Project: Older Workers Leading Success (OWLS), a program of Cleveland Metroparks

Location: Cleveland, Ohio

Innovation: Employing experienced people over 50 to meet essential year-round and seasonal agency needs.

Cuyahoga County in Ohio is the second oldest county in the United States outside the Sunbelt. As the greater Cleveland area ages, where will all the people over 50 find work?

That’s one of many questions about an aging population that forward-thinking leaders of the Cleveland Foundation asked themselves in 2002 when they launched a $4 million, three-year Successful Aging Initiative.

“We found a series of barriers alienating workers aged 50 and above from the workplace in Northeast Ohio,” says Stacey Easterling, director of Community Responsive Grantmaking at The Cleveland Foundation, “from a lack of recruitment and retention efforts for older workers to a lack of flexible work schedules.”

To help address the problem, the Foundation gave six startup grants to area employers in 2004, including one to Cleveland Metroparks — which operates Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and the “Emerald Necklace” Park District — including hiking trails, winter sports, a zoo, and golf courses.

Diane McDaniel, human resource director at Cleveland Metroparks, says she knew immediately that the pilot, known as Older Workers Leading Success or OWLS, would be a good fit. “The park district has an ongoing need for seasonal and part-time employees,” she explains. “The grant allowed us to increase our talent pool by adding older workers in positions ranging from trail monitors to IT assistants.”

Mike McCormick, 69, a retired pressman with the Cleveland Plain Dealer and long-standing volunteer with the Park District, was eager to apply for a paying job doing what he loved. Today McCormick is beginning his third year as a paid trail monitor coordinator — making sure that hike and bike trails are covered by trail monitors. He works anywhere from two to four hours a day during the May-November park season and several hours during the off months “writing reports, attending meetings, etc.”

“The best part of my job,” he says “is meeting and working with the great volunteers. I have never walked away without someone saying ‘thank you.’”

When 61-year-old Barbara Sherman retired from her career as an executive assistant with a leading Cleveland bank, she knew that she still wanted to work. For two years now, Sherman has been a secretary in the Metroparks office, where she works two half-days a week in the offseason, and four half-days weekly from May to November.

“The diversity in my office is wonderful,” she says. “We’re all ages and backgrounds and we learn from each other.” And it doesn’t hurt that the office is so close to Sherman’s home. “No more long commutes and driving on the freeway for me.”

Over the past two years, the OWLS program has added more than 150 seasonal employees over 50 to the Cleveland Metroparks payroll and eight people over age 50 in year-round, part-time jobs. In addition to salary, the agency arranged with its health insurer to offer the part-time employees the option of buying into its HMO plan at the group rate. Funding for OWLS now comes from a combination of tax revenues and fees for services.

“It’s been a real win-win for both the park and the employees,” says McDaniel. “This age group is reliable and knowledgeable, and these employees have a good impact on other employees — especially younger ones. They are definitely committed to the Park District.”

Contact:
Diane McDaniel
Director of Human Resources
Cleveland Metroparks
4101 Fulton Parkway
Cleveland, OH 44144
dom@clevelandmetroparks.com
www.clemetparks.com/aboutus/employment/hr_seasonaowlsl.asp

This case study is from a collection of reports in the 2007 MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures BreakThrough Award publication. To view the whole report, visit here.