The rise of the millennial workforce has had much media attention recently, but when 30% of the UK workforce is over 50, how can you make the most of all that experience?
With no fixed retirement age and employees working longer to top up their pensions, this age group can often be regarded as a burden. It may feel that older workers are overpaid and under skilled. But rather than holding businesses back, older workers could be your biggest asset.
According to the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel Development) older workers provide very specific benefits in knowledge-sharing, problem-solving and customer service. So what happens when they leave? They take their skills and experience with them. But the UK demographic is changing, with less young people joining the market to replace retirees. Add that to the impact of reducing migration post-Brexit and we could have a problem on our hands.
So we need a little creative thinking to ensure we manage, retain and refocus older workers! Here are 5 tips to consider:
- Mentoring
Mentoring programmes provide an excellent outlet for older workers to pass invaluable information to the company’s future leaders. You can even use the mentoring in reverse by using your younger employees to provide more mature employees on tips on social media and technology updates which make it a win-win strategy.
- Flexible work programmes
What if you enabled workers to consider retirement as a transition rather than a cliff edge? Enabling older employees to ease themselves into eventual retirement is to offer flexible working through reduced hours or seasonal schedules.
- Ask for feedback
The answer here is to never assume. Offer your older employees the chance to take on challenging new roles or projects, or if they prefer, enable them to perform a less stressful role. You won’t know unless you ask.
- Invest in older employees
Just because they have a few more years of experience under their belts doesn’t mean that it’s the end of their learning. Invest in training to motivate them and maintain their productivity.
- Get involved in local community projects
By partnering with the local community, your older employees have the opportunity to share their skills and experience with projects they can continue to contribute to once their retirement starts.
Read more about maximising your older employees here