AUSTRALIA’S SHRINKING WORKFORCE

COMING READY OR

But there is good news

There are around 4 million baby boomers who will be leaving the workforce in the next 20 years.
These experienced older workers often still have much to offer businesses. Employers who can retain
these competent people in the workforce longer, should be better able to cope with the dramatic
changes in the labour supply.
And there is more good news. Money is often not the primary motivation for job satisfaction for
older workers. Business owners and managers who try to understand the needs of these employees,
and make an effort to tailor the working environment to suit them, will attract better employees and 
keep them longer. And by keeping good staff longer, they will retain their investment in their recruitment and training. However, this may require a change in attitude towards engaging and keeping good mature age (45+) workers. Unless business owners and managers recognize that older employees will make up an important and essential part of any successful workforce, they might find themselves unable to meet business demand. Without a proportion of mature staff in the workforce the numbers simply won’t add up.

Will they delay their retirement for you?

As an employer you will have to have strategies in place to encourage older workers to stay. Many very good people may set their sights on retirement. They may want to play a bigger role in assisting their families or they may simply want time to ‘get a life’. By being sensitive to the needs of mature age employees you may find ways to delay their move to full retirement, but you need to start early. Once people decide to retire, it is hard to get them to change their minds. This may mean employers will have to take new approaches to managing people as they get older in order to encourage them to stay active in the workforce.

But how?

Firstly, and most importantly it really is time to put away the popular stereotypes of mature age employees and look at them in a fresh new light. Now more than ever before it makes sense to look at your workforce as a whole, and think about the strengths and skill levels of all your staff - regardless of age. Competence, not ‘age’, is the key.

 

Managing the change

The following are some hints that may help you prepare for the labour supply change that is already
starting to bite and will only get worse.
There are many, many things you can do to prepare your business.

A change of attitude

Are you encouraging older workers to retire early? Loath to hire anyone over 45? The reduction in the numbers of young people entering the workforce now and in the future means that to survive,

“Arranging more flexible hours for Jill was a lot easier than trying to find a new Jill”

all businesses are going to have to be more open minded and flexible about the age spread of their workforce. Will you, your managers or your recruitment people have to revise your attitude towards older workers?

Do a stocktake (and find out what you have - and what you might need)

Do you understand the strengths and gaps in your existing workforce? A simple stocktake of skills should provide the answers. Depending on the size of the business, a stocktake can be as simple as a chat with an employee at regular intervals. What skills do they have that you might not know about? Do they think that extra training would increase their value to the company? Do they want to move up the ladder? By plotting the skills and the aspirations of the workforce, employers can see potential problems and opportunities before they are forced on them. Planning can help employers fill gaps using existing staff, design training programs more effectively and encourage and reward good employees with incentives or promotion.

A balance of youth and experience makes the best team

Sporting teams strive for a mix of experienced and younger players for all the obvious reasons. The team as a whole benefits. It’s no different in business. Older employees are revitalised by working with younger people. Younger employees will soon pick up on ‘hands on’ tricks of the trade from older employees. The business gets the best of both worlds. It’s a good reason why businesses should re-examine their staffing practices and look at their staff as a team - does their team have a good balance of youth and experience? There’s a lot to consider. Before encouraging an older employee to retire early, employers should think long and hard about the possible long term ramifications. The shrinking supply of new workers in the future is just one. How easy will it be to replace the experienced person? How long will it take to get the new employee up to speed? What are the costs? Will the replacement need extensive training? How long are they likely to stay?

Different strokes for different folks

Recruiting or retraining workers over 45 will help stabilize any workforce. Older employees tend to stay longer, are loyal and more consistent in their work output. Their experience also provides a bonus of business common sense born out of that experience. Employers may have to consider more flexible working conditions for older employees. Days off or fewer hours each day may be far more important than extra money. They may have responsibilities to family or community and may not be prepared to work full time. Part time may be the answer (assuming that awards provide for flexible work arrangements). Flexible working arrangements can be beneficial to both the worker and the employer.
 

Looking for Mr and Ms right

With fewer young people available to employers, and many older people dreaming of retirement, recruiting good people will present new challenges. Below are some hints for successful recruitment. But first, will you need to recruit? Are there good employees on staff already who, with additional training, could fill other roles? All of these issues have an impact on who the employer should be looking for, and also affect the perception that would-be applicants might already have about the business.
“I knew they had a reputation for only hiring ‘youngies’, so I didn’t even bother applying”
Here’s a quick recruitment checklist that will help attract a wide range of good applicants:

Advertising

• Make sure the advertisement makes it clear that all people with the right skills, qualifications and experience will be considered.
• Use the phrase ‘people of all ages are encouraged to apply’. Do not use age limits in advertising.
• List specific skills and qualifications rather than personal attributes.
• Delete restrictive phrases like ‘young and eager’. Get rid of words like ‘junior’, ‘senior’ and use phrases like ‘responsible’, ‘capable’, ‘able to work without supervision’, ‘enthusiastic’.
• Mention the possibility of permanent part time, 4 day weeks, job sharing or other flexible work arrangements if they are available.

Where to advertise

• Look beyond the obvious. Imagine you are a prospective applicant. Which papers might you read? Local? Metropolitan? National? Which internet sites would you use?
• What about trade magazines that cover your industry?
• Make sure your ad reflects the pride you have in your business.
• Internet recruiting alone might not be appropriate for people who don’t have a computer.

Use a recruitment agency?

If you use a recruitment agency to find the right people for you, don’t forget to instruct the agency to select on competence, not age. Recruiters know you will get the best selection opportunities when you specify to focus on competence/skill.

Short listing

• Ensure that people involved in the selection process understand that choosing the right person for the job should be based on tangible skills and experience rather than characteristics such as age and gender.
• Ignore, and if necessary block any personal information relating to age. Focus on the ability of the applicant.
• Don’t rule out anyone who meets the ‘ability to do the job’ criteria. The interview may provide some pleasant surprises.
• Be open minded. Try to put aside personal biases and stereotypes.

The interview

• Prepare questions based on skills required, experience and ability to do the job.
• Ask all candidates the same questions
• Have a scoring system based on the most important aspects of the job. Also score interpersonal skills like ‘will they fit the team?’ and ‘are they good at communicating with others?’
• Use an independent ‘note taker’ to take objective notes of the interview if you can.
• Keep your side of the deal. Let all the applicants know the results as soon as it is practicable.
   

Getting the job done

Once an employer decides that ‘getting the job done’ is more important than ‘age’ a lot of other things start to fall into place. When it is seen that an employer values workers who are productive and understand the products, services and customers of the company, regardless of age, the other staff are likely to respond in a very positive way.

"Applicants often comment that they want to work for us because we have a reputation for being an employer who hires people solely on their ability to do the job"

Employing and promoting on merit has a big effect on staff and customers. Employing on merit will give employers the best of both worlds - youthful enthusiasm, plus experience and know how. Remember too that many of the key customers for many businesses will now be in the mature age group themselves. Having a totally ‘under 30’s image’ for a business could be disastrous with the new breed of cashed-up and successful baby boomer customers.
 

Training

Training is rarely wasted on any employee regardless of age, however it’s sometimes easy to overlook
the advantages of training older workers in particular.
Training gives you:

• Increased productivity and profitability
• Increased attractiveness to new employees
• Increased morale and reduced absenteeism
• Increased staff flexibility as your needs change
• Increased ability to value add and compete on quality and service. If you promote training, your staff will know that you expect them to keep up to date and strive for improvement. Older workers may tell you that training is ‘not for them’. They may think they don’t need it or it should be for younger staff. They may feel you won’t support them, or worse, that they might fail. In short, older workers may need extra encouragement and understanding from management to undertake training. Getting staff involved in training one another makes for a stronger team and ensures that skills aren’t lost when someone leaves. Training helps keep good workers motivated by enabling them to move into different jobs as needs change. It’s usually a lot more cost effective than finding a new recruit. Training and retraining should be part and parcel of each employer’s plan, and it should include all staff, regardless of age. Training, even in the form of apprenticeships and traineeships is open to people of any age, and it’s not about sending people back to school. If you need someone with formal skills and qualifications, a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) may be able to help fast track things for your staff by working out and recognising what skills they already have. This is known as Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). Look for a trainer who understands your needs, and understands the way people of different ages like to learn. Of course if the worst does come to the worst and you have to make workers redundant, trained employees will be far more quickly re-employed. Your business reputation will be protected by the knowledge that skilled people will find it easier to get another job.
   

Healthy employees - Healthy profits

If a business promotes healthy living, safe work practices and an ergonomically sound working environment, workers of all ages will be able to contribute fully and the workers compensation budget should be reduced. This is regardless of age. It is important that employers and staff work together to ensure that healthy work practices are in place for all employees. An astute employer will keep in touch with staff and provide advice and assistance before situations get out of hand. Unhappy, unhealthy employees, young or old are a liability to any business.

"When we have a glitch with our computers our resident 56 year old IT guru fixes it /ValueOlder that’s the best money I ever spent on training"

Being seen as a good employer pays off

A positive business reputation is always important to any business. Being seen as a good and fair employer and a reliable producer of outstanding goods and services pays dividends in many ways that are not always obvious. As it becomes harder to recruit or hold good people the reputation of a business as a flexible employer who trains staff and has good employment practices will give that business a significant advantage over other employers whose reputation in the community is not as sound. Bad news travels fast!
 

In short/ValueOlder/ValueOlder.

Now, more than ever, age barriers to employing, training and retraining older workers need to be eliminated. Positive employment actions towards mature age workers will help businesses to manage predicted shortfalls in labour supply. These positive actions towards mature age workers fall into seven categories:

• Recruiting workers based on competence, not age.
• Providing training for all workers, regardless of age, to maintain a skilled and flexible workforce.
• Promoting people on the basis of their skill and leadership ability.
• Developing flexible work practices that allow workers to make a phased transition from work to retirement and thereby extend their working lives.
• Considering the other needs that workers may be faced with as they age, such as additional caring responsibilities for older family members.
• Providing an ergonomically sound and healthy work environment will help keep your staff healthy and save costs in workers compensation as well.
• Making development opportunities available to all workers, regardless of age, will lessen the need

to retrench people if times get tough. These principles and the management hints that have been listed will ensure that your business will thrive in the years to come.
 

The ball in is your court

More Information