Posts Tagged ageing workforce

New age, different stage

Welcome to 2010! As we round the corner on a brand new year, social commentator and futurist Mark McCrindle has released what he sees as the Top Ten Trends that will define this decade. Many of these have a significant impact on Australia’s demographics and our favourite topic - mature age workers.

By 2020 our population will hit 27M with 1 in 5 aged 60+. An acceleration in baby boomer exits from the workforce will see the beginning of the ‘age wave hitting Australia’ says McCrindle.

The stage on which organisations perform is changing radically. When the closing curtain comes down on this decade, how many will have thrived rather than simply survived? According to McCrindle, this will require a return to skill development, training, longer job training and stability.

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Sailing the Silver Seas

Judy Cole - Sailing Silver Medal

Judy Cole - Sailing Silver Medal

The SageCo team are so proud of our very own Retirement Coach, Judy Cole (pictured) who sailed her way to victory winning a SILVER MEDAL in last week’s World Masters Games held in Sydney (55-65 age group). Here’s what Judy had to say;

“I’m very chuffed, especially seeing the gale force wind conditions were not in my favour, and being light I was at a disadvantage!

However, I used wisdom and experience (and luck) to sail the first three races in survival mode, and make it around the track without breaking anything, or crashing, which was the cause of many making a premature return to the dock.

Just shows anyone can do anything if they put their mind to it, and then put in the hard yards!

Well done Judy - what an inspiration you are to us all!

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Wanted: Older workers. Wanted: Employers thinking outside the square

There’s nothing new in this excellent story from Radio National this morning, but we do give a bit of a ‘SageCo sigh’ at the content. Why? The demographic make up of our workforce is changing rapidly. Employers need to think a little outside the box and redesign roles that suit mature employees who are keen to keep working, but not the way they are working now. It can be done. It requires creative thinking and conversations you’ve not had before, but this ‘demographic bomb’ is not insurmountable. Hear, hear to the CFMEU for putting it on the agenda.

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Different strokes for different folks

I was up with the sparrows this morning to attend the SA CEDA trustees breakfast to look at the findings of the latest Hudson 2020 report entitled: Talent Tightrope - managing the workplace through the downturn. I suspect that for most, this report confirms much of what we already know. There was one alarming stat for me:

“Fewer than one in five employers report that they are tailoring their approaches by generation (19%), and only a third indicated that ideally they would tailor their approaches, though they currently lack the resources to do so.”

My co-director Alison often says, “Conversations come free!”. A starting point for all employers is to have individual conversations with employees from all generations to work out the drivers for retention and attraction. Focus on your critical resource areas. Focus on employees who hold core business knowledge that you can’t afford to lose. Tailoring doesn’t need to cost an arm and a leg; and it’s far less costly than losing the arms and legs of your organisation.

Top tip from SageCo:

Your window of opportunity for conversations with your baby boomer workforce is even shorter than with other generations due to retirement options. If you want key individuals to extend their working life with you, use some of these questions in your conversation:

  • How do you see your career evolving over the next ten years with us?
  • What would your ideal role look like?
  • What knowledge, skills and rules of thumb do you think we need to retain in our business?

Help your baby boomer employees create a positive and productive future.

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white knights in our sights

Check out the cover story in the latest HC Magazine where SageCo directors talk with Iain Hopkins about the the value of experienced workers in an economic downturn. This is a wide ranging article on the risks, challenges and opportunities of an ageing workforce featuring:

  • tips and hints for getting started
  • definitions of the four different employer segments and how they’ve embraced mature workers
  • helpful questions to ask yourself and your team
  • potential pitfalls
  • how to measure success

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