Dexter business owner testifies on value of older workers

U.S. Senate photo  MAINE-MADE — Susan Nordman, owner of Erda Handbags in Dexter, shows off one of her products while testifying at last week’s U.S. Senate Aging Committee hearing. Nordman joked that it wasn’t “one of my pretty ones” but a practical, canvas model.

By Mike Lange

Staff Writer

  WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Senate Aging Committee Chairman Susan Collins (R-Maine) convened a panel last week titled “Work in Retirement: Career Reinventions and the New Retirement Workscape” that included testimony from a Dexter entrepreneur.

  The purpose of the June 24 hearing, streamed online and telecast on C-SPAN, was to examine the opportunities and challenges for seniors who work well into their retirement years.

  Some do it because they want to and others because they must, said Collins. “Today, 40 percent of workers 55 and older remain in the work force -- a ratio not seen since the Eisenhower administration,” she added.

  “It used to be said that retirement security was a three-legged stool: an employer-provided pension, Social Security and retirement savings. But lately, that third leg has been wobbly; and a fourth leg - - continued employment has been added to the stool.”

  But the stereotype of older Americans being high-maintenance and unable or reluctant to embrace new technology was quickly dismissed by Susan Nordman, the owner of Erda Artisan Handbags in Dexter.

  Nordman recalled buying the company in 2013 when it was “in an old barn, in the middle of a cornfield (in Cambridge) and in the middle of nowhere. But as soon as I walked in, I was hooked”

  Erda Artisan Handbags had some financial difficulties under the previous owner, but Nordman said that they were fixable. “Along with the asset purchase, I inherited a group of older women,” she said. “If I moved the company too far away, they’d all be unemployed. I felt I had an obligation to find a solution that would not leave them behind.”

  Erda eventually relocated in the former Seaman’s Wall Covering and Flooring in Dexter, giving them more space and higher visibility on Route 7.

  “Do older workers cost more?” Nordman asked. “The answer is: older workers cost different. I had to take them into consideration when purchasing equipment.”

  For example, many companies that employ stitchers like New Balance have equipment that requires their workers to stand at a machine, she explained. “An older worker has difficulty with this style of equipment.”

  Although the equipment that Norman bought “is more costly, it has led to a better-quality product and improved production time.”

   Nordman joked that when people ask if seniors are too set in their ways to learn new technology, the saga of “teaching an old dog new tricks comes to mind. When did we become old dogs?”

  She said that she has found that an older person is “quick to assimilate new ideas because they have such a wealth of knowledge.”

  Nordman said that one of the reasons why she bought Erda was to “stay mentally active. I recognize the importance of this and I created a workplace that’s more studio than factory.”

  Workers also set their own hours at Erda, Nordman said, “which is a benefit that costs me very little and goes a long way to making a better workplace.”

  Another witness, Kerry Hannon, a columnist and retirement expert, cited a recent AARP study that found that, contrary to common perception, workers age 50 and older do not cost significantly more than younger workers. She cited additional studies that outlined the advantages of hiring older workers, which include the fact that these workers have more experience, a stronger work ethic and are more professional.