Internationally New Zealand has one of the highest rates of participation of older workers in the OECD. People are staying longer in the workforce, which provides them with considerable economic and social benefit. Working increases older people’s opportunities to stay active and maintain their standard of living. Companies benefit by having access to valuable skills and employment in a labour market characterised by skill shortages.

A research study recently published by the Institute of Policy Studies and the New Zealand Institute of Management provided the following insights.

• Generally the businesses surveyed had a positive attitude towards older workers.

• A range of innovative work practices which meet the needs of both the business and the employees are enabling organisations to retain their workers longer. These innovations include flexible work practices and job redesign.

• Mixed age workforces are seen to be good for business, providing a combination of youth and experience and opportunities for complementary working and mentoring. The study provides useful advice about the management of mixed age workforces including the tip to “not segregate the age groups”.

• Age discrimination based on implicit stereotypes about young and old workers continues to be a problem, although age discrimination is seen to be less prevalent than in the past.

• Stereotyping is sometimes played out in limiting access to training and education opportunities. For example; younger workers are not expected to stay around long and older workers are seen as being hard to train because they have stopped learning and because the pay back period is seen to be insufficient.

• More businesses are introducing the concept of phased retirement in which involves a transition period from full time employment to complete exit from the workforce.

The working paper Workforce Ageing –An Issue for Employers by Judith Davey is available at http://ips.ac.nz/publications/

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Barriers to entry for the older worker, research commissioned by the Human Rights Commission and conducted by Professor Marie Wilson and Jordan Kan of the University of Auckland Business School   

 

Read  'Age is all the rage' by EEO Commissioner Judy McGregor 

 

Read age material from the Workplace Leaders' Summit on the older worker, held by the Retirement Commissioner and the EEO Commissioner in Wellington on September 4 2006.