United Kingdom: Employers Need To Be Much More Focused on Rewards Needed To Incent Older Workers

Employers that are addressing the challenges presented by an ageing workforce to recruit, retain, and engage talent are acting mostly on an ad hoc basis, according to a report on employer incentives for older workers issued by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), based on research carried out on behalf of the CIPD by Cranfield School of Management. The CIPD Research Insight "Managing an ageing workforce: The role of total reward" shows that a more holistic approach to pay and reward is necessary--"organisations need to look across their financial and non-financial reward offerings to consider whether they are attractive to older workers."

What is lacking is a systematic and integrated approach to reward that examines whether the pay and the financial and non-financial benefits are appealing to all individuals, irrespective of their age, race, gender, etc.

According to Charles Cotton, CIPD Reward and Employment Conditions Adviser, employers "need to take the opportunity to examine whether how they reward their employees is appealing to older workers, as well as other groups.” In addition, the research suggests that employers need to make sure not to neglect the training and development needs of older workers. Dr Emma Parry, Research Fellow at Cranfield School of Management and author of the research, suggests that as employees approach retirement age, they have different needs and says that the "total rewards package offered to employees should be designed in such a way as to accommodate these differing needs so that workers of all ages are motivated to stay with the organisation.”

Source: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Press Release (January 31, 2008)