SKILLS


Act now to avoid the exodus of older workers


Measures should be taken by employers to ensure older workers don’t become demotivated and head into early retirement, according to a new report. It follows a three-year study – led by Nottingham


Trent University with Workplace Innovation – aimed at preventing the loss of vital knowledge, skills and experience of increasingly ageing workforces.


‘Understanding the challenges of ageing workforces is hugely important in the current economically uncertain times’


The report and study findings, being made available


to policy makers, employers and researchers across Europe, call for businesses to develop strategies to find ways of managing and retaining employees over 50 who still have a huge amount to offer. The project investigated work-related predictors of


retirement for the over-50s, finding that manageable job demands and more control over roles were key factors in delaying a decision to retire. Workplace practices which support good structures


and procedures and allow for co-created leadership and employee voice were also important in keeping older workers optimistic about their futures and retaining them for longer, the researchers found.


The researchers worked with two large employers to


develop pilot interventions aimed at addressing these challenges – resulting in improvements across workplace practices, job demands, occupational outlook and retirement intentions of older workers. The first-of-its-kind study follows findings


which reveal that by 2030 the number of people aged over 55 in high-income countries will have grown to 500 million. Psychologist Dr Maria Karanika-Murray


of Nottingham Trent University’s School of Social Sciences said: “Up to this point, policy on retaining an increasingly ageing workforce has focused on raising the retirement age, reducing retirement benefits and legislating against age discrimination. “Although these can have an impact, they


ignore the nature of the work – the importance of the workplace and the job for supporting an ageing workforce has been very much neglected. Forcing older people to remain in unsatisfying roles, or worse, in jobs that they are no longer able to perform, is hardly a solution. “Understanding the challenges of ageing


workforces is hugely important in the current economically uncertain times that businesses are facing.”


Conference works to bring end to skills gap


Businesses and schools are being urged to work more closely together to address the employment gap. The appeal came at the recent


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40 business network February 2017


Employability Skills Conference, which was organised by D2N2 Enterprise Advisor Network and Destination Chesterfield, to address the mismatch between employment opportunities in Chesterfield and North Derbyshire and the number of young people coming forward to fill them. While apprenticeship opportunities in the area have increased, a recent D2N2 report suggests that only 48% of schools are organising visits to local apprenticeship providers, leaving employers struggling to fill apprenticeship vacancies. The first-ever Employability Skills


Conference was attended by more than 80 people, including head teachers and representatives from local authorities. It aimed to build stronger links between schools and employers to develop the employability skills through the D2N2 Employability Framework. The conference was organised by Gail Widerman, Director of Placing


Links between business and schools will be crucial in addressing the skills gap


Futures, a partner of the D2N2’s Employability Framework, in association with Destination Chesterfield. Gail said: “We work with both


schools and businesses and more and more employers are telling us that they want work-ready young people. I am delighted that so many schools and businesses came on board with Chesterfield’s first Employability Skills Conference.”


To find out more about the D2N2 Employability Framework go to: www.d2n2lep.org/skills


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