Supporting An Aging Workforce

Mirroring a worldwide phenomenon in industrialized nations, the U.S. is experiencing a change in its demographic structure known as population aging. Concern about the aging population tends to focus on the adequacy of Medicare and Social Security, retirement of older Americans, and the need to identify policies, programs, and strategies that address the health and safety needs of older workers. Older workers differ from their younger counterparts in a variety of physical, psychological, and social factors. Evaluating the extent, causes, and effects of these factors and improving the research and data systems necessary to address the health and safety needs of older workers may significantly impact both their ability to remain in the workforce and their well being in retirement. Health and Safety Needs of Older Workers provides an image of what is currently known about the health and safety needs of older workers and the research needed to encourage social polices that guarantee older workers a meaningful share of the nation's work opportunities.

Managing the Aging Workforce is one of the crucial topics for many of the world ́s enterprises. The increasing average age of populations does not only affect social systems, countries and communities, but also has a strong impact on the work of businesses and companies. The decline in demographic fitness will not only hit countries like the U.S., the Western European countries, or Japan, but also the upcoming societies in China or in the Eastern European countries. In many of these countries, during three or four decades the average age will grow from about 40 years now to about 50 years. Where experts are needed, this may result in an increase of the workforce's age of between 5 and 10 years in only one decade. For companies thus, a number of challenges arise that have to be overcome fast and continuously. The main topics in this field will be new strategies in leadership, new concepts in health management, new ways in knowledge management and learning, as well as new models how to drive ideas for diversity and innovation. On the one hand, enterprises therefore will have to invest in their aging employees for supporting their talents, helping them to learn and keeping them in the company. On the other, they will have to increase productivity, keep on searching for new products, and integrate experts from abroad. This has to be combined with new ways of strategies and HR management. This book presents an analysis of the present and upcoming situation, and an introduction into the strategic concepts enterprises will need to survive in aging societies.

This volume critically reviews the phenomenon of the aging workforce, adopting an interdisciplinary perspective that examines the challenges raised on an individual, organizational and societal level. Core issues framing the concept of the aging workforce and its consequences are presented by a team of leading contributors from around the world.

"An increase in older workers to the workplace is changing the dynamics of the United States workplace. Data statistics have shown this trend over the last five years. Many factors have attributed to older adults working longer or seeking employment, such as financial insecurity, enjoyment of work, need for health benefits, and caring for others. Unfortunately, workplace environments, recruitment, and retention strategies present challenges in keeping older workers active and engaged in the workplace, even though job market experts' project there will be more jobs than skilled workers. Employers are unprepared to support and accommodate the needs of an aging workforce. This exploratory research analyzed older employees' reasons to seek or remain employed, benefits needs, and feelings of value. Employer attitudes and practices toward older workers and job seekers were analyzed as well. Employers, job seekers, and workers 62 years and older were surveyed in the Minneapolis and Saint Paul metropolitan areas. The research represented 13 employers, and 23 job seekers and older workers who responded to a survey that was designed to gather data on existing practices and needed practices for supporting and accommodating an aging workforce. The research concluded that older adults plan to work longer. They seek supports and accommodations from employers to increase their job satisfaction and wellbeing. Employers in the study had practices in place that supported and accommodated older workers. The study found more work is needed to train older workers in technology and allow flexible schedules to achieve work-life balance."--leaf 4.

As the first of the nation's 78 million baby boomers begin reaching age 65 in 2011, they will face a health care workforce that is too small and woefully unprepared to meet their specific health needs. Retooling for an Aging America calls for bold initiatives starting immediately to train all health care providers in the basics of geriatric care and to prepare family members and other informal caregivers, who currently receive little or no training in how to tend to their aging loved ones. The book also recommends that Medicare, Medicaid, and other health plans pay higher rates to boost recruitment and retention of geriatric specialists and care aides. Educators and health professional groups can use Retooling for an Aging America to institute or increase formal education and training in geriatrics. Consumer groups can use the book to advocate for improving the care for older adults. Health care professional and occupational groups can use it to improve the quality of health care jobs.

The aging population of the United States has significant implications for the workforce - challenging what it means to work and to retire in the U.S. In fact, by 2030, one-fifth of the population will be over age 65. This shift has significant repercussions for the economy and key social programs. Due to medical advancements and public health improvements, recent cohorts of older adults have experienced better health and increasing longevity compared to earlier cohorts. These improvements in health enable many older adults to extend their working lives. While higher labor market participation from this older workforce could soften the potential negative impacts of the aging population over the long term on economic growth and the funding of Social Security and other social programs, these trends have also occurred amidst a complicating backdrop of widening economic and social inequality that has meant that the gains in health, improvements in mortality, and access to later-life employment have been distributed unequally. Understanding the Aging Workforce: Defining a Research Agenda offers a multidisciplinary framework for conceptualizing pathways between work and nonwork at older ages. This report outlines a research agenda that highlights the need for a better understanding of the relationship between employers and older employees; how work and resource inequalities in later adulthood shape opportunities in later life; and the interface between work, health, and caregiving. The research agenda also identifies the need for research that addresses the role of workplaces in shaping work at older ages, including the role of workplace policies and practices and age discrimination in enabling or discouraging older workers to continue working or retire.

The workforce across industrialized nations has become both older and more age-diverse, and this trend is expected to continue in the coming decades. These changes will have important implications for motivating and managing both individual employees and teams and because people are retiring later, it is important to address ways to sustain the wellbeing and productivity of workers. With a specifically international focus, this volume addresses these critical issues from the individual and psychological perspectives. Based primarily in empirical research, it covers a wide range of topics related to the aging workforce, including the motivation of older workers - to work and to retire; what organizations can do to attract and retain the talent of older workers; how to improve relations and productivity among age-diverse teams; how to design jobs to support older and younger talent; and how to better understand why older workers may choose to return to work. This volume includes contributions from the top I/O researchers in the field of the aging workforce. This book was originally published as a special issue of the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology.

The United States is in the midst of a major demographic shift. In the coming decades, people aged 65 and over will make up an increasingly large percentage of the population: The ratio of people aged 65+ to people aged 20-64 will rise by 80%. This shift is happening for two reasons: people are living longer, and many couples are choosing to have fewer children and to have those children somewhat later in life. The resulting demographic shift will present the nation with economic challenges, both to absorb the costs and to leverage the benefits of an aging population. Aging and the Macroeconomy: Long-Term Implications of an Older Population presents the fundamental factors driving the aging of the U.S. population, as well as its societal implications and likely long-term macroeconomic effects in a global context. The report finds that, while population aging does not pose an insurmountable challenge to the nation, it is imperative that sensible policies are implemented soon to allow companies and households to respond. It offers four practical approaches for preparing resources to support the future consumption of households and for adapting to the new economic landscape.

Training Older Workers and Learners is a groundbreaking resource that focuses exclusively on age 40-plus workers. This much-needed resource offers trainers expert guidance and practical tools designed to deliver effective training and re-training to older worker-learners (OWLS). Based on sound theory and best practices, the book shows how to maximize the workplace learning and performance potential of late-life learners.

The workforce is aging as people live longer and healthier lives, and mandatory retirement has become a relic of the past. Though workforces have always contained both younger and older employees the age range today has expanded, and the generational g