We recently launched our report on an Ageing Workforce. The report was produced by Censuswide, who surveyed 700 employees aged between 35-55 and working in different industry sectors across the UK. It explores areas including benefits, pensions, retirement planning, training and skillsets and offers employers a valuable tool in their planning for incentivising, supporting and retaining older employees.

The ability to work on a flexible basis and from different locations (including overseas) continues to be an important benefit, and one which could encourage employees to work longer before retirement.

Foreword

By better understanding an ageing workforce, businesses can design and build stronger cross-generational workforces for the future.

We talk a lot about Millennials (born 1981-1996) and Generation Z (born 1997-2012) – how to attract them, how to retain them, how to keep them happy and engaged in work. The chat, however, is quieter when it comes to the other end of the working age spectrum – the Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964) and Generation X (born 1965-1980).

This is starting to change for the simple reason that the UK workforce is ageing. A third of all workers are now aged over 50. The majority of these workers are out of work by the time they hit State Pension Age. For some, the decision to leave work is a positive choice but, for others, falling out of the labour market is driven by a rigid job market and employers not being ‘age-friendly’. This is clearly going to create people challenges. How do businesses fill the talent gap that is left between the number of Baby Boomers retiring and the number of younger workers coming through with the right skills to replace them?

Increasingly, employers are alive to an alternative solution – strengthening the bonds with their over-55 workers so they (and their valuable skills, knowledge and experience) stay in the business for longer.

We would encourage employers to consider how they provide for an ageing workforce and look at it not as a problem but as a great opportunity – for everyone.

The starting point is understanding the expectations and perceptions of the workers themselves. To this end, we have undertaken a survey of 700 people, aged between 35-55, across seven industry sectors, to understand what employees need and want in respect of workplace and workforce provision to enable them to work longer. What benefits are most important to them? Do they consider they will need to reskill and upskill prior to retirement and are they happy to do so? Is their preference to be employed or work on a self-employed basis? These are just some of the questions asked in our survey.

And the result? Fascinating data and a report which draws out some key learnings for employers who want to respond proactively to an ageing workforce and/or review their multigenerational employment strategy.

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