Attitudes that break the law
You may have seen evidence of a lack of awareness of age discrimination legislation. This may be reflected in recruitment practices and workplace behaviours. This has a negative impact on mature workers in relation to employment opportunities and career options.

One size does not fit all
You are also likely to be aware that older worker themselves will have a view on what is a suitable lifestyle for themselves. Older workers will know what they consider an ideal job, with flexible options becoming favoured by many (but not all) in preference to full time.

Now is the time to try harder for older workers

You know very well that many mature aged workers have acquired a wide range of skills and knowledge gathered by years of practical experience. More often than not these highly skilled workers lack formal qualifications and are overlooked when promotional opportunities arise. Many of these older workers may have never been involved in structured learning pathways, or participated in formal training since their school years. Fear of assessment is often a major obstacle for many older workers.

Your knowledge of older workers, the issues they face, the aspirations they have, the skilling opportunities they may have been denied when they were younger, the illegal discrimination they may have faced will all serve you well when you advise employers of the needs of older workers. Older workers will have seen the emphasis that is placed on training youth and new employees and may believe they are too old for training. Older workers could also have additional demands on their time and may see themselves as unable to undertake a course of training on top of everything else.  They might not understand the value of skills training. 
In the industry you serve, rapid changes in technology or work practices may have caused some older workers to become de-skilled through lack of training over time. Some workers may need assistance with literacy, numeracy, computer skills or English language. From now on, as the numbers of young people decline, and as older workers are encouraged to stay in the workforce, it is unthinkable that they may go from (say) age 45 to age 65 without any further training. However unthinkable, you may see this happening now. Twenty years without skilling! As a trainer, it may become a critical part of your job to help employers identify this as a key business issue.

Trying Harder

There is no easy answer to the question of “What can be done?”. This is because older
workers are not a ‘one size fits all’ group. The examples below indicate the kind of
flexibility that will be required more and more in the future.

Jessie Collins
with Lauren, Rozan and Brooke

Jennifer Gaffney, Janice LLoyd, Carol Kelly,
June Bicknell, Christoula Karastianidis

“Some training
organisations
will rise to the
challenge and see
opportunities
presented by this
change, others will
miss the boat”

You will if you can work with employers to:

• Promote the value of mature age workers
• Encourage employers to provide a safe environment where employees can achieve their full potential
• Foster a demand-driven approach to skills development
• Recognise the value of prior experience
• Offer a wide range of customised services to a new generation of mature learners
• Remove any factors that may be seen as barriers to learning
• Take into account the time, place and readiness of the individual
• Adopt a collaborative approach that will ensure that the best strategies are in place

What’s in it for you?

If you and your colleagues are able to develop the specialist skills in mature age learning over the coming years you will reap rewards in many ways. It will win you more clients and gain a competitive advantage over those who are slower to respond to market forces. As client expectations are met and successful outcomes are achieved, you may be able to grow your business through referrals and repeat business. Importantly you will be compliant in your legal and registration obligations including anti-discrimination legislation, AQTF Standards and relevant National and State Policy requirements.
 

What employers will expect from you

As pressures build on employers to meet the challenges brought about by a shrinking workforce, you may be expected to provide:

Workforce Development

• Practical approaches to cultural and behavioural issues, management and human resource practices
• Support and advice to employers on ways in which they can retain staff and attract new employees
• Analysis of roles, responsibilities and staffing requirements
• Identifying how differences in age, experience and the range of skills available may affect future staffing
• Examining job design and task breakdowns; and the development of specialised
  tools to determine skills gaps and training needs
• Identifying career pathways and qualification mapping

Innovative Training Assistance

• Linking current training materials to produce better training outcomes
• Developing specific learning resources to suit a diverse and changing workforce
• Diversity training, with a focus on ageing and issues that relate to mature workers

It is likely that you will need to work hand in hand with employers and industry in promoting a lifetime perspective to employment and learning. This may be achieved by integrating business-specific training with life-long learning and personal development programs.  Recognising prior skills or knowledge, achieved in the workplace or through other experience, is also critically important.

“Training mature
aged workers needs
a different
approach. One size
simply won’t fit all
anymore”

Occupational Health and Safety

It may also be that employers will need assistance in promoting healthy living, safe work practices and an ergonomically sound working environment. Whilst there are obvious benefits to the employer in containing workers compensation costs, the more important benefits will be in being able to maintain a healthy and productive workforce for the benefit of all.  

What learners will expect from you

Your training outcomes will be enhanced and both your learners and your employers will achieve better service when your methodologies are:

• Flexible, responsive and demand-driven
• Tailored to the learner’s current and intended work environment
• Offering a variety of approaches to learning and development, including on-the-job learning, coaching and structured training opportunities
• Modified to correspond with changing circumstances and opportunities within the workplace
• Cost effective and easily accessible to the learner
• Relevant to the learner’s interest and perceived needs
• Take into account all previous learning, whether formal or informal
• Encourage innovation and entrepreneurship
• Involve the learner in decisions relating to the time, place, context and format of delivery and assessment
• Focus on practical ‘hands on’ application in the workplace
• Allow learners to achieve through small incremental steps
• Provide opportunity to reinforce learning
• Demystify change
• Provide assessment for recognition of prior learning and fast track learners who already have a relevant skill
• Enable clients to select bundles of competencies

“Things are
changing fast /ValueOlder
I’m really not sure
my current trainers
are staying in
touch. Why do they
want to put my
staff through a
whole course?
They already have
a lot of skills
between them”

Will your clients be uninterested in undertaking a course of study in the way it is currently organised?

Will your employers be reluctant to train mature workers when you propose a course of study and the employer knows the staff already have a wide range of skills? Your business may thrive if you have particular expertise in RPL and specialist methodologies for mature learners, it may decline if you do not anticipate change and adapt to it.
 

Enclosed in this brochure is the  “CHECKLIST OF GOOD PRACTICE FOR RTOs WORKING WITH OLDER LEARNERS”. You and your colleagues are urged to examine this checklist and to commence your response to the demographic shift by adopting its principles. Your ability to respond to its principles in the near future may make a considerable difference over the coming years. The principles of good practice (either as it is written here or as further developed within your business) should form the foundation of any work you do with mature workers.
 

The ball is in your court

Keeping mature staff active in the workforce will make a huge contribution to lessening the economic impact of Australia’s shrinking workforce. You are in a unique position to help change prevailing attitudes towards the older members of the workforce. 
It won’t happen overnight but, more importantly, it won’t happen at all unless both employers and trainers begin now. Depending on your industry, the coming shortage of workers will bite soon. Look at the INDUSTRY INFORMATION on the website below. The older the average age, the sooner problems may be expected. It already has caused difficulties for many trades and healthcare providers. It is a challenge, but more importantly it presents a huge business opportunity to astute members of the training industry.

More information

There is a wealth of good information on managing the new workplace available through industry bodies and government sites. A second brochure in this series is available through
http://www.anta.gov.au/valuingolderworkers.   The brochure has been written for business. It provides information on the impending demographic challenges businesses will face and indicates ways in which the changes may be successfully managed.