Staying On Australia

UK employers unprepared for ageing workforce

so_admin — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 06:42:35 +0000

Wednesday 28 March 2012

Research Paper “The Employment Relations Challenges of an Ageing Workforce”

“There is little evidence of UK employers taking proactive steps to engage and retain older workers according to new research conducted by Cranfield School of Management and Nottingham Business School for Acas, the employment relations expert.”

Read the Press Release here

Download the report The Employment Relations Challenges of an ageing Workforce

Employ “Outside the Box”

so_admin — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 07:46:23 +0000

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), Australia’s largest and most representative business organisation, has released a ‘call to arms’ for Australian employers to expand workforce participation by employing ‘Outside the Box’ when they next recruit. While covering a wide range of groups including people with disabilities, women, indigenous peoples it was this comment in relation to mature workers that caught my attention. “People aged 45 and over will need to provide 85% of workforce growth in the next decade in order to meet the labour demands of employers.” To download the full report and read the press release click here.

An Age-Old Issue

so_admin — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 03:32:09 +0000

Tackling talent shortages and generational change involves challenging a few sacred cows. An article I wrote for HR Monthly February 2012. To download the article click here Olderworkers-FEB[3]

Leveraging an Older Workforce

so_admin — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 06:49:50 +0000

An article by Victoria Rollison written for Talent 2. The article starts with the question Skills shortages and an aging population – does your company have a strategy to attract older workers?

Germany: Government Finds that Encouraging Older Workers to Stay Increases Business Productivity

so_admin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 09:49:43 +0000

Following its decision to raise the national retirement age to 67, the German government has released a report that having employees between the ages of 45 and 67 increases a business’s productivity. In the first of semi-annual progress reports, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has released “Fortschrittsreport „Altersgerechte Arbeitswelt“ Ausgabe 1: Entwicklung des Arbeitsmarkts für Ältere”in which it finds, among other things:

employment rate of 60 to 64 year olds continues to rise, up to 40.8% in 2010 (up from 38.4% in 2009;
the employment rate among 55-to 64-year-olds has increased since 2000 more in Germany than in most other EU countries, and among 60- to 64-year-olds, the increase in Germany was the strongest in the EU;
if age-appropriate jobs are available, the productivity of employees between 45 and 50 years increases by as much as two percent

Source article here

Competitive countries will make best use of older workers: new book

so_admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:09:39 +0000

Countries able to best make use of older workers seeking to remain employed beyond retirement age will have a competitive advantage over those that don’t, according to a new book released by the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Global Population Ageing: Peril or Promise?, contains a collection of essays written by business and political leaders and academics that canvass issues for policy-makers, business and governments in dealing with the world’s ageing population.

Writing in the foreword, Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organisation, says that it will be a major challenge for governments and societies to successfully take advantage of the benefits of older workers, and it wouldn’t “come easily”.

“We first need to change the way we think and the way we do business. We need to discard our stereotypes of what it is to be old.”

Chan referred to a recent US survey that showed that while 80% of respondents wanted to continue to work beyond retirement age, they didn’t want to continue in the same way.

“They wanted to work part time or start a new career, or launch a small business. They wanted flexibility”. Download hereGlobal Population Ageing: Peril or Promise?, World Economic Forum, 2012

Active Inclusion Policies are Only Answer to Employment Impact of Ageing Workers

Geoff Pearman — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:06:26 +0000

The labour market shortfall caused by the decline in Europe’s population and workforce will not be offset by increasing immigration levels nor by higher fertility and productivity rates, delegates will be told at the Opening Conference of the 2012 European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations in Copenhagen. To read the opening statement and view the video click here

Research from Eurofound provides some good news: the proportion of workers in the EU27 who think they will be able to do their current job at the age of 60 has risen marginally from 57% in 2000 to 59% in 2010. Also, over the past five years, work beyond retirement has become more common in almost all Member States. Currently, around 10% of 65– 69-year-olds are employed in the EU27, compared to 8.7% five years ago.

Reskilling for encore careers for (what were once) retirement years

Geoff Pearman — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 07:21:34 +0000

This is a very good report just released by NCVER Australia. It has a number of key messages for the tertiary education sector in terms of providing programmes to enable older workers to re-skill for encore careers. Download here

The chapter headings give a flavor of the report

Ageing in the third age
Older workers’ experience
Policies that encourage older workers to keep working
Barriers limiting work opportunities for older workers
What is an ‘encore career’?
A working definition of ‘encore careers’
Who are encore careers for?
Is there a better label than ‘encore career’?
Creating encore career programs
Existing encore career programs
Encore career programs in the Australian context
Challenges (impediments) to implementing encore career programs
Infrastructure for encore careers

Realising the Economic Potential of Senior Australians – turning grey into gold

Geoff Pearman — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 22:51:07 +0000

The third report from the Advisory Panel on the Economic Potential of Senior Australians was presented to the Hon Wayne Swan at the Older Workers Workability Conference in December 2011. Click here. The report makes 36 recommendations ranging across the ageing agenda, housing, participation, lifelong learning, active ageing, volunteering and philanthropy and age discrimination.

A copy of Hon Wayne Swans speech at the conference is available at click here

Ageing and the Barriers to Labour Force Particpation in Australia

Geoff Pearman — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 22:42:32 +0000

This report prepared on behalf of the Consultative Forum on Mature Age Participation by National Seniors Australia is available at click here. Launched by the Hon Kate Ellis at the Older Workers Workability conference in December 2011 the report identifies 14 key barriers to participation.