32 minute read
Guest Columns
GUEST COLUMN Lou Glazer
COVID-19 punches hole in college enrollment
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Since the onset of the pandemic, far too many of Michigan’s high school seniors — particularly nona uent seniors — have had their dreams shattered. By either not enrolling in college or enrolling and then dropping out, or enrolling in post-secondary education at a level below what they aspired to and were qualifi ed for, these students have had their life chances diminished.
The impact of not earning a college degree is detailed by The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. The organization found that “obtaining a postsecondary credential is almost always worth it, as evidenced by higher earnings over a lifetime. The higher the level of educational attainment, the higher the payo . What’s more, the gap is widening. In 2002, a bachelor’s degree-holder could expect to earn 75% more over a lifetime than someone with only a high school diploma. Today, that premium is 84%.”
On average: • A high school dropout can expect to earn $973,000 over a lifetime. • Someone with a high school diploma can expect to earn $1.3 million over a lifetime. • A worker with some college but no degree earns $1.5 million over a lifetime. • An associate degree-holder earns $1.7 million over a lifetime. •A worker with a bachelor’s degree will earn $2.3 million over a lifetime.
Graduate degrees confer even higher earnings: • A master’s degree-holder earns $2.7 million over a lifetime. •A doctoral degree-holder earns $3.3 million over a lifetime. •A professional degree-holder earns $3.6 million over a lifetime.
Too many pandemic-era high school seniors are losing out on this opportunity.
Using data from the Michigan Center for Educational Performance and Information, the news organization Bridge Michigan calculated that 17,500 fewer high school graduates enrolled in college in 2020 and 2021
combined, compared to the average for the three previous years. The college-going rate declined from 62.9% from 20172019 to 54.6% in 2020, and to 53.5% in 2021.
In an article entitled “More students are dropping out of college during COVID — and it could get worse,” the Hechinger Report found “of the 2.6 million students who started college in fall 2019, 26.1%, or roughly 679,000, didn’t come back the next year, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. That was an increase of 2 percentage points over the previous year, and the highest share of students not returning for their sophomore year since 2012.”
Maybe most discouraging is the e ect the pandemic has had on high-achieving seniors, particularly low-income, high-achieving students attending predominantly nona uent high schools. These are students who are qualifi ed for and increasingly are being admitted to the most selective universities in the country, where college graduation rates are the highest
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MI VIEW WEST Garth Kriewall Michigan journalist, kriewall@hotmail.com
Our West Michigan employees are demanding more control of their work time. We need a policy. Cancel your vacations and work through the weekend to get it done.
GUEST COLUMN
Jennifer Kok What is the cost of being short-sta ed?
Most business owners can easily relate to the emotional toll being shortsta ed causes. Knowing exactly the cost of being short-sta ed or hiring the wrong person for your company can be di cult to measure, however. When surveyed, 62% of small business owners state they have made a “wrong” hire or bad decision a time or two when it comes to hiring.
Five ways it can cost a business:
Bottom line, profi ts, moola,
cash in the bank: Whatever you want to call it, employee turnover costs money. There is the time it takes to hire, the training time to bring a new employee up to speed, the loss of productivity that can equal lost sales. The average cost for each person who quits is 125%. What does this mean? For example, if you hire an hourly employee for $20 per hour and that person resigns, it will cost you on average $25 per hour to hire, train and get the next one to be profi cient. I realize this is hard to sometimes wrap our heads around, but your time as the business owner equals value and this cost a ects the direct bottom line.
Grass is always greener the-
ory: There has been a social media trend to celebrate quitting your job on social media. Hashtags such as #quitmyjobtoday #peaceout(insertnameofbusiness) have started to become a trend. Other employees watch this happen and then start to notice the aspects of their job that they do not like and focus on the negative instead of what your company does o er. The grass-isalways-greener theory then kicks in, which is when you look at other companies and think they will be better to work for — their grass is greener than my yellow lawn. Then they, too, quit, which starts point No. 1 all over again: turnover cost. Hiring the right people from the start will reduce this phenomenon.
Stunts company growth: This is a real struggle. How can you as a business owner proactively focus on growth plans, strategies and networking when you are constantly working in the business? It is extremely di cult to navigate this when you are constantly reacting to the revolving door of employees. In addition, if you are in the business of creating a product, how can you produce enough products to meet demand without sta ? You can’t. I see it often, companies turning o orders or turning down business.
Decreases profi t: When business owners are faced with mounting work and not enough employees, quick decisions become the norm. Making quick, reactive decisions might not be in the best interest of the longterm growth of the company and profi ts. We might pay more for services or delivery because we don’t have the time to go get them ourselves. We might not have time to analyze costs and instead buy what is easiest to receive. Meanwhile, we pay overtime to our current sta because we simply do not have enough. All these little reactions erode our profi t margin.
Increases burnout of owners:
Sadly, I am talking with more and more business owners that are frankly tired. They are starting to question if they can continue at this pace. If they don’t start fi nding dedicated sta , they are close to throwing in the towel. What a heartbreaking way to go out. Most of these business owners have passed the scary fi ve-year mark, they have more business than they can handle, they o er an excellent product or service, but they just don’t have the right bodies to assist.
What can today’s business owners do to start building sales and reducing costs when it comes to employee management?
The fi rst step is recognizing what we did before to recruit talent is not as e ective and it is time for a new strategy to hiring.
Jennifer Kok runs Next Wave Business Coaching and focuses on helping small business owners. She can be reached at jen@nextwavebusinesscoaching.com or by calling (616) 821-9623.
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GUEST COLUMN Brooks Crankshaw Performance and market forces drive company value
It’s the first question a small business owner thinks about when considering selling their business: “What is my company worth?”
Generally, a company’s price depends on its size and performance, timing in the marketplace, a buyer’s appetite and a seller’s willingness to sell. The price varies over time depending on these and other factors.
Tim Gerhardt, former owner of Allpoints, a commercial HVAC service company, describes his experience selling his company. “I began to get solicitations back in the early 2000s. Then, about 15 years ago, the calls stopped.”
Remember that at around that time the U.S. was deep into the Great Recession. “About three years ago, the calls began again,” Gerhardt said. “The value I was offered was higher and the deal structures better than offers from before. I sold my business in 2020.” (Editor’s note: Balmoral participated in that sale as an adviser.)
At that time, financial investors (for example, private equity funds) were amassing large funds to make purchases, and service companies were attractive because of their steady cash flows. The same remains true today. These funds now have over $800 billion to invest, and this phenomenon plays a role in driving values higher.
Note that many financial investors already own mid-sized companies and are growing their business through acquisitions. This is creating large service providers and manufacturers with resources and scale to quickly dominate any marketplace.
Why would a company owner want to sell? In some cases, owners are ready to retire from the business having experienced multiple economic downturns, not to mention a pandemic. Others are finding it hard to compete with larger companies and their deep resources. Still, owners are concerned about potential tax law changes that could take a bite out of sale proceeds. All want to take advantage of good prices still being offered to sellers.
For the time being, buyers remain interested in building their businesses through acquisitions, and sellers may need to act while the environment is still favorable. Company size and performance are critical to the value, in tandem with the market forces.
Brooks Crankshaw is managing director of Balmoral Advisors, a specialized investment bank focused on advising owners on selling their companies. He can be reached at BCrankshaw@ BalmoralAdvisors.com.
COVID-19 punches hole in college enrollment
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14
and where getting a degree can change lifetime and generational outcomes.
The chances of these students getting into the most selective universities went up with the pandemic largely because of many colleges dropping college entrance exams scores as a major criterion in the admission process. But as Paul Tough writes in a New York Times Magazine article entitled “Her school o ered a path to the middle class. Will COVID-19 block it?” far too many nona uent high school graduates who have the academic success needed to get into highly selective universities are not taking advantage of that life-changing opportunity because of the pandemic. They are either not enrolling at all or severely under-matching their academic skills with their choice of university.
We have a moral obligation to the high school seniors who because of the pandemic have under-enrolled, dropped out or under-matched. In addition, there will be a deleterious e ect on the Michigan economy for decades to come. The seven-fi gure lifetime earnings reduction from earning a high school degree rather than a bachelor’s degree or more depresses spending at local businesses. And Michigan employers — already faced with too few high-skilled professionals and technicians — will be faced with even greater high-skill labor shortages.
The good news here is we know what works to help all students enroll in and graduate from post-secondary education: high-quality college enrollment counseling, summer melt-prevention counseling, a suite of college completion services and fi nancial support for expenses beyond tuition.
In a time of unprecedented state budget surpluses and federal aid, restoring the dreams and improving the life chances of these high school students should be a state priority. We can and should provide direct fi nancial support and the proven suite of support services to all students of the classes of 2020-2022 who did not enroll in college, dropped out, or under-matched. Doing less means that we will not realize our commitment to equal opportunity and upward economic mobility for all of Michigan’s children.
Lou Glazer is president of Michigan Future Inc.
MRLA forms hospitality industry training school
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3
credentials needed to advance in the industry,” Smith said.
Students will work through the curriculum and supporting program. The in-person, instructor-led sessions also require various online assignments, while the strictly online format will be delivered 100% remotely. Some of the certifi cations require a proctor to administer the exam on-site, so a few in-person proctor fi eld o ces will be available in various areas of Michigan, Smith said. Additional classes will be available throughout the year.
Smith said the teachers are subject-matter experts who hold certifi cates in the areas they will cover, and they all either have worked or currently work in the fi eld.
The apprenticeship programs, which are sponsored by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation or the American Hotel & Lodging Association Foundation, have three educational tracks for on-the-job learning and related training instruction: restaurant line cook or hotel apprenticeship, lodging manager and restaurant manager. All students will already have a job in the industry and be working with their employer to complete their apprenticeship.
“You can have somebody at an entry level or relatively new to the industry start o in one of those programs where, as they are going through their apprenticeship with their employer, we’re able to provide the related instructional design that they need to fi nish the apprenticeship, and so that’s one half of what we’re doing. Then the other one, the leadership certifi cates, are for people that are currently working in industry that want to upskill their talents and be better at management,” Smith said.
She added the MRLA believes strong leadership is needed to help the industry reach its potential.
“People always like to talk about the industry as a place for high turnover rates. (We’re a) fi rm believer in ‘people leave bosses, not jobs,’ and the better the leadership is within the organization, the more we can grow and retain talent,” she said.
Courses in the leadership certifi cates will include training on unconscious bias and diversity, equity and inclusion; strategies to prevent sexual harassment; sta leadership best practices; schedule-building; and supporting employees.
Smith said anyone can attend the in-person Lansing cohort, not just Lansing-area professionals, and HTIM is planning to add future in-person cohorts in other cities once it determines where the demand is.
Each cohort will be capped at 35 students, in line with the model set forth by ServSafe and other national training programs to ensure comprehensive instruction and one-on-one time.
Smith said while she is not aware of any other similar training academies for the hospitality industry, MRLA followed the workforce development criteria set forth by Labor & Economic Opportunity for other industries so that the hospitality industry can better compete for talent.
“The growth potential for this industry is pretty unlimited, and for people who are looking for (variety), you never do the same thing twice inside the hospitality industry; it’s an ever-changing environment, it’s (fast) paced, it’s one where people can really grow, and we want to share that so people realize how much opportunity there is,” Smith said.
More about HTIM, including courses, fees and how to register, is available at htim.com.
CONGRATULATIONSTOALLTHE HONOREES!
CONGRATULATIONSTOALLTHE HONOREES!
MAKING HIRINGEASIER MAKING SINCE2012 HIRINGEASIER SINCE2012 SINCE 2012
Sports tourism pumps $55.5M into economy
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12
41% compared to 2019 (10,441).
Guswiler said some events that were scheduled for 2020 were hosted in other states that didn’t have the same restrictions in Michigan earlier in the year, but WMSC was able to reschedule some events for West Michigan, including the USA Masters Games and the Champion Force Cheer Nationals in 2021.
In addition to the rebound of sporting events for 2021, Meijer became the new naming rights partner of the WMSC’s baseball/softball complex in Rockford. WMSC also extended its partnership with Meijer by 10 years to promote youth and amateur sports.
Guswiler and his team are focused on increasing the number of traveling athletes and visitors and related hotel income, plus bidding on new events for 2022 and beyond.
To ensure that happens, WMSC promoted Melissa Brink to marketing manager for WMSC. She was previously the marketing specialist for the organization’s signature Meijer State Games. In her new role, Brink will report to Guswiler and provide day-to-day marketing support for WMSC and its operating entities — State Games of Michigan, Meijer Sports Complex — by developing email marketing campaigns, overseeing marketing initiatives, designing graphics and creating and managing online content.
WMSC also hired Conner Hicks as its national sales manager. He was the sales manager for Aimbridge Hospitality at the Holiday Inn Grand Rapids Airport, where he oversaw all group sales initiatives.
WMSC also hired Alyssa Bey as event coordinator. She graduated from Grand Valley State University with a master’s degree in higher education and a bachelor’s degree in sports management. She served as a sports management graduate assistant and worked seasonally for the West Michigan Whitecaps in 2021.
A new hub was added in Marquette for outdoor snow sports events.
“This will be another rebuilding year as we continue to build back our ratio of travel teams at the Meijer Sports Complex, increase the number of events and participating athletes with our signature Meijer State Games program, and win more new business bids that bring visiting athletes and fans,” Guswiler said. “In the meantime, we are excited to host some prestigious national events this year, including the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field National Championship returning to GVSU and the 2022 Junior Gold Bowling Championships, bringing 5,000 athletes to the area for three weeks. I am very optimistic about the future of sports tourism in West Michigan.”
Signature events on the 2022 calendar so far include:
•West Michigan Futsal Cup (Feb. 4-6) •Meijer State Games – Winter Games (Feb. 18-20 – Grand Rapids; 25-27 – Marquette) •MHSAA Competitive Cheer Finals (March 4-5) •MHSAA Boys Swimming & Diving D3 Finals (March 11-12) •2022 Griff’s Sled Hockey Classic (March 18-20) •Third Coast Fencing Cup (March 19) •USA Rhythmic Gymnastics 2022 Elite Qualifier (May 2022) •NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field National Championship (May 26) •MJVBA AAU Volleyball Tournament (June 3-5) •Meijer LPGA Classic (June 16-19) •2022 Junior Gold Championships (bowling) — youth U12-U20 (July 11-23) — first time for Grand Rapids to host •Beer City Open — APP Pickleball Tour (July 20-24) •Meijer Sports Complex baseball/softball events (including nine by Game Day USA): •Game Day USA Pre-Season Championship (April 22) •USSSA/BATL for the West AA (April 29-May 1) •Game Day USA Super Regional (May 6-8) •BPA Husky Blowout Bash (May 13-15) •USSSA/BATL Military Families United Classic (May 20-22) •Game Day USA Stars N’ Strikes Showdown (May 27-29) •Game Day USA Rumble in the Rapids (June 3-5) •Game Day USA Silver Series Championship #1 (June 1012) and #2 (July 1-3) •Game Day USA State Championship (June 17-19) •Game Day USA Meijer State Games of Michigan (June 2326) •USSSA/BATL for the State Open (July 7-10) •Game Day USA National Championship (July 14-17) •Blue Chip Softball Summer Slam (July 14-17) •USSSA/BATL End of Summer Bash (July 21-24) •USA Softball of Michigan State Championship Men’s Class E (July 30-31) •ISSA Border Battle (Aug. 5-7) •Game Day USA All Star Tournament (Aug. 19-21)
Congratulations Kelly and the 50 Most Influential Women in West Michigan
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Bill halts local bans on natural gas hookups
Measure would prevent municipalities from prohibiting use in new homes and businesses.
Sydney Bowler
Capital News Service
LANSING — Banning natural gas hookups in new homes and businesses at the local level is the latest example of environmental extremism, according to Sen. Dale Zorn, R-Ida, who proposes prohibiting local bans.
However, a recent study by Stanford University found that methane leaking from stoves inside U.S. homes has the same adverse climate impact as about 500,000 gasoline-powered cars.
Zorn’s new bill would preempt localities from imposing a ban on natural gas hookups. It would prevent counties, cities, villages and townships from prohibiting the use of natural gas in new homes and businesses.
But critics of the bill say it would “anchor us in an old economy and link us to a climate future that everybody should fi nd abhorrent,” according to Michigan Environmental Council President Conan Smith.
Prohibiting new connections would help fi ght climate change by incorporating heat pumps for heating or fi nding more e ective sources of renewable energy to create more sustainable communities, Smith said.
Zorn said in a press release that his bill would protect homeowners by “stopping these dangerous policies, which have been adopted in cities from Seattle to New York City, from coming to Michigan.”
“Not only is a piecemeal energy policy bad for our state, (but) banning the use of natural gas in homes without the electric infrastructure to replace it or assistance to help struggling families get new equipment is morally reprehensible,” he said.
Since 2020, 20 states have passed similar laws to block local governments from banning the use of natural gas, according to the press release.
According to Terry DeDoes, the senior public information director for Consumers Energy, bans on natural gas hookups would not be in the best interest of customers.
“When it comes to potential bans, we need a thoughtful approach in the cold climate of Michigan, an approach that balances a ordability for those customers who can least a ord it,” he said.
Last December, Consumers fi led an updated version of its Natural Gas Delivery Plan with the Public Service Commission.
Holland ranks first in quality of life among small cities
Study that tracks financial and other trends lauds affordability, economic health.
Anastasi Pirrami, Chloe Trofatter and Chloe West
Capital News Service
As the rain settled on this beach city recently, lights illuminated shops and restaurants along West 8th Street in Holland and artifacts of Dutch culture appeared from City Hall to the Tulip Time Festival Center.
This small city nestled off Lake Michigan ranks No. 1 in the state for quality of life in “Best Small Cities in America,” a study by WalletHub, a personal finance website that tracks financial and other trends.
The study defined small cities as those with populations of 25,000100,000 people. Prompted by the increased population shift from large cities into smaller ones, WalletHub compared more than 1,300 cities on five measures of livability: quality of life, affordability, economic health, education & health, and safety.
Quality of life was assessed by measures like average commute time, city walkability and number of bars, restaurants and cultural centers per capita.
Holland, Kalamazoo, Flint, Muskegon and Saginaw ranked in the top five of 39 small Michigan cities for these quality-of-life measures. The lowest were Holt, Eastpointe, St. Clair Shores, Lincoln Park and Garden City.
Downtown Holland has over 25 eateries — including restaurants, coffee shops and bars, according to the city’s website. Among them is Waverly Stone Gastropub, opened by Holland native Andy Westerlund in 2018.
The young restaurant survived the pandemic in part because of the community, Westerlund said.
Walkability is among the measures used to rank the quality of life in small cities.
“I’ve lived here my whole life and that’s something that Holland has always had,” he said. “Even in 2008 when the economy was really bad, everyone kept it local and supported local businesses.”
Holland also is internationally known for its Tulip Time Festival, an annual celebration of Dutch heritage and tulips in bloom with entertainment events and activities.
Gwen Auwerda, the festival’s executive director, has organized the event since 2011 and is planning her 12th festival.
Auwerda said she comes back every year for the people and her love of collaboration.
“It’s really the people in the community and the volunteers that just come from wherever,” she said. “Many people have moved here because they came to Tulip Time or in the summer, and they’ve retired here or moved here with their families.”
Such opportunities for cultural and community connection contributed to Holland’s rank.
“There are all kinds of amenities that have been built up in this community that makes this place a wonderful experience year-round,” Mayor Nathan Bocks said.
Holland has a 5-mile network of heated sidewalks, Bocks said. “If you’re a walker or runner, you can do a 5-mile run on clean, dry sidewalks on the snowiest day of the year.”
The city also has an extensive private and public park system in the downtown area. For example, Van Raalte Farm Park has 20 acres maintained for activities like hiking and skiing.
Parks and Holland’s award-winning seasonal plantings — more than just tulips, but various annuals and perennials for spring, summer, fall and winter — are a result of citywide cooperation, Bocks said.
“We partner with Hope College and local greenhouses and landscaping companies,” he said. “That’s just one example of a partnership between all of these different, connected-but-not-connected organizations saying, ‘How do we do things together to make this community a better place?’”
City Manager Keith Van Beek said Holland’s population has had marginal growth over the last decade. That’s due, in part, to a trend of people leaving larger cities for more close-knit communities, Van Beek said.
“What we’re finding is that we have a lot of people that (are) not so much reflected in the 2020 Census numbers,” he said, “but we absolutely are hearing stories every week of people that are moving to Holland from larger communities.”
Heather Lewis, who is originally from Brighton, did just that. “It’s quieter,” she said. “It’s definitely more family-focused here.”
Lewis works part-time at Threads on 8th, a downtown women’s boutique. In her free time, she volunteers as a hairstylist at Benjamin’s Hope, a nonprofit that provides housing and care for adults with disabilities.
Although Holland ranks high in quality of life according to WalletHub’s metrics, there’s room for improvement, said Arnold Weinfeld, Michigan State University’s associate director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research.
Weinfeld once worked with the Michigan Municipal League, an organization representing cities and villages. The group created a guide for place-making, a strategy for building community-centered public spaces and cities.
The guide highlights eight essential elements for place-making, such as cultural economic development, education and public transit. It also emphasizes the importance of welcoming diversity and multiculturalism.
Despite Holland’s culturally rich roots, it previously struggled with being open to diverse communities, Weinfeld said.
“Holland itself has gotten very diverse, especially with Spanish populations,” he said. “Holland Township has grown, as there has been a bit of white flight from the city.”
Weinfeld attests to the city’s
We’re big fans of people who look out for people.
Congratulations to Krista Flynn forbeing named one of 50 Most Influential Women in West Michigan. Hard work doesn’t always get the recognition it deserves, so when it makes a community better, we take notice. We appreciate all your efforts, and keep making us stronger.
Holland’s annual Tulip Time Festival draws visitors from around the country and the world, and often is their first exposure to the lakeshore town. Courtesy iStock
connected and robust downtown. “As a visitor, I can see where it has a high quality of life, but I’m not sure it would fall under being a welcoming community, as it still has some racial divides it needs to conquer.
“And not just racial divides, but human rights divides,” he said.
In 2020, Holland expanded its anti-discrimination ordinance to protect members of the LGBTQ+ community in matters such as housing, employment and public services. The city council originally shot down the proposed ordinance in 2011, but Brocks championed it when he was elected mayor. Van Beek said the city’s focus on improvements includes adding to the parks, shops and waterfront attractions and addressing affordable housing and diversity, equity and inclusion problems. “We are in the business of making a place where people want to live, work, play and visit,” he said. “We just want to be a place that’s welcoming to everybody and, as our mayor says, that everyone can call home if they choose and want to be here.”
Bill halts local bans on natural gas hookups
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16
The 10-year, $12 billion longterm plan would upgrade and update natural gas operations, according to DeDoes.
“The plan outlines a decade of investments, many already underway, to make our gas system even more safe, reliable, a ordable and clean as we deliver the energy our 1.8 million customers rely on,” DeDoes said.
“Those investments are focused on ‘hardening’ our system, not expanding it, because we expect the role of natural gas to continue evolving as technology advances and electrifi cation expands,” he said.
The Home Builders Association of Michigan supports Zorn’s stance, saying homebuyers should be able to continue to choose the energy that powers their homes, according to its vice president of government a airs and industry relations, Forrest Wall.
Natural gas is a reliable and cost-e ective way to power homes, he said.
“The intent of the single state construction code act is to provide uniformity across the state for residential construction,” Wall said. “So, a patchwork of local ordinances that ban natural gas really undermines that intent.”
Smith said environmentalists are not happy because Michigan still is using building code standards from 2015.
“We’ve got to transform our current building infrastructure, which means getting millions of Michiganders to make investments in their homes that maybe they don’t have the fi nances for,” Smith said. “We’ve got to have contractors who are skilled in increasing the e ciency of a building envelope, and we’ve got to have new technologies in place for both cooking and heating.”
He said the state has “a predilection for looking at things that progressive communities are doing, especially around the environment, and then stepping in and saying, ‘No, you’re not allowed to do that.’”
Smith recalls when the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners, which he was elected to, adopted a ban on single-use plastic bags to combat pollution and recycling problems.
“The state stepped in, the Legislature passed and Gov. (Rick) Snyder signed to ban our ban. (He) said, ‘Nope, as the local government, thou shall not ban that,’” Smith said.
Smith said there are no good long-term consequences when the hands of smaller units of government are tied, keeping them from innovation.
The bill has been referred to the Senate Local Government Committee, which Zorn chairs.
Workers needed, but older employees still face discrimination
This is despite surveys that show they are prompt and more reliable.
Hope O’Dell
Capital News Service
LANSING — Paula Cunningham has retired twice.
“Well, I transitioned twice,” she said.
Cunningham was the president of Lansing Community College then the CEO of Capitol National Bank. She’s been the state director for AARP Michigan since 2015.
She’s representative of many older Americans who want to stay in the workplace, even in the face of possible age discrimination.
“Not only are people waiting longer to retire, but they’re going back to work after they retire,” Cunningham said. “They want to go back to work.”
Close to one in three Americans in their 50s plan to postpone their retirement, and that number goes to one in fi ve for those in their 60s, according to a January survey by SimplyWise, a retirement planning website.
Those are the highest numbers since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to AARP.
As older Americans postpone retirement, the workforce ages.
Among those 75 and older, the labor force is expected to grow by 96.5% by 2030, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But many older American workers are experiencing age discrimination, which is at its highest since 2003. According to AARP, 78% of older workers have seen or experienced age bias on the job.
In Michigan, 2,489 age discrimination claims were made with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2017. This makes Michigan — which has the ninth-largest population — 12th in the nation for claims made.
In mid-January, the state Supreme Court heard arguments in a Saginaw County case fi led by a former human resources department employee who was turned down at age 60 when she applied for a different position. Coventry Medical Center hired a younger applicant instead.
A jury awarded Denise Doster $540,269 in damages, but a Court of Appeals panel threw out the verdict. Now Doster wants the Supreme Court to reinstate the award.
AARP, whose members are 50 or older, runs a program to help older applicants bypass discriminatory employers. Meanwhile, many older workers are calling for more legal protections, including a tougher federal law.
Discrimination often takes the form of comments pushing an older employee to retire or expressing the desire for a younger employee, said Jennifer Salvatore, a Detroit-based civil rights lawyer.
It also can include choosing a younger job applicant over an older one because of their age. In an extreme case, Salvatore said an employer set an illegal policy requiring employees to retire at 59½.
“In some ways, I feel like it’s almost more socially acceptable for people to discriminate based on age than it is to discriminate based on race or gender,” Salvatore said. “You hear more comments, you hear more direct evidence of age discrimination than you do other types of discrimination.”
Michigan AARP and Michigan Works! run a program where employers can list a job opening and an application is emailed to AARP Michigan’s 1.3 million members. AARP also hosts hiring events where employers and applicants can meet.
Cunningham said those employers know beforehand that applicants are older, which helps prevent discrimination.
The program was piloted in 2019 in Grand Rapids, Lansing and Detroit — 74 people were hired during that pilot run. After that, the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the program to virtual.
There are more than 100,000 unfi lled jobs in Michigan, according to Pure Michigan Talent Connect.
Older Michigan residents can help fi ll these vacancies, Cunningham said, and bring more experience to the table.
“The data has shown over and over and over again that older adults are more reliable,” Cunningham said. “They come to work on time, they stay all day. They don’t have drama. They’re great mentors for younger people in the workplace, so we need to get them connected” to employers.
Older workers tend to be more reliable and show up to work more consistently, according to a 2018 study in the academic journal “Revista De Gestão.”
There are federal and state laws protecting older workers. At the federal level, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects those who are 40 and older. In Michigan, the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act protects older residents.
But 96% of older workers said laws to combat age discrimination should be stronger, according to a 2020 AARP survey.
Salvatore said that the trend toward mandatory arbitration of disputes hurts all workers, including those who experience age discrimination. That means that employees sign a policy waiving their right for disputes to be heard in court by a jury rather than by an arbitrator who is often more likely to be pro-employer.
To strengthen protections for older workers, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill in November that would make clear that job applicants are covered by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.
Senate passage is uncertain due to a lack of Republican support, according to an article in Forbes.
If age discrimination is curbed, older workers can help fi ll the current labor gap, Cunningham said.
“For every job that’s unfi lled, it impacts our economy. People are not going to the movies (or) going to dinner because they’re not working,” she said. “It is a real issue for the state of Michigan.”
