Long-Term-Unemployed

Nearly half of the nation’s long-term unemployed are over the age of 45

Work in Progress podcasts: Putting older job seekers at the forefront of the worker conversation
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Here’s a sobering statistic: as of August, nearly half of the nation’s long-term unemployed—people out of work for more than six months—are over the age of 45. As more aging Americans choose to stay in the workforce longer, the question of how do we help them find meaningful work becomes more important.

The U.S. Department of Labor has designated this as National Employ Older Workers Week (NEOWW) to call attention to the many challenges older, midcareer workers have in rejoining the workforce—including age bias, the need for upskilling for some open roles, obligations as caregivers, and concerns for their own health in an ongoing pandemic.

Over the past year and a half, on the Work in Progress podcast, we’ve talked with leaders focused on the issue, exploring challenges, surfacing solutions, and, importantly, highlighting the demonstrated value older, experienced workers can bring to the workforce.

Today, we’re sharing some of those podcasts and insights. 

Meeting the Midcareer Moment: The Challenges of the 45+ Job Seeker
Mona Mourshed, founding global CEO of Generation

Training and Upskilling Older Workers is Crucial to the Recovery
Ramsey Alwin, president & CEO of National Council on Aging

Don’t Overlook the Older Worker
Paul Irving, chairman of Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging
and Gary Officer, president & CEO of The Center for Workforce Inclusion

Nonprofit Expands Entrepreneurship Program for Adults Looking to Restart Their Careers
J.D. LaRock, president & CEO of NFTE

Age Bias Contributes to Fears of Job Loss Among Older Workers
David Gittins, executive director of Age Inclusion in Media

We also want to share this great web discussion we co-hosted with Encore.org examining the benefits of Integrating and Leveraging the Skills of Older Workers to create a multigenerational workforce that not only serves all workers but hiring companies as well.

The panelists include Marci Alboher, vice president of narrative change for Encore.org; Eunice Lin Nichols, vice president of innovation for Encore.org; Lindsey Pollak, author of The Remix: How to Lead and Succeed in the Multigenerational Workplace; and Chip Conley, founder of the Modern Elder Academy.

Join our WorkingNation Facebook Group

Want to keep up on the conversation around midcareer and older workers? We invite you to join our new Facebook group: WorkingNation Midcareer Workers Forum.

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.