Teaming Up With Students
Dr. Linda Keup and two of her students recently undertook a research project involving a very real problem in communities around the world. The Concordia-Moorhead assistant professor and students surveyed 1,500 employees to uncover what factors could keep retirement-aged employees in the workforce. Presently, there are not enough new employees entering the workforce to fill the positions emptying as older employees retire.
Keup and her students created and distributed a survey and then analyzed the results. They discovered that employees were interested in working beyond the traditional retirement age if they didn't think they had enough money saved, perceived themselves to be very healthy and felt well supported by their workplace. They also found the top three job qualities older employees desired included a retirement plan, competitive wage and health insurance.
Keup says she enjoyed working so closely with students, especially conducting primary research. Instead of studying what others have found, they had the opportunity to gather the information first-hand. They presented their findings on campus during a Centennial Research Scholar Lecture and Keup hopes to do the same at a conference in Arizona later this year.
"This was my first research project with students at Concordia and it was wonderful," says Keup.
