Older Adult Employees and Employers Honored
(ATLANTA - June 13, 2007) Outstanding employees who are 60+ and their employers from across metro Atlanta were honored today during the annual Metropolitan Atlanta Employee 60+ Awards luncheon. The event calls attention to the more than 400,000 older adults in the region, a population expected to triple to 1.2 million by 2030.
The event’s top honor – Employee of the Year – went to Anna Thompson, principal program specialist with the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Workforce Development Division. CVS/pharmacy was named Employer of the Year for its commitment to hiring and promoting older workers. CVS will represent metro Atlanta at the state’s Older Worker Awards Luncheon in August.
“The individuals recognized at today’s luncheon are only a few of the thousands of older adults who make countless contributions to businesses and organizations throughout metro Atlanta every day,” said Cathie Berger, chief of ARC’s Aging Services Division. “We are delighted to salute these employees and the businesses that recognize the gifts and talents that mature workers bring to the workplace.”
A resident of Cobb County, Thompson, who will soon be 75, has led several large projects, including a national experiment within the Workforce Investment Act system of one-stop centers to study which of several approaches held the most promise in helping individuals select occupational skills training for employment. She also managed an initiative with Healthcare of America that provided training scholarships and stipends for persons going into nursing fields. A third project has helped nursing home workers obtain training so that they can move up a career ladder in an occupational field that experiences extreme turnover and burnout. She has served as a mentor for workforce professionals around the state.
CVS/pharmacy actively recruits older employees. Through its innovative mature worker partnerships and programs, CVS/pharmacy has increased its percentage of employees age 50 and older from 7 percent in the early 1990s to more than 17 percent today. CVS/pharmacy's unique mature worker programs and initiatives include:
• CVS/pharmacy’s Snowbird Program lets employees transfer to a different CVS/pharmacy location on a seasonal basis to manage the swell of business in warm climate stores during the winter months.
• The CVS/pharmacy Senior Pharmacist Legacy Mentoring Program uses the talent and experience of senior pharmacists, working and retired, to mentor apprentice pharmacy technicians and high school students in order to cultivate and reinforce their interest in entering pharmacy careers.
• CVS/pharmacy offers a benefits package to part-time workers, realizing that while older or low-income workers may not be ready to work full time, they desire health and other benefits.
The luncheon also honored six older adults with Distinguished Service Awards recognizing their outstanding achievement as mature workers: Richard Boyles, Cobb County Senior Services; Martha Mann, Floor and Décor; Loretta Nelson, Georgia Department of Labor; Hassan Ortiz; Georgia State University; Joan Quintana and Mary Smith, Publix; and James Talley, Fulton County. A Distinguished Service Award also went to the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice.
The Metro Atlanta Older Worker Project and the Atlanta Regional Senior Employment Collaborative, which consists of the Atlanta Regional Commission; AARP–Foundation–Work Search; Your Tools for Living, a division of Jewish Family & Career Services; and Experience Works, sponsored the luncheon in cooperation with Fayette Senior Services, Fulton County Office of Aging, Georgia Department of Human Resources, Georgia Department of Labor, Grand Hyatt Atlanta, Gwinnett Senior Services and Publix Super Markets.
More About Older Adults in Metro Atlanta
The Metropolitan Atlanta Employee 60+ Awards Luncheon calls attention to a critical – and growing – segment of metro Atlanta’s population. The number of older adults in the region has grown over the last decade at a rate slightly higher than the general population, outpacing it in six of the 10 counties in the region. By 2030, older adults will comprise one in five people in metro Atlanta.
According to U.S. Census numbers from 2000, the most current information available, Fulton County is home to the 10-county region’s largest population of older adults, with 69,623. DeKalb is second, with 53,881, followed by Cobb (42,218), Gwinnett (29,430), Clayton (13,840), Cherokee (9,349), Henry (8,777), Fayette (8,224), Douglas (7,003) and Rockdale (6,058).
More information about metro Atlanta’s older adult population.
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The Atlanta Regional Commission is the official planning agency for the 10-county Atlanta region, including Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale counties as well as the City of Atlanta and 65 other municipalities. The Atlanta Regional Commission serves as a catalyst for regional progress by focusing leadership, attention and planning resources on key regional issues.
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