Carol Woods Retirement Community received the Victor W. Marshall Older Worker Employer Award in November 2011. The award is given to an employer in North Carolina that has excelled in recognizing the valuable contributions older workers make in the workforce.
Carol Woods is a continuing care retirement community in Chapel Hill that has 342 employees ranging in age from 16 to 70. Of those, 90 employees are 55 or older, with an average tenure of 11 years of service.
“For over 30 years, Carol Woods has demonstrated excellence in the care and support of older adults,” states Pat Sprigg, president and CEO of Carol Woods. “Our deep commitment to advancing best practices in aging services includes not only the programs we have for our residents and our extensive track record of supporting services in the larger community, but it also extends to our staff, over a quarter of whom are 55 and older.”
Carol Woods employs older adults in all aspects of the community including nursing, security, administrative services, grounds, maintenance and dining. In many cases, Carol Woods supports the transition to a different department or to a different work schedule as needs and interests change over time.
“We believe strongly that in order for Carol Woods to be a great place to live, it must be a great place to work,” Sprigg said. “The supportive relationship that we encourage between our residents and our employees paves the way for workers to age gracefully and life lessons abound.”
Marshall is the former director of the Institute on Aging at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who developed an extensive research program on the aging of the labor force and led a research program examining large-scale survey data to investigate the changing retirement transitions and their impact on health.
The award was presented in October at the North Carolina Conference on Aging Reception held in Charlotte, NC.
