Focus on workforce

By Melissa Donchi
WHAT do Mick Jagger, Neil Young and Roger Daltrey have in common? They’re all ageing rock stars who once declared they’d rather die than get old.
However, against all odds, these rock and roll dinosaurs are still alive and making millions through constant touring, new recordings and merchandise.
And according to a recent Shire of Yarra Ranges Business Breakfast they are the role models for an increasingly aged workforce.
One guest speaker, Damien Wood from Ernst and Young, even came prepared with slides of a withered looking Keith Richards asking the audience how old they thought he was.
“About 100,” someone called out.
“But how old does he act,” Mr Wood challenged them, leading into his next point which was having an enthusiastic approach to work.
The Breakfast took place at The Stones winery in Coldstream and was attended by mayor Tim Heenan and other business people in the Yarra Ranges.
The Challenges Ahead – A Changing and Ageing Workforce in Yarra Ranges, aimed to explore the realities of Yarra Ranges’ ageing workforce, the shifting demographic profile and the ramifications for business.
Mr Wood began by painting the ageing workforce with some statistics.
“Today 45 is considered to be old,” Mr Wood said, “even Mick Jagger said he’d rather die than be singing Satisfaction when he was 45.”
“We don’t have enough faith in our older workers and it shows,” he said.
“While 97 per cent of employers said they would hire mature age workers, only 35 per cent did so in the last 12 months.”
The message was that people are living longer, retiring earlier and having fewer children, a problem, Mr Wood said, businesses should acknowledge sooner rather than later.
He said they should start thinking about the future environment as well as implementing more flexible options for an older workforce.
Guest speaker Simone Phelan, an HR manager from Bunnings Australia also emphasised the need to provide flexible work arrangements for the ageing workforce.
“When you get to a certain age you don’t always want to work nine to five, maybe it’s four days so you can catch up for lunch with your girlfriends or go to the golf course with your mates,” Ms Phelan said.
But not everyone in the audience was appeased by flexible working conditions.
Marketing consultant with the Salvation Army Employment Plus, Beverely Jordan said flexible working conditions were often the problem and not the solution.
“Basically we’re working with people who are on government benefits and our job is to get them off these benefits by finding them secure employment,” Ms Jordan said.
“We need to find them full time secure work as part-time work and flexible hours will not get these people off government benefits.”