The expectations of a contracting labor market have many employers already courting workers from multiple generations.

When AARP named the “Best Employers for Workers Over 50” for 2003, the list was loaded with big-name corporations like Volkswagen of America Inc., Deere & Co. and Whirlpool Corporation.

“This is a sure indicator of the growing importance of the older worker to the success of individual companies and, in fact, to the entire economy,” says AARP President Jim Parkel. “For decades, many employers have been oblivious to the crucial role of that segment of the workforce.”

Although interest in older workers is slowly beginning to simmer, too many businesses still ignore the demographic labor shift. When the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) conducted its “Older Workers Survey” in 2003, most respondents said they neither actively recruit older workers nor do anything specific to retain them.

That could be a big mistake says Larry Anderson, president and CEO of the National Older Worker Career Center. “The aging of the American workforce represents one of our greatest emerging national issues,” he says.

The aging workforce issue could impact small businesses especially hard. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses employ 51 percent of private-sector workers. So a shortage of skilled employees could certainly put a crimp in the growth of small businesses nationwide.

But forward-thinking business owners are paying attention. Take Gem State Trophies in Twin Falls, Idaho. In 1985, the company hired bookkeeper Ynes Kelly at the age of 66. Kelly considered retiring when she turned 72. But the company’s owner convinced Kelly to stay on part time.

Kelly is now 84. In 2003, Experience Works, a national, nonprofit organization that offers training, employment and community service opportunities for mature workers, recognized Kelly with a Prime Time Award that honors outstanding older workers.

Just as employers should be enticing knowledgeable older workers to stay on the job, they should also be grooming Gen Xers in the workplace. It will take workers from multiple generations—seniors, boomers and Xers—to fill the vacancies in the coming decade.