The Age Bomb Is Ticking: Confronting the Ageing Workforce Crisis

At the risk of stating the obvious – none of us is getting any younger.  And yet, and I’m speaking from personal experience here, it can come as a shock to suddenly discover you’re well into your 6th decade and, while you may still feel 25, the world no longer sees you that way.  It’s often been said that age is just a number so why should it matter?  Well, sadly it does in many ways, particularly in the world of work.  

I’ve been exploring longevity and demographic change and what I’ve learnt has been both startling in the size and scale of the transition we’re in and exciting in the opportunities this global mega trend offers. 

This will affect us all, but it’s not just individuals for whom it’s a consequential issue. Organisations will need to rethink work to accommodate longer working lives, address the ageing workforce crisis, and foster positive multigenerational workplaces.  If not, there’s a clear and present danger a ticking Age Bomb is about to explode in our faces.  At the very least employers are losing out on an intergenerational productivity dividend of over 1% for firms whose share of their workforce over 50 is 10% higher than average according to the OECD.  But there’s so much more to gain.

Rethinking life’s stages

Average life expectancy has increased by 20 years in the last century.  The 100 year life is now a realistic prospect for a majority of babies born in many countries today and 70 really is the new 50.  But let’s just think about what that actually means for a moment.  This trend has huge ramifications for individuals, society, the economy, business, and politics.

What are we doing with that extra time we’re being given other than to tack it onto the end and how realistic or sensible is that?  Can we afford to have -30 or -40 year retirements?

The traditional three phase view of life based on education, work and family, and retirement with their cliff edge transitions is obsolete.  Thought leader Avivah Wittenberg-Cox talks helpfully of the Four Quarter Life where Quarter 3 (50-75 years of age), now being referred to as “mid-life” in longevity circles, sees many new and exciting possibilities opening up.  Q3, will increasingly be a period where several areas of life blend and complement each other more fluidly – work, family and caring, pursuing hobbies and interests or travel that we previously didn’t have time for.  

In a recent study by Aegon shows 57% of respondents now expect a phased transition into retirement and see themselves working in some capacity in their “retired” years.   Whether you see this as a positive or negative thing, we need to forget all those stereotyped memes and age-related birthday cards depicting life after 50 as being all about decline. 

The shape of society, and the labour market, is changing before our eyes

As the number of people aged 50+ is increasing the birth rate is declining. The real growth in the UK labour market since 1992 is in the 50+ age group which has increased by 4 million as opposed to 2 million in the 25-49 range.  According to the Office of National Statistics 33% of the UK workforce is currently over the age of 50 and is predicted to rise to 47% by 2030!  Let that just sink in for a moment – that's only 5 years away!

The traditional pyramid shape of societies with younger age groups far outnumbering and supporting much smaller numbers of older people is changing to a square or obelisk where numbers are more evenly spread across the age cohorts and even reducing at the younger end.  This has huge social, economic and political implications so there are good reasons for paying attention to older workers alongside other age groups.

Leaders need to be asking the big long-term questions about what these changes mean for their business strategy and workforce going forward as well as their customer base.

Work’s not working for many over 50s

3.5 million skilled and experienced individuals between 50 and 65 are economically inactive and not claiming benefits of which 58% would consider returning to work, giving the economy a significant boost. So why aren’t they?

Well, there are structural issues around ageism that are deeply ingrained in social attitudes and working practices meaning many over 50s who have had a period out of the workforce find it difficult, if not impossible to get back in.  Age discrimination in hiring practices needs to be addressed with the same seriousness as other protected characteristics such as race and gender.  However, this isn’t purely about those seeking work.  An increasing body of research demonstrates that what’s important in life and what we need from work changes as we age in Q3 - but the shape of work doesn’t.   

Put bluntly, work simply isn’t working for an increasing number of people as they get older.  This needs to be addressed if more of us are to work productively and healthily for longer.

If I were a marketeer, I might be asking “what is business doing to connect with and cultivate its fastest growing and potentially most lucrative customer group?” The answer by the way is not as much as it could or should.  As a People and Culture professional I can ask exactly the same question of leadership and my own profession.  What are we doing to spotlight the Age Bomb as both a strategic risk and an opportunity?  How can we innovate creatively to reshape work, the employment offer, and tackle systemic ageism to attract, retain and benefit from the 50+ age group.  It’s my belief that any talent or career development strategy without this as a distinct thread is incomplete.  This isn’t about pitting generations against each other as we often see in the media.  It is an “addition to” rather than an “instead of.”

So, what can we do?

Demographic change is one of the world’s current mega trends - up there with the climate and AI.  This requires a thoughtful response that includes and goes beyond HR and DEI functions.  Organisations such as ProAge and the Careers Can Change coalition are working to raise awareness of demographic change in public policy, support individuals to plan for longer and different careers and help organisations take positive action in their turn. 

In future articles I’ll explore how we in the People and Culture and leadership space can play our part and start to tackle this by building a balanced multigenerational workforce, fostering intergenerational collaboration, creative job design and flexible working practices to make work, work both for the workforce and the employer.  

If you’re like me, coming to this fresh, it feels big and not a little scary.  There isn’t a carefully crafted road map to follow. However, you can start quite simply, today, by getting this onto your risk register and tracking and reporting age as key organisational health indicator in the hiring process, in training and promotions and exit numbers. This will give a base line from which to move forward.

While the shape of society is changing, the shape of work isn’t, or not fast enough.  It’s time for a talent revolution and those organisations who are starting to recognise the opportunity will steal a march on those who don’t.  The chance is there to capitalise on the productivity gains, employer brand boost, employee and customer experience and loyalty from fostering a truly intergenerational workforce that values, celebrates, and develops all age groups.

My challenge to my own profession and to business leaders more widely is to wake up to both the risks and the opportunities and engage actively in reshaping the world of work to all our benefit.  If not, 50+ workers are increasingly likely to vote with their feet where they can, or simply be left out in the cold, leaving the younger and age groups to shoulder the burden.

And finally...

An invitation. I believe passionately in the power of the collective mind to solve life's challenges.  If you would like to get involved in reshaping work, I’m seeking like-minded colleagues in HR and leadership to join me in a discussion circle to share good practice and explore the subject together.  If that’s of interest please contact me. https://www.linkedin.com/in/micheledennison/

This article draws on the work of:  

ProAge, members of the Careers Can Change coalition – in particular Pheonix Insights, 20-First, Brave Starts, Careershifters, OECD , ONS, Aegon