Snowbirds work where it's warm

Six months of the year, John Johns works as a CVS pharmacist in Sea Isle City, N.J., continuing a career there that spans nearly 30 years. Every November, he bids his co-workers goodbye and heads to Cocoa Beach, Fla., where he and his wife, Pat, enjoy winter in the sun.

But three days a week, while other snowbirds relax on the beach or the golf course, Mr. Johns works. He logs 30 hours a week at CVS pharmacies in the area. That still gives the couple time to enjoy their 18-foot boat and other leisure activities. "They allow me to come down here and work and go up there [to New Jersey] to work," Johns says. "They accommodate me, and I'm very flexible for them. It's a real good marriage."

That accommodation comes through an unusual snowbird program, which lets employees shuttle between two locations on a seasonal basis. This winter about 300 CVS workers are joining a small but growing group of snowbirds who eagerly answer to alarm clocks and time clocks, even on vacation. They like the structure, sense of purpose, and monetary rewards a job brings. "A lot of older people are working because they really enjoy the work," Johns says. "I enjoy the money, too, but the money is not the primary factor."

So far, retailers and healthcare providers account for most of those hiring snowbirds. But workplace specialists expect the trend to spread as labor shortages loom and baby boomers age.

"If you have highly trained people who are already in the family of the company, it can be a pretty seamless way for employers to meet what can be unpredictable staffing needs," says Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, director of Boston College's Center on Aging and Work.

Hiring snowbirds, she adds, "stretches people's imagination about what is possible when you think about flexibility. Flexibility is not limited to only a daily basis or a weekly basis. It opens up the conversation of flexibility over a year and over the course of a whole career."

A study about working in retirement by AARP, a lobbying group for seniors, found that a strong majority of respondents wanted flexible work arrangements. Emily Allen, director of workforce programs at AARP, calls sharing employees an "interesting, promising practice."

Employers emphasize that they are not simply doing snowbirds a favor by hiring them.

"People ask me, 'Why are you doing this?' " says Steve Wing, director of government programs for CVS. "This is really business. It's not a community involvement thing. They have the work ethic we're looking for. They're very good at customer service. Older customers like to come in and see people their same age."

In the early 1990s, less than 7 percent of CVS workers were over age 50. By 2005 that figure had risen to 17 percent. "Some need to work," Mr. Wing says. "Some just need to be surrounded by other people."

The company's snowbirds are not entry-level employees. "We're not just using them to pull in carts," Wing says. They include greeting-card specialists, cosmetic consultants, photo supervisors, and managers.

Not all employees who head south for the winter want to work. "Sometimes they just need three or four months off," Wing says. "They can go to Florida, and then we'll rehire them."

Suzanne Fontaine, a pharmacy technician, spends seven months working for CVS in Cocoa Beach and five months at a CVS in Coventry, R.I. In Florida, she puts in three days a week, eight hours a day. "I like the interaction with people," Mrs. Fontaine says. "I wouldn't want to just not do anything down here. I feel I'm helping out. It keeps you going. I'm keeping my skills up." She calls her earnings "play money, golf money."

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