Reinventing retirement: the baby boomer blitz
DCA’s research project titled ‘Grey Matters: Engaging Mature Age Workers’ released in 2007 revealed baby boomers are challenging traditional notions of retirement.
The results report that, for those mature age people not currently in the workforce, one third of all respondents, and of those aged 60 years or under, a staggering 57%, would be prepared to return to work if they were offered the right job. For currently employed mature age workers one third would relocate and more than half would consider doing further study for the right job.
The research shows many of the stereotypes about older people being inflexible and unwilling to work or learn new skills are just plain wrong. These results indicate how future-orientated baby boomers are.
For those inside and outside the workforce, flexible ways of working, opportunities for learning and development, and an organizational culture inclusive and supportive of older employees are key factors that influence their decision to work.
Retirement used to mean an abrupt end to one’s working life, generally at the age of 58 to 65 years. Now it means engaging in work in many different ways; there is still strong emphasis on family, friends, leisure and community involvement but with active links to the workplace and active ongoing participation in it.
The former Minister for Workforce Participation Dr Sharman Stone was at the launch of the research and told attendees that, with the ageing population, skills shortages and unemployment at a new low of just 4.4%, more needs to be done to keep our baby boomers from bouncing out of the labour market prematurely.
“In the space of just 10 years, there has been a 70% cent increase in the number of people aged over 50 staying in the workforce,” Minister Stone said. “Despite the proof that mature age workers are more likely to be loyal (so less likely to job churn), bring a maturity of outlook and a capacity to mentor the young, some older qualified and experienced workers are finding it hard to get work.
“Many businesses now offer age awareness education and training and modifications to workplaces so that tasks can be performed by employees of all ages with varying levels of ability. Other options such as permanent part-time work, job-sharing, home-based work and career breaks can enable workers to better combine employment with community or family involvement, undertake a graduated transition into the labour market and phase their retirement,” Minister Stone said.
DCA believes its research results are great news for employers and for Australia: At a time of strong economic growth and labour shortages, there is an exciting pool of talent, ready, willing and able to work. This research combined with DCA’s expertise in workplace diversity gives employers valuable information about how to better attract and retain talent in a tight labour market.
Findings on Gen Y - DCA’s Working for the Future research
DCA’s recent research entitled ‘Working for the Future – A National Survey of Employees’ revealed that Gen Y have concerns about work-life and discrimination:
- People in the age group of 18-24 years were significantly more likely to consider resigning due to lack of flexibility.
- They were less likely to indicate they had the flexibility they needed to manage their personal/family responsibilities.
- They tended to rate their manager less positively with respect to work-life capability.
- They reported less access to flexible working arrangements.
- They reported more negative impact of job on home.
- This age group was also significantly more likely to report feeling they were discriminated against on the basis of age.
These findings suggest employers need to explore and address significantly greater perceptions of age discrimination amongs younger age groups. Additionally, there appears to be a role to better include and engage this age group in work-life initiatives, given their lower levels of satisfaction on work-life balance.
