Secretary Bump Announces Grants Targeting Retention Of Older Workers

Thursday, February 5^th, 2009 --- Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Suzanne M. Bump announced today that seven Older Worker Retention Strategies Grants have been awarded to local business and organizations across the Commonwealth. Despite the difficult economic times, a variety of industries in the Commonwealth are facing shortages of skilled and experienced workers.

"The purpose of these grants is to research and design methods of retaining older workers in fields such as Health Care, Manufacturing and Higher Education,” said Secretary Bump. “With these new strategies in mind, businesses in the Commonwealth will be better prepared to preserve and maintain an experienced and knowledgeable workforce.”

Today's announcement impacts a wide array of businesses and organizations in every corner of the Commonwealth. Awarded organizations began receiving the grants in November and December of 2008.

Grant Awards:

The Bay State Medical Center has received a grant in the amount of $50,000. The grant is focused on developing retention strategies for Registered Nurses in the field of Surgical Services. The Bay State Medical Center will explore changes in a wide range of RN duties including scheduling, work flow, work environment, job re-design and knowledge transfers. Their findings will be shared with the CANDO project (Collaborating for the Advancement of Nursing Developing Opportunities) in Western MA.

The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has received a grant in the amount of $50,000. The grant focuses on analyzing strategies that may impact the retirement of Perioperative nurses at the Hospital Beth Israel will undertake a workforce analysis including focus groups, surveys and interviews focused on identifying factors that may support knowledge transfer and retention.

The Institute for Community Inclusion at UMass Boston has received a grant in the amount of $50,000. The grant will go towards a study of tenured faculty. The Institute will collect input from faculty and use it to explore phased retirement options and post-retirement employment options. The findings will be made available to the public and could be utilized in determining strategies for other state employees.

The Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership and its partner the Western MA Chapter of the National Tooling and Machining Association have received a grant in the amount of $50,000. The Partnership will analyze over 1,281 employees from 33 different businesses who are employed as Machinists, Set-Up Operators, Machine Operators and Production Workers. The Partnership will develop and test an assessment tool and methodology that will demonstrate the business impact of retaining or losing staff. Six companies will pilot the tool to develop customized retention strategy plans. Once tested, the tool and methodology will be made available to other companies.

The Merrimack Valley Workforce Investment Board in Lawrence and its partner, New England Die Cutting in Haverhill, have been awarded a grant in the amount of $38,537. The Board will analyze a targeted group of fourteen employees at its partner company, through interviews and focus groups. The information and feedback collected will inform the development of a customized retention strategy plan. The written report and methods for developing the plan will be available to be reviewed by other businesses as a model.

The UMASS Medical School in Worcester has been awarded a grant in the amount of $50,000. The University will work with staff and union representatives to determine a process to identify “mission critical” positions based on expertise, education, risk and difficulty of replacement. Those employees who are deemed "mission critical" will be offered an opportunity to work on an individualized plan to utilize the "flexible work options" program. The results and rate of success of these strategies will be shared with other UMASS campuses.

The UMASS Memorial Medical Center in Worcester has been awarded an additional grant in the amount of $50,000. The hospital will gather input from RN's over age 50 who are in direct patient care roles. The study will include an online questionnaire and focus groups of RN's. These results will be analyzed to inform a set of recommendations to the hospital administration on strategies to retain these staff.