The Looming Disaster of an Aging Workforce

Posted by Ricki Sharpe on April 29, 2007
Filed Under Talent Management

Despite facing a looming demographic crisis that will see the numbers of working age people plummet over the coming decades, only one in seven (14 per cent) of employers in developed economies have any strategies in place to recruit older workers. The extraordinary absence of action to forecast workforce shortages emerged from new research from employment services company Manpower based on their 2007 Older Worker Retention Survey of more than 28,000 employers across 25 countries and territories.

Apart from an absence of recruitment strategies, the research reveals that only one in five (21 per cent) of employers have implemented retention strategies to keep workers aged 50 or older in the workforce. “Many employers have not yet recognised the need to pre-empt the percentage of their workforce that is set to retire in the next five to 10 years and planned ahead to stem the potential loss of productivity and intellectual capital that will occur when those people walk out the door,” said Jeffrey Joerres, CEO of Manpower.

It appears that most employers worldwide are ignoring the demographic forecasts and evidence of growing talent shortages, and are still waiting to see it in their headlights before they begin to think differently about the older workforce. By then, it could be too late to avoid the impact of large-scale retirements on the productivity and knowledge base of their company.

Joerres added that this problem would be exacerbated because the older employees who have the talent most needed by companies are also those who have the financial flexibility to retire or down-shift to more flexible work arrangements. That means that employers have to put flexibility firmly at the heart of any efforts they make to attract and retain older workers.

“The best way to attract and retain older workers is to have jobs they want, and what they want is flexible, part-time jobs that interest them,” Joerres insisted.

Simultaneously with the survey results, Manpower issued a white paper, The New Agenda for an Older Workforce, which explores the increasing reality of the global aging workforce, the resulting gaps in workforce supply, and the demand that this is creating.

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