Managing an ageing workforce

2011 has certainly raised a number of Business issues right to the top of the political and social agenda. One is the gradual realisation that our society is definitely ageing. It’s a cause for great celebration, but one obvious consequence is that we can’t really afford to fund generous pensions for a huge group who may be drawing that pension for thirty years. This means that it’s likely that we will have longer working lives than our parents.

As firms recognise this fact, they too are having to adjust their human resource plans.

The BBC has an article and video clip on this issue. It describes how a BMW factory has a physiotherapist, exercises on the shop floor, gyms near the assembly lines and work-stations that have been modified to minimise stretching and awkward movement. There’s also much more flexibility to the speed of the assembly line.

The changes are the result of BMW’s analysis of the implications of the demographics of work in Germany – which are similar, if not so extreme, here in the UK. The falling birth rate thirty years ago means fewer younger workers coming through. In response, the government is increasing the retirement age. And at BMW, the average age of staff is around 40 but it expects that to rise to 46 by 2020. At the moment, a quarter of its staff are over 50 but that will rise to nearly half in the next decade.

For decades, the general assumption was that retirement ages would fall with economic progress. That is now not so. It’s true that many people might quite like to work for longer, but many, perhaps in physically demanding jobs up ladders and down holes, might hate the prospect of having to work until they drop. And firms also have to make changes in several different areas.