Search
Back (/en/1-ageing-and-work)
Employer
1
Ageing and work
Next (what-we-need-know-about-
ageing)
Why is ageing of the workforce relevant for employers?
The population across the EU has been ageing over recent decades: a trend that is set to
continue and intensify. The following graph shows that the median age has increased
significantly over recent decades and is projected to continue rising.
Median age: EU average between 1960 and 2060
The ageing of the population goes hand-in-hand with the ageing of the workforce. Fewer
young people are entering the labour market, while the proportion of older people (aged 55-
64 years) in the workforce is growing.
Age composition of the working population (1990-2060)
Key challenges
The demographic changes described above bring key challenges to organisations, such as:
Attracting young workers from a shrinking labour market;
Retaining the growing proportion of experienced older workers;
Adapting workplaces to ensure productivity; and
Maintaining and upgrading the overall knowledge and skills base.
Benefits of an age-diverse workforce
Besides challenges, an age-diverse workforce also brings many benefits to the workplace,
including:
Age-diverse workforces help organisations to adapt to the requirements of an equally
diverse customer base and varied customer needs;
Workers of different ages and gender bring in diverse perspectives and talents;
Diversity fosters creativity and innovation, facilitates problem solving and provides greater
opportunities for knowledge-sharing between generations;
Organisations with an age-diverse workforce are better able to respond to rapidly changing
circumstances as they maximise their human resource potential; and
Age diverse workforces improve overall organisational performance granting a greater
ability to deal with varying roles and tasks.
More than ever before, workplaces comprise workers from different generations with their
own experiences, perspectives, values and ideas and with varying needs and expectations.
According to researchers in human behaviour, groups of people of a particular age develop
certain common characteristics based on shared experiences.
Being aware of differences between generations and a better understanding of ageing and
the changes it implies, will help managers to make the best use of the strength and potential
of all generations. Moreover, it is equally important that managers show respect, recognition
and appreciation towards all age groups.
In order to unlock the benefits of an age-diverse workforce, organisations need to take a
proactive approach to managing age, which might also imply a change in human resource
strategies. Organisations that don't appreciate the impact of an ageing workforce and the
need to address the challenges, may be putting their productivity and competitiveness at
risk.
Read more about managing age-diverse workplaces (theme 2)
(http://employer.eguides.osha.europa.eu/en/healthy-workplaces-fit-all-1)
(http://eguides.osha.europa.eu/en/healthy-workplaces-fit-all-1)
What do we need to know about ageing? (next section)
(http://employer.eguides.osha.europa.eu/en/what-we-need-know-about-ageing)
Next (what-we-need-know-about-
ageing)