New Zealand: Businesses Not Geared Up For Older Workers

New Zealand's Retirement Commissioner has issued a report finding that while the number of New Zealanders working past 65 is on the rise, most businesses are not geared up for them. According to the study--"Ageing workforce business survey, May 2016"--carried out as part of the Commissioner’s review of retirement income policies, 83% of the 500 companies questioned have no policies or strategies in place for workers aged over 50. Furthermore, "it doesn’t matter what sort of work they do: the results for those engaged in manual work, such as farming and forestry, were no different to those in manufacturing or the service sector."

Among other things, the survey found that:

• 69% of the businesses agree that there’s a shortage of highly experienced workers in their industry;
• 70% are concerned about losing skills and experience when older workers retire; and
• 77% of companies do not carry out any active retirement planning to help their employees transition from full-time work.

Source: Commission for Financial Capability "Businesses ignore NZ's ageing workforce" (June 21, 2016)

New Zealand: Employers Need To Balance Retaining Older Workers with Developing New Workers

According to an article from Hays, New Zealand employers must balance the nation’s aging workforce with the continued development of new entrants to the labor market if they are to remain competitive long-term. According to Jason Walker, Managing Director of Hays in New Zealand:

“Those aged 65 and over in the workforce will increase in number, however by 2029 there will be fewer people in the labour force than not.

“Given the impending shrinking of the workforce, it makes sense to retain mature age workers for as long as possible.

“But we must not do so at the expense of training and developing new entrants to the labour market. If we look to the future, in order to maintain our competitive edge we need to ensure the country has a future pipeline of talent who have the skills and experience necessary to replace our ageing workforce when they do eventually retire. Otherwise there will be a skills vacuum that will take many years and a huge amount of investment to fill."

Thus, the balance that employers need to strike between retaining highly-valued, well educated and experienced older workers, and recruiting and developing the next generation of employees. However, the ultimate goal, according to Hays, is to focus on the recruitment, development and training of staff at all levels and of all ages.

Hays further explores the topic of the aging workforce in "Mind the Age Gap," published in the Hays Journal Issue 8.

Source: Hays Press Release (November 5, 2014)

Utilities Industry Facing Workforce Changes with Generational Shift

According to a new report, workforce changes are re-shaping the risk profiles of power and utilities companies, which may require a systematic approach to help attract and retain core know-how, and transfer industry knowledge to a younger generation. The report--"Power and utilities changing workforce: Keeping the lights on"--from Price Waterhouse Cooper's Power & Utilities Group, finds that, among other things, an accelerated pace at which utilities are losing key workers. For example, the "voluntary turnover rate climbed by a full percentage point between 2010 and 2012, and for high performers and early tenured employees the rate of separation was especially high."

PWC suggests that, while other industries are used to high turnover, the relatively stable utilities industry may now have to rethink both their approach to process and their employee value proposition as they confront the industry's turnover issues:

[T]raditional "word-of-mouth," on-the-job training of utility workers is not sustainable. More than ever before, work processes and procedures should be documented and continuously improved. Explicit governance and controls procedures should be put in place and sustained. Moreover, focused and efficient knowledge transfer and succession planning approaches should align with the operational imperatives of the company.

The report suggests that utility companies have been able to postpone this day of reckoning, since the recession had either forced employees to delay retirement or stay in place as contractors. However, since veteran utilities workers have had the tendency to retain valuable institutional knowledge in their heads and to pass it on orally, this knowledge will be lost as the attractiveness of pensions plans draws this workers away from employment.

The report then outlines questions that utility companies must ask themselves about, and outlines approaches to take with respect to, three areas: (1) knowledge retention and succession planning, (2) operations, and (3) Technology and processes.

Source: Price Waterhouse Coopers Summary (December 2013)

New Zealand: Report Calls for Employers To Adapt Workplace Policies for Older Workers

A report issued by BusinessNZ, Southern Cross Healthcare Group, and Gallagher Bassett is telling New Zealand employers that they will be increasingly reliant on older workers to remain in the labor market in coming years, and that these workers will increasingly require arrangements such as reduced hours of work, flexibility in working time, lighter duties and a degree of focus on transition to retirement. In "Wellness in the Workplace," it is reported that "only 12.6% of businesses have policies or arrangements in place for older employees. Even when results were broken down by broad size of business, there was no significant change in the overall result."

"Of those business that do have some form of arrangement in place, comments typically revolved around reduced hours of work, flexibility in working time, lighter duties and a degree of focus on transition to retirement." According to Phil O’Reilly, BusinessNZ Chief Executive, just because workers are nearing retirement age doesn’t necessarily mean an employee wants to give up work. "It comes down to understanding the external pressures your staff are under. We’ve come a long way in talking about work-life balance for parents, however older workers have equally important reasons for needing flexibility--they may have health issues to contend with, need to care for older parents or, increasingly, take on caring for grandchildren so the parents can return to paid work."

Source: Southern Cross Healthcare Group News Release (December 16, 2013)

Productive Aging Programs Help Employees Manage Age at the Workplace

In a post by U.S. News & World Report blogger Philip Moeller, Kristin Tugman--senior director of health and productivity at Unum--outlined the five components of a productive aging program. According to Tugman, beyond mentoring, prospective labor-force shortages mean many employers simply cannot afford to let older workers retire or walk out the door. In particular, in manufacturing and physically challenging occupations such as nursing, employers "are recognizing the creep up in terms of their employees' average age" and the "clear impact of continuing repetitive, hard labor."

Productive aging programs include:

1. a rigorous demographic analysis of an employer's aging workforce today and projected into the future;
2. employee wellness programs with specific older-employee components;
3. chronic condition management, perhaps with special emphasis on obesity;
4. flexible work environment; and
5. job enrichment programs, which value older workers and seek to leverage their motivation with respect to their return to work and their staying at work.

Source: U.S. News & World Report "Employers Slowly Enrich Programs for Older Workers" (March18, 2013)

United Kingdom: Lords Report Says Government Unprepared for Aging Population

A report issued by the United Kingdom's House of Lords Committee on Public Service and Demographic Change warned that the government is woefully underprepared for aging, including the need for older people to support themselves through later life, since, for many people, there is a risk that a longer life could worsen the existing problem of insufficient savings and pensions. In "Ready for Ageing?," the report addresses "later working" (one of a wide range of aging issues) and recommends:

1. The Government and employers need to work to end 'cliff-edge' retirement, by enabling more people to work part-time and to wind down work and take up pensions flexibly. It should be beneficial to defer taking state and private pensions. Employers need to be much more positive about employing older people. The Government should publicly reject the 'lump of labour fallacy' that wrongly argues this will disadvantage the young.
2. The Committee urges the Government, pensions industry and employers to tackle the lack of certainty in defined contribution pensions and address their serious defects to make it clearer what people can expect to get from their pension as a result of the savings they make.

In reaching these recommendations, the report notes that "working for longer would increase income from work, potentially increase savings, and reduce the time of dependence on those savings. Working for longer can often improve health and brings social and intellectual benefits." However, it understands that "making working for longer possible will require changes to attitudes, as well as policy and practice." To that end, the report includes an appendix focused on working longer, which further suggests, among other things:

• employers need to be much more positive about employing older people. Employers and employees should adopt a more flexible conception of how and when people move on from paid work as they get older, to their mutual advantage;
• employers should demonstrate more flexibility towards the employment of older workers, and help them to adapt, re-skill and gradually move to more suitable roles and hours when they want to do so;
• employers should support those with responsibilities for caring for older people—particularly people in their 50s or 60s who care for elderly parents—to continue part-time or in flexible work;
• welfare to work policies should also address the needs of older people

Source: Lords Select Committee Press Release (March 14, 2013)

United Kingdom: Guide Published for Employing Older Workers

The United Kingdom's Department for Work and Pensions has published a guide for employers on today’s multi-generational workforce. "Employing Older Workers. An employer’s guide to today’s multi-generational workforce" is drawn from from employers who report clear business benefits from
effectively managing an ageing multi-generational workforce and provides answers to employer questions and offers non-bureaucratic solutions tried and tested by employers of various sectors and sizes.

It also addresses misconceptions about employing older workers concerning productivity, up-skilling, health and ‘blocking’ opportunities for younger workers. Many successful employers report the benefits of employing older workers as part of a multi-generational workforce include:

• a broader range of skills and experience;
• opportunities for mentoring new recruits;
• transfer of skills across the workforce;
• reduced staff turnover; and
• improved staff morale.

Source: TAEN News Release (February 19, 2013)

U.S. Employers Ramping Up, but Still Unprepared, for Boomers Leaving the Workforce

U.S. employers are ramping up skills training and employee benefits aimed at closing skills gaps left when Baby Boomers retire, and at retaining and recruiting older workers, according to poll results released by Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and AARP. Nevertheless, many U.S. organizations are largely unprepared for the brain drain and skills void that talented, retiring older workers will leave.

On the positive side, according to the SHRM–AARP Strategic Workforce Planning survey, 72% of human resource professionals polled described the loss of talented older workers to be "a problem" or "a potential problem" for their organizations, and many organizations have taken actions to prepare for the loss of talented older workers who retire, including the following:

• increased training and cross-training (45%;
• developed succession planning (38%);
• hired retired employees as consultants or temporary workers (30%);
• offered flexible work arrangements (27%); and
• designed part-time positions to attract older workers (24%).

On the other side, 71% of those polled still have not conducted a strategic workforce planning assessment to analyze the impact of workers 50 and older who will leave their organizations.

SHRM and AARP have partnered to help U.S. businesses and organizations, and, among other things, AARP offers a free, online Workforce Assessment Tool, providing a snapshot of an organization’s workforce and demographics and analyzes its programs to leverage the talents of its older workers, and the SHRM-AARP Partnership Resource Page includes poll and survey findings, articles, and links to the assessment tool, among others.

Source: Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Press Release (April 9, 2012)

Study: Preparing Academia for an Aging Workforce

The University of Iowa Center on Aging and the TIAA-CREF Institute have issued a report calling on academic institutions to start making a more concerted effort to engage with and support aging employees as they continue to work well past the traditional retirement age. According to "Promoting Workplace Longevity and Desirable Retirement Pathways within Academic Institutions," less than 5% of the 187 academic institution HR officials surveyed identified issues pertaining to aging faculty and staff as a top institutional priority, even though financial obligations to these employees constitute the largest growing part of university budgets.

Brian Kaskie, Ph.D., the lead author and associate professor of health management and policy in the College of Public Health and associate director for the Center on Aging, said that "[b]etween 2000 and 2010 the proportion of all professors 65 and older nearly doubled, and the aging professorate now outpaces all other white collar professions." Thus, "[t]he lack of attention being directed to the challenges and opportunities presented by the aging academic workforce is alarming."

According to the Executive Summary:

There was little correlation among programs and retirement pathway offerings. Institutions that rated highly on wellness programs or retirement counseling services did not always offer a variety of retirement pathways. Instead, most universities and colleges appeared to pursue a piecemeal approach toward accommodating and transitioning aging employees; their efforts more often were developed in response to an immediate demand rather than in pursuit of a strategic plan.

Among the report's recommendations for making more aging-friendly academic institutions are that (1) institutions should address attitudes about the aging workforce and identify offerings in wellness programming, counseling services, workplace accommodations and retirement pathways, and (2) focusing on the development of programs that promote workplace longevity and provide employees with information that aids their decision-making about retirement will go a long way toward maintaining healthy and engaged employees who pursue a more predictable retirement pathway.

Source: University of Iowa Iowa Now (March 21, 2012)

United Kingdom: Employers Not Taking Proactive Steps To Engage and Retain Older Workers

A report published by Acas finds that there is little evidence of employers in the United Kingdom taking proactive steps to engage and retain older workers. According to research conducted by Cranfield School of Management and Nottingham Business School, "The Employment Relations Challenges of an Ageing Workforce" concludes that "if the UK economy is to fully benefit from the skills and experience of its older workers, a larger proportion of organisations will need to adopt age management policies and practices which are effectively communicated to their workforces."

On a broader level the evidence suggests that despite anti-age discrimination legislation and the removal of age barriers in employment policies and practices, there continue to be stereotypical attitudes towards individuals based on age in the workplace, including the view that a person’s performance decreases from age 50 onwards, and that many employers generalise from what was actually limited experience of older workers with older workers seen as lacking technological skills and being less adaptable to change than younger workers.

Interestingly, the authors also note that there is some evidence that anti-discrimination legislation is "having a deadening effect on employers’ proactivity in addressing age related issues on the grounds that to do so would be discriminatory as it would introduce different treatment for different age groups."

Among the recommendations for age management policies, the report includes:

• embedding in the employment relationship a better understanding of how age is currently conceptualized in the world of work in order to maximize the organizational engagement and contribution of older workers;
• workforce training and other initiatives to change the organizational culture around stereotypical attitudes about both older and younger workers; and
• better targeted guidance and education which stresses the business benefits of innovative working practices, engagement and communication, rather than just focusing on compliance with the anti-age discrimination legislation.

Source: Acas News Release (March 28, 2012)

United Kingdom: Survey Suggests Scottish Employers Not Ready for Older Workforce

Mining the details of its second survey from the "JLT 250 Club" on defined contribution (DC) pension schemes in the workplace, JLT Benefit Solutions finds that Scottish employers may not have adapted yet to a future without retirement. Even though the United Kingdom has abolished mandatory retirement, 50% of Scottish employers who participated in the survey do not yet know how they will adapt to an older employee workforce, and only one-third are reviewing or planning to review their reward strategy.

According to Malcolm Paul, Chairman of JLT Benefit Solutions in Scotland:

In particular, from the perspective of reward strategy, Scottish employers need to give consideration to the employee benefits that they will provide to their workers who continue in service after normal pension age. Organisations need a policy on the inevitable increase in demand for flexible retirement and the future role of pensions and other benefits in succession planning.

Source: JLT Benefit Solutions Limited News Release (February 22, 2012)

Energy and Utility Industry: Preparing for Rapidly Changing Workforce Demographics

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has issued a report on how power and utility companies can best address industry changes within their organizations as they struggle with the awareness that an aging workforce is a significant risk to their operations. In "Change is happening: Is your workforce ready?," PwC looks into four areas in which successful, innovative and forward-thinking power and utility companies are effectively addressing change: developing and retaining leaders, effectively leveraging performance measurement and technology, realigning the organizational structure, and ensuring that the Human Resources (HR) team plays a significant role in overall business strategy.

Among other things, the report (based on a May 2011 survey) states leaders must have the skills to maanage:

• a workforce soon to be challenged with large-scale turnover;
• a workforce, trimmed through retirements and reductions, that is increasingly being asked to accomplish more with resources that are spread thin;
• the interaction between workers in a multigenerational labor force.

According to the survey, more than 60% of respondents rated the task of developing new leaders as difficult. Internal politics and lack of management support remain the greatest obstacles in developing effective new leaders, according to more than 50% of the survey respondents.

Source: PwC Publication Announcement (January 18, 2012)

Canada: Mining Industry Using Dual-Career Paths To Retain Knowledge Workers

According to a report issued by the Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MIHR), in partnership with the Canada Mining Innovation Council, Canadian mining companies are adopting dual-career development paths--that is, the creation of alternate advancement paths for technical and managerial employees--as a means to retain knowledge workers. In addition, "Making the Grade: Human Resources Challenges and Opportunities for Knowledge Workers in Canadian Mining" finds, among other things that a continued decline in fertility rates, coupled with an aging population, means that highly skilled immigrants will grow in importance to organizations looking to fill knowledge worker skills gaps.

Furthermore, the study finds that "employer outreach to younger audiences is seen as one key to future attraction of knowledge workers. The number of people connected through social media is increasing at an exponential rate, particularly among younger generations. Organizations are increasingly turning to social-media campaigns for recruitment, awareness and branding opportunities."

According to "Unearthing Possibilities: Human Resources Challenges and Opportunities in the Canadian Mineral Exploration Sector," a second report issued by the MIHR, the mining sector:

is not immune to the broad trend of an aging workforce—with 16 per cent of the workforce over age 55. Furthermore—and of particular importance—the sector has a shortage of workers in the middle parts of their career (aged 35 to 44), suggesting challenges with mid-career attrition.

Thus, among other things, it finds that programs and initiatives to engage and retain the aging workforce are also important for the future success of the exploration sector. .

Source: Mining Industry Human Resources Council News Release (October 14, 2011)

United Kingdom: Survey Compares Older and Younger Workers on Training Opportunities, Performance Reviews, and Health

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) says that a survey found that older workers are often neglected when it comes to training and performance management and cautions United Kingdom employers about the need to ensure they are managing the performance of all employees effectively, particularly before the final phase out of the default retirement age. In addition, the survey "shoots down the myth" that workers’ ability to do their job suddenly declines after they hit 65.

According to CIPD's "Employee Outlook: Focus on an Ageing Workforce," 46% of workers aged 65 and above report they have had a formal performance appraisal either once a year or more frequently, compared to 65% of all employees. In addition, 44% of employees aged 65 and above have not had a formal performance appraisal in the last two years or never, compared to an average of 27%. With respect to training opportunities, the survey found that 51% of those aged over 65 said they had received no training in the last three years or never, compared to 32% across all age groups.

On health issues, the 28% of older workers said their physical ability has declined a lot and 51% saying their physical ability has declined a little. However, while workers aged up to 34 are significantly less likely to report a decline in their physical ability to do their job, thereafter there is little difference between the youngest and the oldest workers, with 17% of 34–45-year-olds saying their physical ability has declined a lot and 51% a little. In addition, 91% of workers aged 65 and above say their mental health is good or very good, compared to a survey average of 74%; 69% of older workers report their physical health is good or very good compared to 64% for workers across all age groups.

Source: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Press Release (June 20, 2011)

Europe: Companies Not Meeting Diversity Challenges, Particular of Aging Workforce

A study by The Boston Consulting Group and the European Association for People Management of European companies reports that major European organizations display little diversity in the ranks of their top management. In a Focus report "Hard-Wiring Diversity into Your Business," the two groups analyzed how 444 executives responded to survey questions about the challenges in diversity management and, among other things, found that the business risk caused by demographic change (aging) was cited as the greatest diversity challenge by 48% of the survey respondents.

"Our research has shown that the business case for diversity is clear and that HR needs to integrate such measures into its broader people policies. A modern workplace must represent its customer base in order to be truly effective and to deliver products and services that drive it to the competitive edge in a global environment," explained Stephanie Bird, an author of the report and the director of HR capability for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

The report explains how employee diversity can be increased to advance business imperatives through several steps: (1) creating transparency, (2) redefining recruiting, (3) promoting diversity, (4) building leaders for the 21st century, (5) retaining employees, and (6) making progress visible.

Sources: The Boston Consulting Group Press Release (June 8, 2011); European Association for People Management News Release (June 8, 2011)

United Kingdom: London Employers Unprepared for Abolition of Mandatory Retirement

A survey conducted by the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and Penningtons Solicitors LLP shows that 57% of London employers are not prepared for and 26% do not know about the 2011 abolition of the default retirement age (DRA). According to "Tackling the age-old problem of retirement, The Penningtons/LCCI survey of London employers on the changes to the default retirement age (DRA)," less than half--43%--of the employers consider themselves to be either quite well or very well prepared.

Other findings of the survey show that 78% think that workers should be retained on their ability rather than their age, 68% agree that the UK's employment legal framework needs to be modernized, 56% are concerned that older employees may refuse to retire even when they cannot perform their job effectively, and 54% are concerned about the lack of clarity about how to legitimately retire employees.

The report also includes a six-point plan to help employers minimize the risks of being on the wrong end of employment-related legal claims. Included in the plan are five best practice points together with advice on how to achieve a fair dismissal on capability grounds: (1) promoting more positive procedural terminology, (2) educating managers to respond to older workers' needs, (3) turning the annual appraisal system into a 365 day rolling program, (4) encouraging mentoring roles for older workers, and (5) building a workplace culture of transparency and clear communication.

Source: Penningtons Solicitors LLP News Release (May 26, 2011)

New Zealand: Research on Employer Preparedness; Calls for Public Employment Changes

New Zealand's Victoria University's announcement of a PhD dissertation showing that many organizations are under prepared for the loss of valuable knowledge as the oldest members of the baby boomer generation near retirement has led to calls for government employers to introduce more flexible working conditions so older workers can be retained in the state sector workforce.

First, the research: Dr. Carmel Joe's research suggests that few organizations have systems for identifying older experts or retaining their expertise after they retire. As part of her work, Dr. Joe created a model that organizations can use to identify the knowledge held by older experts and integrate it in to their knowledge retention processes. According to Dr. Joe:

Some aspects of a job can be documented but not everything. When I asked people what they would do if an expert in their team disappeared tomorrow, most replied that they'd have all the materials that person had generated but not the added element of the tacit knowledge they hold in their head.

Experts become very attuned and intuitive about what to do and what not to do but it's knowledge that is hard to define or write down. They also have a lot of referential knowledge—they know where to go to find things out.

One response to the research has come from Public Service Association national secretary Brenda Pilott who wants measures introduced that would allow older members of the workforce to work part-time. According to a news story written by Tim Donoghue, Plilott said:

The idea of more flexible arrangements to retain older workers and their expertise is something the public service wrestles with ... there needs to be more flexibility in terms of number of hours worked by older workers.

Sources: Victoria University News Release (May 18, 2011); Stuff.co.nz "Older workers 'need more flexible hours' " (May 21, 2011)

United Kingdom: Employers Need To Plan for Effect of Aging Population on Workplace

A new discussion paper issued by Acas suggests that employers in the United Kingdom need to start planning now for the effects an aging population will have on the workplace. According to "The future of workplace relations--An Acas view," as more and more people live longer, workers will experience increased pressure as they juggle work with caring duties for elderly relatives, which in turn wil lead to an increase in requests for flexible working and part time hours to help meet eldercare as well as childcare responsibilities.

Among other things, the Acas paper explores the changes to the workplace over the next ten years and looks at the:

• changing profile of the workforce;
• fragmentation of the employment relationship;
• employees experience at work;
• future challenges for trade unions in the workplace;
• the rise of rules, regulations, and individual litigation;new challenges in managing the workforce;
• new channels for employee voice; and taking conflict seriously.

Source: Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) News Release (January 26, 2011)

Research: Wholesale Sector Behind Other Industries in Preparing for Aging Workforce

According to the latest in a series of industry-focused looks at employer preparedness for an aging workforce, researches at Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College note that the wholesale sector reports greater problems associated with shifts in the age demographics of the workforce as compared to other sectors. In "Talent Pressures and the Aging Workforce: Wholesale Sector," the Center reports that, from 2000-2007, the percentage of wholesale workers aged 55-64 increased by 35% compared to 28% in all industries, and employment of wholesale workers aged 65+ increased by 10%, compared to 7% in all industries.

Among other things, the report finds that that many employers in the wholesale trade sector have only a limited knowledge of their workforce, and that a large-scale exodus of workers could leave some employers in this sector with stiff challenges in locating replacement employees. To this end, the report suggests, among other things, that the the aging of the workforce offers employers in the sectoran opportunity to re-vitalize their flexible work options, because older workers express a preference for access to flexible work options.

Source: Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College Publication News (October 2010)

Survey: Employers Confront Loss of Skilled Workers and Critical Knowledge with Retirement of Older Workers

Career Partners International(CPI) has released the results of a survey of senior executives and HR executives and managers from 26 countries, finding that 64% thought retiring workers would have a significant impact on their organization, while at least 90% expect retirements to significantly increase the loss of knowledge and expertise. However, the CPI Global Mature Workforce Survey found that only 34% anticipated making changes to employment practices or benefits or make their organization more attractive for current employees or recruits.

CPI says that the sectors most concerned about their loss of competitive edge due to retirements included business services, government, manufacturing and utilities. In addition, it noted that large and small firms had different expectations about the impact of retiring workers, with 73% of large organizations expecting at least a significant impact, while only 59% of small organizations had similar expectations.

In addition to the survey results, CPI has made available a webinar, which has experts presenting their thoughts on the analysis of results, including additional information not previously presented.

Source: Career Partners International News Release (October 7, 2010)