Shifted HR

In this week's BRW (15-21May 2008), there is an article called The Hunt For A New Work Order (behind paywall). This article discussed how employers are reinventing the workplace to attract and retain the best talent; particularly Generation Y and the ageing Baby Boomers. I actually thought that this piece was quite interesting given that I have recently completed an assignment for my studies on attraction and retention of the mature age workforce.

The biggest challenge for organisations over the next 20 to 40 years is attracting and retaining skilled workers. Australia's oldest baby boomers are now 63 and ready to retire. The ageing workforce is growing and we will not have enough people to replace them. Not only that, organisations are at risk of losing a career's worth of knowledge.

In response to this organisations should be attempting to extend the working careers of mature age employees. Organisations will need to be able to attract, retain and develop the right people. To be able to build attraction and retention strategies an organisation must first identify:

• the critical roles to deliver current work as well as any future work;
• what skills and knowledge are required in these roles;
• the people in these roles  and what their career intentions are;
• talented people from outside the business and how they can attract them;
• what development is required to ensure employees are skilled and ready to deliver new business; and
• its ageing workforce and the implications of this such as retirement, career planning, flexible working arrangements and succession management.

Some mature age attraction and retention strategies that organisations can look at are:

• flexible working options (reduced hours, job sharing, additional leave for caring purposes, etc.);
• training and development;
• having mature age workers as mentors to younger staff;
• having younger staff mentor mature age workers on new technology;
• establish a contact list for short term employment and projects for workers who have retired; and
• establish an alumni for mentoring and networking opportunities for workers who have retired .

As part of my assignment I also had to give a presentation and I thought I should share it outside of the classroom.

| View | Upload your own