AARP praises companies that help older workers

The U.S. worker population is aging. In 2002, 14 percent of workers were 55 or older, a figure that will grow to 19 percent by 2012. But relatively few employers are addressing the needs of older workers, said Deborah Russell, of AARP, formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons.

The group recently singled out 35 companies and institutions as best employers, a group chosen out of a pool of 78 firms that applied for the award.

The top 10 employers chosen by AARP for their treatment of older workers are: The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc., Cambridge, Mass.; Deere & Co., Moline, Ill.; Scripps Health, San Diego; The Principal Financial Group, Des Moines, Iowa; Pitney Bowes Inc., Stamford, Conn.; Volkswagen of America Inc., Auburn Hills, Mich.; SSM Health Care, St. Louis; Scottsdale Healthcare, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Lincoln Financial Group, Philadelphia; and Beaumont Hospitals, Royal Oak, Mich.

Technology

Business students earn wireless-device access

Mindful that a key to business is being able to access people and information at all times, University of Maryland’s business school is giving Blackberry wireless devices to all full-time MBA students this fall.

With the hand-held Blackberry, offered through Nextel Communications Inc., students will be able to access e-mail, use the Internet, check calendars and use the equipment’s walkie-talkie function. Students can add cell service for a fee.

In the future, the business school plans to allow students to use the devices to get course assignments, access their grades and obtain other school information.

Students get to keep the devices when they leave.

The cost, which the university did not disclose, was covered by a gift from Nextel and business school funds.

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