FOUR FLORIDA BUSINESSES HONORED ON 2013 LIST OF BEST EMPLOYERS FOR WORKERS OVER 50

St. Petersburg, FL – FCCI Insurance Group of Sarasota, Central Florida Health Alliance of Leesburg, Lee County Electric Cooperative of North Ft. Myers, and the School Board of Brevard County are all being honored by AARP and the Society for Human Resource Management as some of the 2013 Best Employers for Workers Over 50.
All four employers join a diverse group of health systems, corporations, government agencies, and non-profits on the list, announced today by AARP and SHRM.
“As the Baby Boom generation nears retirement, employers are seeing the value in retaining critical business knowledge and experience,” said Doug Heinlen, AARP Florida’s volunteer state president.  “All four Florida employers recognize that recruiting and retaining 50-plus workers is a smart strategy to improve the business’s bottom line.”
National Institutes of Health (NIH), one of the world’s premiere medical research institutions, gained top honors in the 2013 search.  Scripps Health of Southern California, which headed the list in 2011, is runner-up this year.
Announcement of the top 50 came jointly by AARP and SHRM, which is cosponsoring the Best Employers program for the first time. SHRM is the world’s largest association devoted to human resource management. The winners will be honored tonight (June 17) at the SHRM annual conference in Chicago.
“Every organization needs to view its older workers as highly valuable assets and develop strategies to keep this enormous wealth of talent,” said SHRM President and CEO Henry G. (Hank) Jackson.  “It’s absolutely critical for organizations to embrace new ways to retain older workers, especially in the face of the coming wave of Boomer retirements.”
Any U.S.-based employer with at least 50 employees is eligible to apply for the Best Employers award. Candidates are vetted to ensure that practices meet the needs of mature workers. Key areas of consideration include: recruiting practices; opportunities for training, education and career development; workplace accommodations; alternative work options, such as flexible scheduling, job sharing and phased retirement; employee health and retirement benefits, and retiree work opportunities.
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The top Best Employers this year will be profiled in the August-September issue of AARP The Magazine. Accompanying that salute will be a feature article that explores the strengths of older workers.
For a full list and for more information on the 2013 Best Employers, please go to www.aarp.org/bestemployers, which includes background on employers’ workforce practices and a description of the selection process. For more information on AARP’s resources for older workers, visit www.aarp.org/workresources.
AARP and SHRM have collaborated since 2010, working together to raise awareness on older worker issues and to provide resources and strategies to address these issues.  SHRM’s cosponsorship of the 2013 Best Employers award is one of several joint projects that are documented on the SHRM-AARP web page at www.shrm.org/aarp.