Let's say you're over 50 and have been assuming that a challenging job in a whole different field isn't likely to come your way, or that you're too old to put in for an overseas assignment. That wouldn't be the case if you work at the Principal Financial Group or at farm-equipment maker Deere & Co. Principal gives employees who are 50 or older a chance to put in two to three months with high-profile nonprofits like the United Way, or two to three years tackling business problems in foreign countries. Meanwhile, Deere actively encourages everyone, not just young up-and-comers, to seek out opportunities across a broad range of job openings, including special assignments and plum spots on task forces.

Or let's say you're eligible to retire, but you'd really rather keep working, on maybe on a part-time or flexible schedule, with some of your retirement benefits available to you now. No problem, if you happen to be employed by St. Louis-based SSM Health Care, Bon Secours Richmond Health Systems in Virginia, or the Charles Stark Draper Laboratories in Cambridge, Mass.

All of these employers -- and 30 more -- bend over backwards to recruit and retain older workers, and treat them right, according to the American Association of Retired People (AARP), which has expanded its list of best employers for workers over 50 from 15 companies to 35. (For the full list, go to http://www.aarp.org/money/careers/
employerresourcecenter/bestemployers/Articles
/a2004-07-23-50honorees.html.) Says Deborah Russell, who directs the AARP's research on this topic, "The winners are exemplary models for other employers who have yet to plan for the graying of their workforce." It's none too soon for such planning to start: About 14% of the U.S. workforce is 55 or older now and, by 2012, the percentage will be 19%, or about one in five.

To compile its list, the AARP invited thousands of U.S. employers, for-profit and nonprofit, to describe what they're doing in an extensive questionnaire. Outside consultants sifted through the responses to arrive at a preliminary ranking, which a panel of judges evaluated. Companies that want to try for next year's list can go to http://www.aarp.org/bestemployers.

If you're over 50 and thinking about your next career move, here's a sampling of what this year's winners have to offer:

• Volkswagen of America (Auburn Hills, Mich.) administers a flexible-spending program that allows employees to allocate $5,000 in pre-tax earnings annually into elder-care accounts.
• Hoffmann-LaRoche (Nutley, N.J.) runs an on-site "temp agency" that places retired employees in short-term job openings. The program is designed "to meet the personal work/life needs of retirees," while taking advantage of "a wealth of experience that new entrants do not have."
• Pitney Bowes (Stamford, Conn.), along with several other companies on the list, makes special accommodations for employees with age-related health problems. In one typical instance, a Pitney Bowes worker who developed a chronic heart condition received training so that he could move from a physically strenuous position to a desk job that called for computer skills.
• Principal Financial Group (Des Moines, Iowa), rather than focusing most of its training efforts on new hires and young employees as most companies do, offers lifelong learning, emphasizing leadership development for workers over 50.

All of this helps, of course, to retain older workers. But apart from the fact that the workforce is aging, why should employers care? One anecdote from the AARP's report sheds some light: Memphis-based bank holding company First Horizon National Corp., one of this year's 35 best, recently analyzed its highest- and lowest-performing branch offices. Surprise! It turns out that financial centers with the longest-serving employees had the best customer retention, highest growth of premium accounts, highest net earnings, and most market share. The company estimates that "increasing the average length of service of customer-contact employees by one year could yield financial gain of $40 million annually."

As Deborah Russell puts it, by learning how to recruit and keep workers over 50, "employers can gain a competitive edge."

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