Attention: You With the Graying Temples

Over 50? Underappreciated? Think about switching careers. Consider the health care industry.

More than half of the Top 50 companies for workers over 50 are hospitals, health insurers, or other companies tied one way or another to the business of medicine.

The list, prepared by AARP and released today, includes Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and Scripps Health in San Diego; Blue Cross Blue Shield Association in Chicago and the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Big cities are not a prerequisite. Mercy Health System in Janesville, Wisconsin, made the list, as did the Jennings Center for Older Adults in Garfield Heights, Ohio; Leesburg Regional Medical Center & The Villages Regional Hospital in Leesburg, Florida; and Monongalia General Hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Health care enterprises aren't the only employers kindly to over-50s, of course, although they do account for 26 of the 50 spots. Six manufacturers made the list (including SC Johnson, at No. 1), as did six financial services companies, and five educational institutions.

Among the states, Illinois had the most enterprises on the list, with six. Florida, Virginia, and Pennsylvania had four each. Wisconsin, New York, and New Jersey each had three. Twenty-four states were not represented on the list at all.

What puts a company on the list? AARP gives some examples:

Mercy Health System was selected because it provides a variety of alternative work arrangements, such as letting nursing "float" among different facilities or departments to suit their personal schedules. It also permits "seasonal work" that lets employees go on leave while remaining eligible for benefits.

Principal Financial, in Des Moines, Iowa, also offers flexible scheduling and "working caregiver leaves" that employees can use to work a part-time schedule for up to 12 weeks and keep their job security and full benefits. The company also automatically enrolls all employees in its 40l (k) program.

In addition to flexible schedules, Michelin North America also offers workers temporary assignments in other departments, and access to formal job rotations. Retirees are invited back to work part-time.

"Focusing on the employee's personal needs pays dividends," said AARP C.E.O. Bill Novelli. "It is important that more employers—both large and small—recognize what tremendous assets 50 and over employees represent because of their experience and motivation."

by Mark Stein