Managing Aging Workforce - Case Study Example

Managing aging workforce (Author’s name) (Institutional Affiliation) Introduction For most employers, the ability to retain and attract a skilled and knowledgeable workforce is very important for the overall business success. However the change in population makes it a serious challenge to maintain and attract the workforce needed by the organization. For over few decades the labor market has witnessed some significant changes in the structure of workforce in organizations and the global market. The workforce is rapidly aging but firms are finding it difficult to let go of the older generations due to the experiences they possess, even though there is a greater percentage of unemployed youth in the market. Statistics show that 27 percent of current workforce is occupied by people over 50 years in age. The main objective and aim of this paper is to show the benefits of aging workforce and throw some light to business on how to recruit a well-diversified workforce for the success of their business. Hence, this paper simultaneously concentrates on different generation groups in the labor market. Older workforce is productive and valuable economic resource in any business therefore there is need to increase the vacancies for this generation in the labor market. To take advantage of the benefits the generation brings to the market, employers should embrace age diversity in there organization. Literature review Forever young is one of the Global megatrends among the six well known worldwide. In many countries, for example Australia and the other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development the elder age or rather commonly referred to as baby boomers is an asset. They are believed to have skills that are healthy, wisdom knowledge and mentorship for the growth of the company they work for. This is part of the demographic trends. Age structure and composition is essential for the success of any business. The improvement on health structures has led to an increased aging population in the society. According to Schimke (2014), a company’s growth is depended on the heterogeneity and diversity of the staff. It is a complex aspect which entails a combination of a variation of strategies in order to excel. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics (2011) as cited by Tishman et al., (2012, p.3) approximately forty percent of the employees are aged above fifty five years old. The main concerns about an aging workforce in the recent years, there have been cessation of the retirement age among the aging work force among many countries. This is because the aging have amassed wider knowledge and skills on how to solve problems and issues. The aging work force comes with a couple of legal liabilities especially health insurance due to their susceptibility to generative diseases. The negative attitudes form the younger workers to their elderly counterparts is a key set back in the employment industry (Kröll 2003, p370). There are perceptions that they will be slower less able to learn easily and hard time adjusting to new technology. However, studies have shown that this group of individuals are rich in skills and are more likely to stay more in the same occupation for a long time since they have already discovered their main places of career competence unlike the young who are still exploring their career options. Various researches have demonstrated that there are different attitudes towards work by diverse generations. According to research by CIPD (2008) there are four generations in the workforce industry, the baby boomers, the veterans, generation Y and generation X. A new generation (generation Z) is also expected to enter the Workforce soon as the economy grows. Business case AG Barr Company in Scotland has significantly growing business in this region where there is a very small market for financial services. The competition is high for the smaller number of employees with skills in financial services has made it difficult to recruit the right candidate for the job. Therefore old employees are kept in the workforces to provide quality services in that category. Younger generation cannot provide good quality services for the company hence the firm opt to keep hold generation in the workforce in order to develop the new talents being recruited and help in maintaining the success of the company. According to human resource of the company, the veteran generation gives quality services as compared to baby boomers. What the company is doing: it has launched new programs to accelerate growth; the aim of the program is attract new university graduates and the unemployed old workers to join the workforce. The scheme is concerned with developing talents and attitude rather than concentrating on qualifications and experiences. Every recruit is assigned a senior mentor and after the program he or she is placed in a particular part of the business where they fit best. Impact: The older employees are mentoring and transferring wisdom to the baby boomers in the company and the growth of the company has increase in a greater percentage form the period the program was started. Other benefits of veteran generation are that they play the consultant role. The program has ensured that generation X and Y are interact with the old workers to learn and improve their skills. Some organization often overlook the veteran generation assuming that there are less productive and very difficult to manage in comparison to generation X and Y. According CIPD (2008) survey there a lot of benefits that can be harvested from the older generation. The survey reported advantages such as, experience, information from the research showed that the goodwill and their contacts network with customers, suppliers and colleagues took years to build therefore they are expensive and difficult to replace (Kröll 2003, p370). For example, AG Barr Company recorded double profits from recruiting an experienced a financial manager as part-time employee. From the good network of the employee, the business was able to get new sales that month more that the annual salary of the part-time worker. Secondly, because many workers at old age are approaching pension state age they gradually work for fewer hours before their retirement (Glass 2007, p102). Hence the organization benefited from retaining critical skills at a much reduced cost. According to B& X Company the training program aimed at keeping its staff working as long as possible. The organization gave the entire young employee in the firm HGV license to ensure that at the time they are old they will still have jobs when they cannot serve in areas involving heavy duties. Then the company helped the old workers to get managerial trainings so that they can work in offices rather than in sections that requires a lot of energy. Young workers in AG Barr Company suggested that older employees have good customer services and they are more reliable. They ensure that all the customer’s needs are and the usually make sure that their jobs are done before they vacate the office. According to Glass (2007) old employees are very diplomatic and they are calm hence they experience fewer negative behaviors from customers and they deals with customer’s needs in the best way possible (p101). Communication mix in business market has changed over the years hence most old workers are not familiar with these channels of communication. The young generation has adopted communication style such as emails, instant messaging, online platforms and other innovative channels. Older workers on the other hand they prefer face to face communication style hence with globalization of business market young people have to invest time in the desk of these old employees to help them communicate with customers. According Southard and Lewis (2004) some older employees when they reach a certain age their performance reduces (p10). Therefore organizations are unable to meet there objectives because those employees services have reduced. Hence it becomes very difficult for the company to keep the old employees in their payroll. Older employees are slow and cannot work in companies which involve movements and heavy products. This is a big challenge to them hence the job is only for the younger generation (Kröll 2003, p370). For these reasons, creating a fair and better recruitment practices in an organization matters a lot. Organizations should ensure that each and every generation is treated fairly during the recruitment process. Mixture of all available channels for recruitment to access workers of different age group is required. CIPD (2008) research found that there were fewer people in hospitality sector and retail who applied job via online. Age diversity in organizations helps the younger generation learn from the older generations, because older workers are more experienced then they can mentor the young workers into becoming better for the benefit of the business. With all the benefits of having an older workforce in a company, there is need of age-diversity in any organization because each age group has its advantages and can bring good change to the business (Glass 2007, p1020). According to research conducted by CIPD (2008) on a British company B&G, which had age- diversity in its workforce by employing 26% worker over 50 years of age and 24% worker aged 24 years. The B&Q business case remained compelling. The research also found that older workers were greater mentors and good role models to the less experienced working staff. It also found that the old generation embraces new technology and changes despite the bad perception about them (Glass 2007, p1020). Conclusion Even though older employee are over staying on at work instead of retiring and providing these job opportunities to young generation, there are a very large percentage of unemployed older workers in the job market as there are young people unemployed. This is a very huge pool in the market of untapped potential labor that many companies are not utilizing when it comes to hiring employees (Ilmakunnas & Ilmakunnas 2011). If the older workforce retires there is no doubt that there will be left are very large experience gap for young generation to fill. Creating strategies that will help in managing workforce diversity will be the key to many successes of various businesses. The older workers experience is very important for the company and also for young generation. Generation X and Y will be able to learn more from these older staffs (Kröll 2003, p370). With the knowledge about customer service fundamental importance, the main challenge is motivation the younger generations acquire good appetite to deliver better customer services. Therefore the best customers’ services possessed by older generations should be the real concern to employees. Organizations should create wining work recruitment strategies in older to tap talents of both young and older generations. Recommendations The economy is growing at high rate and the average population age increases, therefore there is need to develop and apply proactive approaches in their recruitment to ensure they have a balance age profile in the work force and the employee’s team is age-diverse. Age diverse is very important for the success of a business therefore employers should use the best strategies during their recruitment process in order to attract all the groups in the labor market. Advertising being one of the methods used by firms to inform the occupation markets about available occupations in there companies, their wordings throughout the process of recruitment , for example, using eliminating words such as ‘experience’ inadvertently discriminates against candidates of younger age (Graen, 2003). Using world ‘lively’ gives impression that the job is for only the younger workers hence the hiring team should focus on skills. Retaining older workers is important but there should be an age limit for all workers, after reaching the age limit they should retire and create vacancies for younger generation. Firms should ask their employees for referrals, since they may have or know some qualified candidates looking for work (Graen, 2003). Their relationship may help the young employees to adapt and adjust to the move hence this may help the company to stop searching for older worker with experience all the time ensuring there is balanced age diversity in the workplace. The employment union should set develop and implement employment policies that follow world Federal guidelines of equal opportunities of employment across all age groups. This may be achieved by amending the company employment act and mission to reflect the changes. Companies should provide the best diversity training in the workplace to ensure the managers and other employees understand that decisions in hiring are based on tapping the best potential candidate and not finding older age workers. References Graen, G. B. (2003). Dealing with diversity (Vol. 1). IAP. Glass, A., 2007. Understanding generational differences for competitive success. Industrial and commercial training, 39(2), pp.98-103. Gen-up.(2008): How four generations work – CIPD Ilmakunnas, P., & Ilmakunnas, S. (2011). Diversity at the workplace: Whom does it benefit?. De Economist, 159(2), 223-255. Kröll, M., 2003. The challenge of the age and competency structure in industry for innovations and human resource policy. Journal of European Industrial Training, 27(7), pp.355-371. Southard, G. and Lewis, J., 2004. Building a workplace that recognizes generational diversity. PUBLIC MANAGEMENT-LAWRENCE THEN WASHINGTON-, 86(3), pp.8-13. Tishman, F. M., Van Looy, S., & Bruyère, S. M. (2012). Employer strategies for responding to an aging workforce. The NTAR Leadership Center, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Read More