The CRM Cynic: Why Not Hire Geezers?

Humana deserves a lot of credit for setting up a call center to serve elderly customers. (see above story). As Richard Levey reports, the firm trains its customer service reps in how to deal with seniors, asking them first if they have any idea what it means to be in that age category.

All well and good. But I have one question. Has Humana thought of hiring seniors themselves to work in the call center?

If it has, it’s an idea that might well be taken up by other companies serving the AARP generation.

For one thing, a 70 year-old retiree might well prefer to hear from a generational cohort. And there are many thousands available–older people who can barely make it on Social Security and the residue of their decimated 401ks.

People in that age group have good work habits, and they will not smoke illicit substances in the rest rooms (attributes that mean a lot these days).

And many are computer-savvy, contrary to stereotype.

All this was brought to mind by an article in the Harvard Business Review (where else?) on how to manage the aging workforce. As the piece opens, a 58 year-old employee is being questioned by a 45 year-old HR director. The older man is disillusioned with his young boss.

The HR director challenges him, and gets this response:

“I’ve been here a long time, and I know this business inside and out. If I say a man does not how to manage, why not assume I may be right? Tell me, Frank, when it gets to be ten years from now, will you know less about how to do your job—or more? And what if everyone has stopped listening?”

The piece concludes that companies should expect “an employee workforce that is far more diverse in terms of nationality, age and gender.”

Yes. And as an aging baby boomer working for a 75 year-old man, I say they should go for it.