Products July 13, 2015

Bank of America Merrill Lynch Launches Longevity Training

The program for HR and benefit plan professionals helps them understand issues facing all generations in the workforce.
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Today, at the 2015 White House Conference on Aging, Bank of America Merrill Lynch will announce the introduction of a longevity training program for human resources (HR) and benefit plan professionals.

Developed in partnership with the University of Southern California’s Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Longevity Training Program is designed to drive greater awareness and understanding of the evolving needs of the nation’s aging population and their families.           

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The program offers insights into the latest advances, research and experiences associated with the sociological, psychological and physiological aspects of aging and their implications across all generations of the workforce. Program participants will learn about the importance of and issues associated with longevity and retirement planning through a deeper exploration of seven life priorities, including health, home, family, giving, leisure, work and finances.                     

“Designing benefits programs and delivering financial guidance to employees today requires a profound appreciation for the longevity revolution and a deeper understanding of issues associated with aging,” says Andy Sieg, head of Global Wealth and Retirement Solutions at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “Providing HR professionals greater access to this knowledge can help them better connect with employees as they progress through their careers and toward their later years.”

Participants must complete up to five hours of training over the course of four to eight weeks, delivered through a combination of on-demand videos featuring USC professors, online courses and reference materials, and web-based best practice presentations and knowledge-sharing from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, including director of financial gerontology Cyndi Hutchins. Upon completion of the training, participants will receive a Certificate of Completion from USC.

Hutchins tells PLANSPONSOR participants will also be provided with a quick reference guide that pulls together the most relevant content from the training, which they can continue to reference. A version of the program is also being completed by Merrill Lynch advisers, mostly retail, and assistants to advisers. The firm has not yet decided if the program will be extended to more advisers or business banking customers.

NEXT: Program details.

Hutchins, located in Baltimore, Maryland, says as employers acquire knowledge about longevity issues they will be able to not only design more meaningful employee benefits, but generate a better interaction and understanding among the multigenerational workforce.

She notes that when people think about longevity, they tend to think about older people rather than living longer. Longevity issues are greater for those who are younger. One thing the course addresses is that Baby Boomers may still be in the position to take advantage of the traditional three-legged stool of retirement savings—pensions, Social Security and personal savings—but Generation Xers may not have pensions and Millennials may also face reduced Social Security. In addition, many Gen Xers are part of the “sandwich generation,” aiding both adult children and aging parents. Hutchins suggests Millennials may become part of what she calls the “club sandwich generation,” aiding adult children, aging parents and aging grandparents.

Employers that understand these challenges can design retirement and other work benefits accordingly, she says. For example, to help reduce the stress for those aiding family members, employers could offer flexible work hours or telecommuting.

USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology professor George Shannon, MSG, Ph.D., an actor for 30 years who went back to school at age 55, shares more details of how the program explores life priorities.

Good health not only results from good nutrition and education. According to Shannon, studies show those surviving best are not only individuals who get better health care, but those who are more educated, have social connections and have more money. “These factors are as important as health care,” he tells PLANSPONSOR. Employers can share this information with employees to help them control their own destiny. In addition, to stay safe, the program discusses home modifications, such as grab bars in the bathroom, adequate lighting and the position of rugs.

COMING UP: Why longevity education is on employers’ shoulders.

Giving to younger generations is important to people. Employers can train employees about how to take care of their resources and be able to put aside resources for younger generations with the least risk and largest payoff. Shannon says finances—training people to take care of their future financially is the bedrock of mental, physical and financial stability. “Individuals should prepare to live to age 95; those 30 years after age 65 have to be meaningful,” he says.

Shannon says it if individuals could get longevity education in high school or college, that would be great and take the burden off employers, but since they don’t, if employers do not educate them, who will?

Employers who want a healthy workforce, and need to have people showing up for work, have to take some responsibility for employees’ welfare, he says. “It makes sense for them in the short term because employees will be more sociologically and psychologically well.” In addition, he notes that retirement is no longer an age of leisure, people want to keep working to maintain engagement and interest. “Employers should value older workers,” he says.

Shannon also contends many employers want to help people and feel paternalistic toward employees. “The Baby Boomer generation is big, but Gen X and Gen Y are just as big. We have to be thinking about [longevity]; don’t take for granted that people will take care of themselves,” he says.

“If employers understand the challenges each generation is facing, they can make changes to get the most out of employees and make it easier for them to perform on the job,” Hutchins adds.

The program will be rolled out to about 50 employers by August 3rd and nationally in October.

Reader Responses July 13, 2015

SURVEY SAYS: Tech Failure Effect on the Workplace

Last Wednesday, there was a brief panic as the New York Stock Exchange, United Airlines and the Wall Street Journal reported technology failures simultaneously.
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In this digital age, nearly everything is dependent on technology.                 

I asked NewsDash readers, “What do you think would happen in your workplace if a technology failure occurred?”

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Nearly half (47.1%) of responding readers said business would only be interrupted for a short period of time; they have a good backup plan in place. Slightly more than 39% indicated it would take a while to switch to manual processes and get the business moving again, but they could do it, and 13.7% reported that their business would halt; they are unprepared.

Several readers who chose to leave comments noted how likely a widespread technology failure is to happen— “What do you mean “if”?!? I think you mean, when.”—while even more expressed what a relief it would be to them if it happened in the workplace—“SNOW DAY!!!” I appreciated all the comments about the generational shift of power that could happen if such an event occurred—“Fortunately, there are still enough of us gray-hairs around who’d be able to snap the screen-gazers out of their trances and show ’em how to use a pen, pencil and paper.” Editor’s Choice goes to the reader who injected a good dose of humor into the seriousness of the possibility: “We rely so much on computers (and electricity) that any interruption is bad news. How&ver, I thi^k th* likelih##d of a l%ng-term in(errup(ion of the t&chno!ogy is quite sm@ll. HUMANS: WE ARE NOW IN CONTROL. RETURN TO YOUR MENIAL ACTIVITIES.”

A big thank you to all who participated in the survey!

Verbatim

Considering our employees represent an older workforce, we could handle a return to manual processes if necessary. However, I would be double counting my change from any fast food employee, many of whom seem unable to make change from a $20 like us old-timers learned to do!

It is either a trip to the coffee shop, home for the day or worse when our network goes down.

I worry more about staff brain failure than technology failure.

We pay our IT guys a lot of money to make sure that everything is always up and running!

Good way for a terrorist group to get at us and our country.

It would depend on the nature of the technology failure, but if it were widespread, I'm not sure how we would get much done. The majority of our processes, documents and communication methods are virtual.

If the interruption is short-term making it not worth our while to roll out our manual/paper-based solutions work just stops. If it is deemed long-term things would be pretty hectic during implementation. Once up and running progress would be slow.

From the products we made to the benefits we provide, everything we do is dependent on technology. It's just the world we live in today. We likely would eventually find a work around but it certainly wouldn't be in hours, days or weeks.

We rely so much on computers (and electricity) that any interruption is bad news. How&ver, I thi^k th* likelih##d of a l%ng-term in(errup(ion of the t&chno!ogy is quite sm@ll. HUMANS: WE ARE NOW IN CONTROL. RETURN TO YOUR MENIAL ACTIVITIES.

An extended failure would be disruptive to thousands of clients who would likely become vocal with frustration and complaints. Focus shifts to "damage control" and PR. Even without technology, there is work to be done.

Verbatim (cont.)

we have been preparing for failures in our systems and believe we have things in place to protect our records if this would happen.

A technology failure would instantly create confusion, inefficiency, unnecessary delays, personal strife and bickering amongst employees, and incessant meetings to discuss the situation...Basically it would be normal work day but everyone would be forced to check Facebook on their phones.

SNOW DAY!!!

Although with everything that is still manual here - who knows - we may keep chugging right along!

If the Elders of the Internet shut everything down we would take the afternoon off.

Without access to our networks we'd all be on holiday

It depends on the extent of the failure. Most people probably don't realize all that could be affected. Good grief, it is problematic just having a power outage!

what do you mean "if"?!? I think you mean, when.....

We are moving to fully electronic files, which is intended to facilitate different groups of employees being able to work on the same project from multiple locations (including Mumbai). A technology failure of any magnitude could severely curtail our ability to operate until it is fixed. Fortunately, everything is backed up daily, so the data would not be lost, but if the machines don't work, they just don't work! Then we would have a problem. We would also be much less efficient using manual processes.

I would welcome the distraction!

Verbatim (cont.) 

As a commercial construction company, much of what we do in the field is not technology-driven; however, with most of our Superintendents having drawings on their tablets, we could have a problem; but we do have a good backup system and could switch to manual processes.

I remember preparing for Y2K. I ordered 10000 printed checks but then realized I wouldn't be able to get in the building, would have to write them by hand and in the dark.

Thank God for baby boomers that learned how to do everything before technology took over.

The nice thing about being semi-retired is that I can spend my time playing with the grandchildren and not be so wired that I can be unaware of an inevitable hiccough which sends the inflexible world off the deep end

Fortunately, there are still enough of us gray-hairs around who'd be able to snap the screen-gazers out of their trances and show 'em how to use a pen, pencil and paper.

Of course, it would depend on how global the failure was. I'm a telecommuter, so an electromagnetic pulse that took down all electronic communication would definitely put me out of business!

Pretty sure a good chunk of my co-workers would take it as a welcomed excuse to take the rest of the week off.

We would all go home for the day!

We have another, redundant, work site set up for exactly these instances.

My life as I know it would cease.

But I'd take advantage of the outage and go home, maybe get in an uninterrupted round of golf.

           

NOTE: Responses reflect the opinions of individual readers and not necessarily the stance of Asset International or its affiliates.
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