Recruiting and Retaining Older Workers

Posted In: Employer Resources, Recruitment · By: Seniors for Jobs.com · Date: 19 Jan 2009

A huge wave of baby boomers will be eligible to retire soon, but employers aren’t doing much about the talent void this is expected to create. In fact, a recent Manpower survey shows 67% of Canadian employers don’t even have a strategy in place to recruit or retain workers aged 50-plus. And only 24% have implemented retention strategies to keep them participating in the workforce.

“Many employers are not considering the percentage of their workforce that is set to retire in the next five to 10 years and the potential loss of productivity and intellectual capital that will occur when those people leave their company,” says Lori Rogers, VP Operations, Manpower Canada. “If employers don’t act soon, they will fail to win the war for talent, as older adults will be relied upon as one of the most important sources of talent for the future workforce.”

The global survey, which included 28,000 employers across 25 countries and territories, found employers in Japan and Singapore are far ahead of their international counterparts, with 83% and 53% of respondents, respectively, working proactively to retain their older employees. But in Italy and Spain, only 6% have such strategies in place. In 19 of the 25 countries, retention strategies were more prevalent than recruiting strategies for older workers. This may be because many of these countries have government legislation or programs in place to encourage employers to retain older workers.

The extent to which employers have addressed the recruitment and retention of older workers to ease talent shortages depends on a variety of complex factors. However, Manpower found the major variables to be:

• the size of the national labour pool;
• the demographic profile of the labour pool;
• the degree to which talent shortages are being experienced at present; and
• government legislation or programs that either promote or discourage labor force participation by older workers.

According to the OECD, 12 million people a year will be exiting the global workforce from 2025 to 2030. “Employers can no longer ignore the demographic forecasts and evidence of growing talent shortages,” says Rogers. “The risk of negative impact on productivity and the company knowledge base is so great that employers may not be able to avoid it unless they take proactive measures to engage the older workforce.”

Manpower has published a white paper, “The New Agenda for an Older Workforce,” which explores the increasing reality of the global aging workforce, the resulting gaps in workforce supply and the demand this is creating. It proposes strategies that companies can adopt to circumvent these talent challenges; recommendations on how employers can help older employees extend their careers should they choose to do so; and suggestions for the role that governments can play to help solve the older worker conundrum.

“The conundrum on the horizon is that the older employees who have the talent companies most need to retain are those who have the financial flexibility and employment options to retire or downshift to a more flexible work arrangement,” says Jeffrey A. Joerres, chairman and CEO of Manpower Inc. “The best way to attract and retain older workers is to have jobs they want, and what they want is flexible, part-time jobs that interest them. It may be a few more years before employers determine how to effectively offer the part-time roles that mature adults would prefer,” he added.