It’s time for employers to recognize this shifting demographic and embrace the older worker.
Employers often focus on attracting and retaining Gen Z and millennial workers, but the aging workforce is a significant demographic to consider. By 2030, approximately 150 million jobs will shift to workers over 55, constituting a quarter of the workforce according to a study by Bain & Company. Moreover, Pew Research notes a nearly quadrupled number of older workers since the mid-1980s. With fewer young entrants, a growing aging population and retirement age trending upwards (with 41 percent of Americans expecting to work beyond 65), employers and HR departments must anticipate the ensuing impacts.
The employment rate among older workers has steadily risen since the mid-1990s, with nearly 20 percent of adults ages 65 and above currently employed. Factors contributing to this trend include higher education levels, improved health and lower disability rates among older individuals, declining fertility rates resulting in a labor supply shortage, shifts in the nature of work favoring cognitive skills, delayed retirement age and changes in retirement plans.
An aging workforce presents a wide variety of challenges for employers and HR leaders:
• Physical challenges. Older workers in physically demanding jobs may face health and safety challenges. According to the Economic Policy Institute, 50 percent of older workers have physically demanding jobs, and 54 percent are exposed to unhealthy or hazardous conditions. These age-related risks can also have business impacts, including lost productivity, increased workers’ compensation claims and absenteeism.
• Negative stereotypes. Hiring managers and colleagues may perceive older workers as old-fashioned, less flexible, unhealthy, slow, unproductive and resistant to change. Studies prove these stereotypes can negatively impact older workers’ identification with the company, feelings of belonging, self-esteem, access to developmental opportunities and career satisfaction.…Read more by
