AUSTRALIAN CEOs are less likely to hire mature age workers than their younger counterparts, with 65 per cent recruiting fewer staff who are aged 50 years and over, according to recent research
AUSTRALIAN chief executives are less likely to hire mature age workers than their younger counterparts, with 65 per cent recruiting fewer staff who are aged 50 years and over, according to recent research.
A survey of 239 local chief executives found that older workers are still in the minority in the workplace, with 93 per cent stating that staff members aged 50 years and over represent less than 30 per cent of total staff.
CEOs believe that hiring, training and retaining new staff must be a strong part of their forward expansion business plans, said Robert Miller, marketing manager for The Executive Connection, which conducted the survey.
“The big advantage of hiring younger workers and training them is that they can craft new employees to their own culture and tailor skills to suit their own individual businesses,” he said.
“Once these younger workers are trained then strong retention strategies must be put in place to avert the vicious high cost cycle of hiring and training new staff – no use filling the bucket unless the holes are plugged.”
Miller denied that CEOs were reluctant to hire mature age workers, claiming CEOs recognised there were many solutions to consider and there was no one simple solution to the problem.
“It would appear that the over 50 group are hired for their current skills as we believe they are often hired for their ability to mentor and stabilise either intentionally or unintentionally,” he said.
“The advantage of hiring staff who are over 50 is that they are obviously more stable and less likely to leave for just money or promotional potential hence the retention issue is not so great and it would often offset the skill differences found with the younger workers.”
Louise Rolland, Professor of Ageing and Work at Swinburne University, also believes that most large organisations are now aware that the ageing of the workforce will change the age profile of their workforce.
“There is also a general understanding that the broader profile and supply of labour is changing,” she said.
“A number of companies such as Westpac, Australia Post and Aurora Energy are proactively developing new approaches to age management.”
Speaking at a Drake breakfast seminar on the ageing workforce, she said organisations that do not position themselves to attract and retain staff from across all age groups run the risk of being unable to attract the skill and supply of people they need to maintain productivity into the future. “Quite simply, if you haven’t got the people you can’t produce the goods.”
The challenges HR professionals will face around the issue are largely dependent on the current age profile of their workforce, Rolland added.
“Those with youthful profiles typically experience higher levels of attrition as competition for younger workers increases. This will directly impact on HR management costs,” she said.
Both youthful and prime aged workforces, however, will be difficult to sustain over time as growth in the labour market shifts to the 45 and over age group.
“For organisations with older age profiles the loss of skills and knowledge over the next ten years and issues of health and wellbeing are likely to be critical challenges,” Rolland said.
Building the business case for tackling the issue was important; however, she said HR professionals face a number of challenges in the process.
Business cases must look to both the internal and external drivers that require the organisation to consider the importance of a focus on age management.
“Understanding age in the organisation will assist in this process,”she said.
“There are also a number of clear cost implications for businesses who have an age imbalance in their workforce. Highlighting these cost implications is an important part of any business case.”
