Re-engineering the workforce model to meet today

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Re-engineering the workforce model to meet
todays changing social landscape

• Prof Susan Dann
• Head of Research, NSPAC

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Overview

• Changing social landscape
• Encouraging greater participation by
  understanding the influences on participation
• Attracting and retaining mature aged workers
• Managing workforce exit patterns

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Social landscape 1 Work

• At the same time that people are living longer
  than ever before, on average they are retiring
  earlier
• These trends combined mean that over the next 50
  years labour force participation rates could
  decline from two-thirds of the population to
  approximately one third
• Many people will spend as many years in
  retirement as they did in the work force.

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Issues in mature age work rates

• Australia has an unusually high rate of early
  retirement (retirement before pension
  eligibility) compared to other countries
• Women are more likely to be working in part time
  positions which are more vulnerable
• Inverse relationship between economic wellbeing
  and work force participation
• Hidden employment
• Redundancies disguised as early retirement
• Health and disability

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Social landscape 2 Women

• Women and work
• Participation rates
• Higher levels of education
• Greater independence

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Social landscape 3 Finances

• Retirement income
• means tested pension
• compulsory employer contributions
• voluntary contributions and savings
• Gender wage gap leading to a retirement income
  gap
• Approximately 15 for full time earners and up to
  34 for total weekly income (varies across
  industries)
• Sustainable retirement
• Ability for people to support themselves in
  retirement is strongly linked to lifetime earnings

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Social landscape 4 Family

• Divorce rates
• Single person households
• Older parenthood extended youth

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Social landscape 5 Lifestyle

• Sandwich generation
• Sea change phenomenon
• Improved health

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Do Seniors want to work?
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Barriers to Work

• Perceptions and age discrimination
• Skills updates the over 50s on average have
  lower education levels than younger cohorts of
  workers
• Lack of flexibility
• Increased mobility lack of communication about
  opportunities
• Family responsibilities

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Will seniors need to work?
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Influences on workforce participation

• Structural and policy influences
• Organisational influences
• Individual influences

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Structural and policy influences

• Appears to be a re-newed interest at the
  government level in mature age work participation
  via recent changes to superannuation laws
• Need to ensure that legal requirements make the
  attractiveness of work equal to or greater than
  the attractiveness of retirement
• Effective implementation of anti discrimination
  laws

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Organisational Influences
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Perceptions of Older Workers

• Negative
• more expensive to employ
• poorer health
• resistant to change
• opportunity costs
• need more sophisticated training
• lack of IT adaptability and knowledge

• Positive
• more mature
• more reliable
• more conscientious
• possessed high levels of knowledge
• lower rates of absenteeism
• enhance organisations image
• lower rates of turnover

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Accommodating Mature Age Workers

• Promote the availability of flexible working
  arrangements
• Facilitate re-training and mobility for older
  workers
• Facilitate the transfer of corporate knowledge
  prior to retirement through mentoring and other
  arrangements
• Raise awareness through training, information and
  education programs of the principles and options
  for retaining and supporting older workers and
• Eliminate any potential employment related
  disadvantages based on age.

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Health and Mature Age Workers

• NSPAC studies show that those in the mature age
  work category tend to be healthy
• Rate 5.3 on a 7 point assessment scale in the
  mature age worker study
• 83 self rate as being in excellent or very good
  health in the Active Ageing Study

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Reasons for Working in Retirement
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Planning for Retirement

• Many people do not actively plan for their
  retirement or make preparations beyond
  superannuation
• Most planning for retirement is focussed on
  financial and investment planning
• Men plan for retirement more than women
• Minority include lifestyle planning

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Transitions to Retirement

• Move away from the all or nothing model
• Phased retirement options including
• reduced weekly hours
• reduced responsibility
• blocks of work
• job sharing
• combining paid work with volunteering

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Volunteering Study
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Volunteering

• Currently around 23 of Australians over 55
  volunteer
• Contribute 74 billion to the economy
• Volunteering peaks during mid life and declines
  with age
• Women volunteer more in mid life and decline in
  retirement while men do the opposite
• Unusual to take up volunteering in retirement

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Benefits of Volunteering

• Provides structure and social interaction
• Health benefits
• Allows seniors to develop new skills
• Enjoyment

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Pathways to Volunteering

• Most common method of recruitment is word of
  mouth
• Little active recruitment through advertising
• Matching of skills needed to the skills that
  volunteers have
• Transition programs

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Transition Programs

• Increasing trend in Australia and overseas to
  supporting volunteer work as part of corporate
  social responsibility packages
• Programs allow mature aged workers 1-2 days paid
  per fortnight to engage in volunteer work

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Barriers

• Poor management of volunteer organisations
• Dont know about opportunities
• Skills are not used effectively
• Organisations are too inflexible
• Costs involved

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Summary

• Human capital loss can be stemmed via
• Increasing incentives for ongoing participation
• Improving flexibility
• Transitions to retirement
• More work needed on
• Mapping exit patterns
• Providing multiple pathways for retirement
• Improved alternative options for work

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Conclusion

• Traditional work patterns not necessarily
  relevant in times of demographic and social
  change
• Need for greater communication with mature age
  workers and flexibility of work patterns
• Flexibility is needed at all three levels
  societal, organisational and individual

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Questions