Older Workers in the Time of COVID-19: The Senior Community Service Employment Program and Implications for Social Work

Abstract

It has long been the goal of many gerontological social work scholars to increase the ability and opportunity for people to be engaged in paid and unpaid work throughout the life course. Yet the COVID-19 pandemic is revealing and exacerbating the financial insecurity of many older adults. In this paper, we review information related to older workers and how they might be affected by this pandemic and its aftermath, paying particular attention to the most socioeconomically and physically vulnerable older workers. We also offer first-hand experiences from our careers working with and conducting scholarship on older workers, paying particular attention to recent actions by many in the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) network to provide paid sick leave to its low-income, older adult participants. We conclude with implications for social work scholarship and teaching, noting the uptick in technology use among older adults and the disparities that remain, as well as teaching that integrates discussions on the lifelong and cumulative effects of inequalities and marginalization and the need for additional researcher, student, and community collaborations.

COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery: A Rapid Scoping Review

“…Employment programs: Another measure for protecting jobs and creating new opportunities is supporting the design and implementation of employment programs such as emergency employment programs and programs that promote decent work, 25,36,37 short-term work programs, or labor-intensive public work programs. 25,32,38–40 These are effective for worker empowerment and economic recovery. 25 While these programs may alleviate the short-term suffering of unemployed people, additional measures are needed to support the challenging transition to future long-term employment.…”

“…To facilitate the transition to secure employment as well as boost well-being and broader economic recovery, programs focusing on coaching, skill-building, personal initiative training, and soft skill development training are beneficial. 26,33,[39][40][41] Better trained workers will also secure greater productivity and commercial returns, contributing to job retention. 42 Migrant workers require specific job protection policies and measures, including increasing the time allowed for work permits and allowing temporary workers to change employers.…”

From Digital Divide to Technostress during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review

“…Building digital skills and capabilities is also possible through social dialog with peer-to-peer help. Halvorsen & Yulikova (2020) described how a team of two participants contacted their peers through the Senior Community Employment Program (SCSEP) to help them learn how to use Zoom and other technologies to stay connected. To support inclusion and retention in the working market older adult employees should have the opportunity to be (re-)trained and build digital skills and capabilities that help them cope with the any uncertainty during the transition to technological competence.…”

“…Further, creating special programs for older employees in the framework of building inclusive workplaces is seen as one of the important strategies. Such temporary or short-term programs help, for example, to reintegrate participants in the workplace, whether that be a return to the physical workplace or remote work when possible (Halvorsen & Yulikova, 2020). Another of the assumed conditions for building and implementing inclusive workplaces is a targeted facilitation, support, and collaborative process.…”

Responses to COVID-19 in Major Social Work Journals: A Systematic Review of Empirical Studies, Comments, and Editorials

“…Children in developing countries were susceptible to slipping back into child labor since they were out of school for a long time and families lost essential employment (Larmar et al, 2020). By contrast, Halvorsen and Yulikova (2020) pointed out that many older adults both need and want to work. Some of them experienced the loss of a sense of meaning in life due to the loss of working opportunities due to the pandemic.…”