Adecco Group North America: 2009 AARP Best Employers for Workers Over 50

By: AARP.org | Source: AARP.org | 2009-09-01

Winning Years: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2004, 2003, 2002
Industry: Business Services
Location: Melville, N.Y.
URL: www.adeccousa.com

Highlights of 2009 Winning Strategies
Adecco uses its own Renaissance Program to help recruit and retain mature and retired workers. The company responds consistently to employee needs and feedback. This responsiveness has led the company to add and maintain employee benefits and has allowed the company to explore green office practices. 

Recruiting: Adecco Group North America uses placement agencies for older job seekers to target and hire mature workers and retirees.

Workplace Culture and Continued Opportunities: Employees who work at least 30 hours per week receive the following learning and development opportunities at Adecco: tuition reimbursement, in-house classroom training, on-line training, and certification classes. In the past 12 months, 100 percent of Adecco employees have participated in at least one learning and development opportunity, so that each employee had an average of two hours of instruction.

The company recognizes long-service anniversaries in its newsletter, with announcements, and at company parties,

Managers use employee opinion surveys to make Adecco a better workplace. For example, the results have prompted Adecco to upgrade and purchase faster computers so that e-mail communications are much quicker. The company has increased training opportunities for employees and has continued its 401(k) match.

Adecco employees can gain new experience and skills through temporary assignments in other departments, team projects, cross-functional task groups, job rotation, and through the mentoring program (which pairs younger employees with more experienced professionals).

Adecco provides accommodations for employees with disabilities to ensure their effective performance on the job. Some examples are sign-language interpreters, text-to-speech computer programs, and TTY telephones.

Benefits/Health: Adecco employees who work at least 30 hours per week receive the following individual and family benefits: medical, prescription-drug, vision, dental, long-term-care, and short- and long-term disability coverage. Health reimbursement accounts (HRA) and health flexible spending accounts (FSA), which help defray out-of-pocket medical expenses, are available to employees.. 

Benefits/Financial: All Adecco employees, no matter how many hours they work, have the option of investing in a 401(k) plan with an employer match. Employees can choose to invest in life-cycle funds and are able to make catch-up contributions. The financial services firm that administers the 401(k) plan offers financial-planning information to employees, including brown-bag lunch meetings covering basic topics, such as financial planning, estate planning, and tax-law changes.


Full- and part-time employees can also benefit from wellness programs at Adecco, such as flu shots, health screenings, health-risk appraisals, smoking-cessation programs, discounts to local health clubs, physical-activity programs, weight-loss programs, stress-management training, and health coaching.

Adecco also offers dependent-care benefits, including referral services to care providers for children, grandchildren, and elders. The company also provides backup child care. 

Benefits/Alternative-Work Arrangements: Adecco’s employees can choose from the following alternative-work arrangements: flextime, compressed-work schedules, job sharing, and telecommuting. Additionally, full-time employees can move to part-time work on a temporary or permanent basis. 

Opportunities for Retirees:  Adecco has 700 retirees and an employee who is directly responsible for managing retiree relations. The company stays connected to its retirees through regular communications and by formally acknowledging employees when they retire. Adecco retirees may also take advantage of temporary work assignments, consulting work, telecommuting, and full- and part-time work.

Age of Workforce: Sixteen percent of Adecco Group North America employees are age 50+, with an average tenure of 8.8 years.