Ageing Workforce

Dear all,
i have a work force that is ageing, how do i correct this trend with jeopadising experience which is key in the industry my company is in?
will like your opinions on this
thanks
pinfada

Hi Pinfada,
You have a tough task ahead of you!!...
Most people feel If employers could simply hire all younger workers they might be able to avoid this problem!! in reality it's not all that simple..one loses the experience..one has take the right mix of recruitment & initiate mentorship..
These are the following options:-
*Innovative hiring -
*flexible work schedules
*appropriate training,
*imaginative compensation,
*flexible business structures,
*new workplace technologies and accommodations, and
*solid Disability Management practices - becomes very critical ..
Why..
*The population and the workforce are aging.
*Older workers, although less likely to get injured, remain disabled for longer periods of time when they are injured.
*Older workers are less able to adapt to displacement by securing alternative employment.
Hope this helps you to think..
Cheers,
Rajat

Hi Pinfada,

I work for the petroleum industry so the experience of the workforce is critical to our operations. I've encountered the same situation as yours a few years back.

Based on the data, I came up with the projected number of people retiring & from which trades/skill group they're from. It was hard for us to accept that we would be losing people i.e. more than 100 peole within 10 years (assuming people stay till their retirement age). We just had to do something then.

Given the projected number of retirees, I gave 2 options to the management. Either we recruit people at the point of retirement (hence, no change in number of workforce but great loss in terms of experience) or recruit people way ahead of the time we need them. In the 2nd option, my lead time is 5 years ahead.The management finally agreed on the 2nd option & it became our long term recruitment plan.

At any point of time we have more people than we actually need (a buffer) to address future concern. The disadvantage of course, the company has to bear extra cost to maintain a higher number of staff but it pays in the long run as we minimised the loss of experience.

Hope that gives some insight to you.