Adapting your business to the ageing workforce
Adapting your business to the ageing workforce requires commitment to an age-balanced workforce rather than costly modifications.
Equal employment opportunities policies
Strategy: Create a workplace that provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) for all workers, regardless of age.
- Check that EEO policies address age bias in recruitment, promotion and career development.
- Ensure that age and the assumption of retirement are not factors in managerial decision-making. For example: failing to offer an older worker career development opportunities or redeploying only younger people during a business restructure.
- Strive to create a work environment that respects and values older workers as much as younger workers. For example: involve older workers in brainstorming sessions and meaningful work, or recognise excellence and achievements.
Recruitment
Strategy: Introduce a recruitment strategy so you draw from the widest possible talent pool across all age groups.
- Review recruitment practices to ensure they are free of age bias. To do this, examine the age profiles of candidates and recruits in the past three years and test the level of age awareness amongst those responsible for recruiting staff.
- Train recruitment staff in the benefits of age diversity and ensure they use age free recruitment practices.
- Identify candidates who share your company's values and objectives, and are right for the job (regardless of age).
- Brief external recruitment agents about your aim to have a workforce with a diversity of ages. Ensure that processes do not disadvantage older or younger applicants.
Review how positions are advertised and ensure they do not present age bias. Advertisements should focus on the nature of the position and skills required. - Check that the placement of advertisements attracts the full range of age groups. For example: you may not reach all applicants if you advertise only on your website.
Review job application forms. Asking for information about an applicant's age may cloud judgement. - Monitor the age of applicants. This will show the effectiveness of your strategy to attract an age-balanced pool of candidates, and identify any barriers to either younger or older applicants.
Training
Strategy: Introduce an age-balanced skills development program.
- Promote training opportunities to all workers, including incentives.
- Ensure that trainers understand the learning needs of staff; some people may require more time to adapt to formal training courses.
- Implement training programs for workers that provide a friendly supportive environment and allow participants to build on past experiences.
- Modify training for employees with special needs.
- Review induction processes to identify any barriers that exist for older recruits. For example, an older worker may have the skills required but may not be familiar with the latest technology.
- Train managers in managing work teams of differing age groups.
- Introduce a 'buddy' system to support older recruits (especially if these older workers are leading the way in changing workplace attitudes towards a more age-balanced profile). Buddies provide advice, guidance and practical assistance.
- Introduce mentoring and coaching to allow skill transfer between younger and older workers. Mentoring is a one-on-one relationship in which someone supports and encourages another person, and it can benefit older and younger workers.
- Review your training and development policies to ensure they contain a clear statement supporting equal participation in training across all age groups.
Conduct a skills audit of all employees and invest equally in new skills for older and younger staff.
Flexible work arrangements
Strategy: Create an environment that encourages employees to balance their work and personal responsibilities.
- Develop flexible employment opportunities for older workers, especially those in high-skill occupations or those with carer responsibilities. This can provide a phased transition to retirement and reduced responsibilities at work.
- Create a pool of experienced people who have retired but are willing to work during peak periods or on special projects, replace people on leave or coach new managers.
- Monitor take up rate and impacts of flexible work arrangements. See if an initiative is contributing to improved productivity and meeting the needs of both the business and employees.
- Recognise and manage human nature issues that are often associated when an older worker chooses to work part-time and accept a lower level of responsibility. For example: The older worker may now be 'junior' to a younger worker and the younger worker may feel threatened by the situation. The older worker may feel pressured to provide senior level input in spite of lowered responsibilities.
Flexible working arrangements include:
- part-time work
- working from home
- assisted technology or other changes in the workplace
- unpaid leave
- 48/52—an extra four weeks annual leave is available at a reduced weekly salary or wage
- 4/5—work four years for 80 percent of the salary or wage and have the fifth year off at 80 percent
- phased retirement through reduced work hours
Career development
Strategy: Encourage mature age workers, as well as younger workers, to be more flexible about their careers in a changing work environment.
- Implement career planning programs for all workers and promote on merit, not age.
- Place older workers in positions that maximise their long experience and maturity. Include work that provides a sense of significance in the organisation. For example: move an older worker from physically demanding tasks to a supervisory role.
- Ensure that older workers are not overlooked for career progression, however consider options that do not block promotion for younger people. For example: promote 'sideways' or to special projects, provide a wider variety of tasks, or implement mentoring responsibilities.
- Discuss individual career goals with older workers. Some may want promotion opportunities while others (especially those who opt to work part-time) may not want the additional responsibilities that come with promotion.
- Ensure that performance management systems are fair across the workforce.
- Monitor levels of performance for older workers as you would for younger employees (generally through various reporting systems). Do not indulge in positive discrimination by making exceptions for older workers.
Workplace health and safety
Strategy: Maintain a workplace that is healthy and safe for all employees, visitors and customers.
- Ensure that a person (regardless of age) is suited for the job and any manual handling tasks and can carry them out safely.
- Adapt duties to suit older workers. For example: an older worker with reduced physical strength may spend more time operating machinery than labouring.
- Rotate physically demanding or repetitive tasks.
- Provide ergonomic work area design for all employees.
- Regularly assess employees' levels of occupational stress and implement stress management training if required.
- Train all employees in strategies to prevent injury from manual tasks.
- Ensure that workplace lighting is adequate for the job at hand.
Redundancy policies
Strategy: Implement redundancy policies that do not discriminate.
- Review redundancy policies and ensure they clearly state that employees will not be selected for redundancy on the basis of age.
- Ensure that redundancy selection practices do not indirectly discriminate through the use of other criteria such as part-time working arrangements.