitment, retention, and promotion of mature workers. It also distinguishes companies that foster a workplace that supports the aging workforce and that encourages workers to remain active. More than 200 employers applied for Best Employers honors, the highest total in the nine year history of the program.
"In our profession, expertise combined with experience is more critical in our service to clients than most other factors," says Dale Sweere, director of human resources for Stanley Consultants. "Our employees age 50 and over bring invaluable knowledge of our company and their areas of expertise to our client service — this gives us a competitive edge." Currently, 33% of Stanley Consultants employees are age 50 or older.
Phased retirement arrangements that enable employees to reduce work schedules before full retirement, a "time off bank" of donated vacation time which employees can use to care for family members, and a 401(k) plan that the company contributes to — regardless of employee participation — are just a few of the reasons why AARP named Stanley Consultants one of the Best Employers for Workers Over 50. "We have had a great ability to attract and retain exceptional people," Sweere says.