As the life expectancy goes up more pensioners are looking to work longer because they want to or just because they can. As the health of pensioners is improving they feel they can still achieve what they want in the workplace. It could also mean them being able to carry on with their lifestyle by doing this.
IMPACTS ON ORGANISATIONS
Benefits
Experience – Older employees are going to have the experience of working in some cases up to 50 years, the experience & knowledge that they could bring maybe vital in going forward. From the Sylvester case its evident the company has benefited from his past knowledge and work experiences, this together with the new ideas generated with the younger employees seems to have a balance.
Commitment – Generally the commitment from older employees can be better than younger staff, they appreciate the position they are given and can possess a work ethic that is different from younger staff. This commitment can be seen and underlined in the Bus Pass documentary with the Employees of the Golfing range getting up at the small hours of the morning and at times doing there jobs in severe conditions.
Flexibility – The flexibility that age group can bring to an organisation may help to not only let the employee wind down without retiring all together, but it also gives firms the opportunity to use the employees strengths in having them as a mentor, helping younger employees develop and play a part in decision making. McDonalds have become one of the more prominent employers for staff over 65,employing over 500 hundred staff over 65, this has been lead with the advertising campaigns for recruiting, their slogan of ‘we have the shift patterns to suit the lifestyles of all our crew’ (HR International Digset,2007) shows there commitment to being flexible for older employees.
Drawbacks
Resentment/Morale – Having to work into retirement without choice could have an impact psychologically on an employee. They may start to fell resentment towards the company for still having to work. This resentment could have an effect on the other staff & the negativity could mean morale is lowered. Friction may develop from this with younger staff then beginning to resent the older staff and potentially lead to discrimination.
No Natural Gaps – Morale could also be affected by no natural gaps occurring within an organisation, it would mean younger staff feeling frustrated not getting any opportunities. This could lead to them leaving or causing discrimination again.
Cost – This is always important & additional costs could be involved in having employees in roles past normal retirement age. Training may be needed if kept on; if a role change is needed then additional training may be required. Other costs may involve making sure that the employee’s health is ok with regular check ups & also the additional costs in training all staff on the topic of discrimination.
IMPACTS OF HR DEPARTMETNT
Recruitment – With the changes recruitment have been affected and this has meant big changes have had to be made to recruitment policy. Advertising for positions will now need to include better language that doesn’t show ageism, this means using non discriminating language, examples to AVOID would be ‘suitable for first job’, ‘young applicant or graduates’. This will also need to be considered as discriminating against not only older employees but also the younger staff, with having no reference of age on application form, application form & interview this will meet that requirement but also may cause issues with applicants and not getting the right calibre of candidates.
JD Wetherspoons have embraced the recruitment of older employees and have developed there own strategy in recruitment, they’ve got rid of age from the advertisements and emphasised its ‘more on skills rather than experience, having no age bracket meant it opened up to older employees with our oldest 75’ (HR International Digest, 2007)
Awareness - its vital staff are aware of the changes, with so many changes it may mean that confusion is caused for staff & mistakes are made. HR will be responsible along side managers on making sure that staff know the rules and what discrimination is defined as, providing information to staff will be the role of HR.
Discrimination – HR will need to set out what discrimination is, making sure that staff are aware of all ways in which it can affect staff as there are many forms of discrimination. It could be verbally, physically, threatening behaviour and also employees could be doing it without even realising.
HR Policy – A new HR policy will need to be produced documenting all the changes, this will need to be distributed to staff and made available. A set of disciplinary actions will also need to be included with this to make sure staff the outcomes of any unwanted behaviour.
IMPACTS ON INDIVIDUALS
Benefits
Desire to keep working – More employees are looking to stay on past retirement age whether it be because they want to carry on for passion of the job, money requirements & the need to stay active. Keeping an employee past retirement age could give them the feeling of being wanted & a valued member of the staff, this could help with not their morale but also be reflected in the younger staff.
Staying Active – Employees could keep themselves both physically & mentally active by continuing to work, the example of Sylvester is perfect as not only does him running for the bus when travelling to work but generating ideas & thoughts for taking the business forward keeps him mentally stimulated.
Sylvester is a really interesting character that would be of benefit to many organisations just through his sheer exuberance and enthusiasm. It can be seen that he really enjoys his job and the results of the business have shown that. He has been beneficial through his creativeness and experience and can draw upon his knowledge and contacts to help the business improve.
Career – Other workers will look at retirement as an opportunity to change their career, many see an opportunity to carry on working but doing something else part time that there passionate about & enjoy doing, this will be reflected in there work. Minders keepers is a good example of this, with Sue & Pete, retiring they were finding it hard to keep themselves occupied, the opportunity to do something different by looking after other peoples homes while they’re away is something they’ve both enjoyed and has seemed to give them a new lease of life.
Standard of life – It’s a concern for employees that when they get to retirement age they wont be able to keep up there standard of living, having the opportunity to still have the yearly holiday, the new car & the other expenses they’ve become custom to.
Drawbacks
Resentment - With individuals having to carry on working the possibility of resentment towards the employer might occur, they could feel forced to work & this could be reflected in the work. Morale will be affected with resentment with staff feeling they want to do something else or wanting to work for the company.
Working at that age may affect employee’s health, although older employees are less likely to ‘pull a sickie’, there more likely to have a long term illness and be of work for a prolonged period of time. Maureen in the Bus Pass workaholics was unable to work for a sustained period of time and found it particularly hard to get back on her feet. This led to financial problems and stress getting back to work.
Working in retirement may mean that employees are having to learn new skills or go into a new job role, this might not be something there wanting to do but because employees will be looking for development they will be treated like other employees and expected to learn new skills and develop them. It might also mean them taking a step back which again might make them feel resentment as only a short time ago they were in a higher position most likely with more authority.
CONCLUSION
There are always going to be teething issues when implementing new policies within an organisation. Management should not expect solutions overnight, it’s important that monitoring plays its part and continuous reviewing will not only make sure the requirements are met, but also could generate new ideas to develop.
In the future the development of these changes will mean older employees within organisations; although this is going to have it positives and negatives ultimately it’s up to the organisations to make this there advantage.
RECOMMENTDATIONS
Communication
- Creating Awareness, promote changes around the workplace
- Setting targets for staff, management must be clear
- Timescales to work towards, stick by these
Tackling Discrimination
- Challenge stereotypes, educate staff
- Change attitudes
- Formal training
- Set disciplinary procedures
Training
- Formal training(documented)
- Documentation for staff to keep
- Ask staff views
- Support staff
Working into retirement
- Offering flexibility through flexible hours, job sharing, part time work, working from home
- Open job role, give more responsible like mentoring or helping with decision making
- Reviewing performance, ongoing
- Support employees, use common sense
Retirement
- Retirement planning, sitting down with staff before to discuss plans, goals & finances in retirement
- Support other roles/opportunities in organisation, like mentoring or consulting
- After contact, Newsletters, Christmas parties
HR Policies
- Keep simple, make sure understood by all
- Make available to staff, intranet, firm handbook or bulletin board
- Keep up to date, regularly review
Monitoring
- Both formal & informal,
- Regular & ongoing
- Retrain & make changes if need be
- Take staff views on board and use if suitable
With the introduction of these recommendations it could mean the difference for employees being able to carry on and being of benefit to organisations even into retirement age, mean employees can even be of benefit even once they’ve retired and that discrimination in the workplace in wiped out.
Though these are in place now changes could be made further down the line with more employees continuing to work, other issues with discrimination could develop and potential issues over pay with employees over 65 could occur. This said it’s inevitable that with the changes in the regulations continuous monitoring by the government will take place to make sure they’re the correct measures.
REFERENCES
Acas Advice Leaflet – Employing older workers (2006
Scottish Widows Report on Borrowing into retirement, research by YouGov, 2006
Bus Pass workaholics
McDonalds & JD Wetherspoons – HR Management International Digest, VOL.15 no.3, 2007, pp21-23
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Human Resource management - Torrington, D, Hall, L & Taylor, S, 7th Edition, FT Prentice Hall
Human Resource Management Practice, Armstrong, M, 2006 10th Ed
Journals
Career Development International
International Journal of Manpower
Employee Relations
Websites
http://www.ageconcern.org.uk/
(Guide to Age & the workplace)
http://www.efa.org.uk
Television Programmes
Bus Pass Workaholics
Dispatches: Too old to work, Channel 4
