HR managers and recruitment firms need to overcome prejudices around hiring older workers and employ staff based on their abilities rather than age, Federal Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews recently said.
“We need an attitudinal sea change towards older workers and recruitment agencies and human resource managers are on the frontline,” he said.
“We need to recognise we have an ageing workforce but create an ageless workforce, where workers are valued – and employed – for their skills, not judged or penalised because of their date of birth.”
Minister Andrews, who was speaking at the launch of Hudson’s mature-age strategy, said Australia had yet to seriously confront the trend of early retirement and the need to keep more mature-age workers in the workforce.
“Australia’s demographic changes mean that businesses which fail to recognise and employ mature-age Australians will not survive.”
Research from Hudson, which took in almost 7,500 companies nationally, found that less than one in three Australian employers are seeking to attract mature aged workers.
When combined with Australia’s 14-year low unemployment level, the results sounded a clear warning to employers, according to Hudson CEO Australasia Anne Hatton.
“All these factors are pointing to a progressive draining of the labour market, yet few organisations have taken steps to address it,” she said.
About 1.3 million new workers will join the workforce this decade. In the 2020s that will drop to 300,000 or less.
“With a diminishing pool of talent for employers, mature workers are becoming increasingly important. They are the only remaining segment of the workforce in which participation rates can be increased,” Hatton said.
“Mature workers have borne the brunt of workplace restructuring over the past decade, which suggests employers may need to re-examine their HR policies.”
Of the industries surveyed by Hudson, the education and transport sectors were the most proactive in attracting older workers, with 52 per cent and 46 per cent of organisations attracting and retaining mature-aged workers respectively, while the telecommunications (16 per cent), IT (22 per cent), and advertising/marketing/media (18 per cent) industries appeared least proactive.
The research also found that almost 70 per cent of Australian managers would like to remain in the workforce on a part-time or casual basis after retiring from full-time work.
Minister Andrews said Australia needs to abandon its “retirement culture” and promote more choice and flexibility in the workplace so mature age workers can consider options such as phased retirement, job sharing and part-time work.
The Hudson Report found that Australia will be increasingly reliant on mature workers and will need age-friendly strategies to successfully staff businesses. Strategies employers can consider include:
• Workforce planning that takes into account the age profile and retiring intentions of staff. Audit staff to understand when mature workers intend to leave and what critical skills may be lost.
• Surveying workers over 45 years of age to understand their needs and preferences. What will promote and postpone their retirement?
• Creating flexible work arrangements for mature staff. Create roles that retain their status and value.
• Formally reviewing recruitment practices and attitudes of hiring managers towards the selection of mature workers.
• Making appropriate training available to mature workers re information management and career change.
Human Resources magazine will soon begin a series of features on how employers can best tackle the aging workforce crisis with a number of local and overseas best-practice case studies
