Australia: HR Survey Released on Retention of and Attitudes Towards Mature Workers

The Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI) has released the results of a survey of 1212 AHRI members on mature age workforce participation finding, among other things, that 46% report that the departure of older workers from their workplace in the last year has caused loss of key knowledge or skills and 35% believe their organization is biased to some extent against the employment of older workers. The "HR Pulse Survey: Mature Age Workforce Participation" report also finds:

• 22% report that the departure of older workers has caused the organization to be less competitive;
• 83% would like to see steps taken within their organization to retain older workers;
• 49% believe their organization would be disposed to support government initiatives to recruit a greater proportion of older workers;
• 62% report their organization does not distinguish between older and younger workers when deciding who to keep on the payroll;
• 61% oppose the idea of the government raising the retirement age to retain greater numbers of older workers;
• 67% believe the retention of older workers would benefit productivity, with 26% believing it would have no impact on productivity;
• given limited choices, respondents would prefer their organization to source recruits from unemployed older workers (49%), skilled immigrants (26%), unemployed youth (13%), unemployed Australians with a disability (7%) and unemployed Australians from indigenous backgrounds (7%);
• 77% report retaining older workers as a necessary precaution against the sudden loss of essential knowledge and skills; and
• 37% report being certain that negative
  perceptions in their workplace about older workers have no influence on recruitment decisions.

Source: Australian Human Resources Institute News Release (March 8, 2012)