MEETING THE CHALLENGE OF AN AGEING WORKFORCE: THE ROLE OF HRM

Abstract

The proportion of older people in our societies is increasing fast due to low birth rates, ageing baby boomers and rising life expectancy. By 2060 in EU countries, 29% of people will be over 65.

Countries need to adapt their economic planning including social services, pension and health systems to an older and potentially shrinking population, a phenomenon often called the “Silver Tsunami”.  One of the solutions offered is “active ageing” which means helping people stay in charge of their own lives for as long as possible while providing them with opportunities to contribute to society and the economy.

At the same time, when people retire, organizations can lose talent, skills and experience which is difficult to replace.  The situation has worsened following the Covid-19 Pandemic resulting  in many vacancies which HR Departments are trying to fill.

Some organizations are addresing  this problem by inviting and utilizing retired employees, taking advantage of their accumulated knowledge and experience. Appropriately designed age inclusive projects, flexible working arrangements, recognition of their potential to act as mentors can help in meeting the organizational  challenge of a shrinking workforce while also contributing to society’s demand for active ageing.

In view of the above, this paper has gathered information from a number of HR managers in Greece, in an attempt to identify practices and measures taken to meet the challenge of a shrinking workforce.  Practices identified fall within age diversity and age management efforts which seem to be still of minor concern among Greek companies.

However, it is generally acknowledged that taking advantage of skills and experiences of older workers can benefit organizations while also contributing to their active ageing and leading the way to a more inclusive society.