The Workforce Is Aging. How Employers Can Respond by Supporting Older Employees

BY Joyce Flory | November 20, 2022

Demographic trends, including an aging population, migration, immigration, and population growth will reshape the workplace and the nature of work, asserts Vijay Swaminathan, co-founder and CEO of Draup, a sales and talent intelligence solutions provider. The average age of the world’s population is on the rise. People aged 65 and older represented 16% of the population in 2018 and will grow to nearly 22% of the population by 2030. The 85-and-older population will double, to 14.4 million, by 2040.

Making the transition to new work environments requires employers to embrace the realities of age and an aging workforce. Organizations can leverage the advantages of an aging workforce, a remote and hybrid workplace, and an emerging metaverse where workers will visualize and solve problems in 3-D independent of hardware and space restrictions.

Swaminathan addressed the growing importance of older workers during a Thought Leadership Spotlight about “The Impact of the Aging Working Population and What HR Should Do About It” at From Day One's Chicago conference earlier this year.

Age is a vital but often neglected component of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The parameters of DEI must expand beyond ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and religion to embrace age and aging. “Organizations must look beyond a number or age range to an individual’s knowledge, skills, experience, and emotional intelligence,” said Swaminathan.

Acknowledge Under-the-Radar Strengths of Older Workers

While organizations typically pursue millennials and members of Gen Z as future workers, factors like empathy usually increase with age–particularly after age 40. Older workers are also more adept at problem-solving, according to 59% of employers in a survey. They’re more reliable, less vulnerable to turnover, and make better business decisions within diverse teams, Swaminathan said.

Older Workers Have Jumped on the Tech Bandwagon

The tech gap between the oldest and youngest adults has narrowed in the last decade. Social media use by Americans 65 and older has grown fourfold since 2010, and YouTube has gained traction among older adults.

But technology acceptance doesn’t necessarily reflect proficiency. Just 24% of people in a recent survey report being involved in digital-skills training, Swaminathan said. While 17% consider themselves advanced in digital skills, 49% see themselves as beginners.

The takeaway, says Swaminathan, is that every age group may need advanced workplace digital-skills training or reskilling.

His Recommended Action Steps

Employers have the power to identify, recruit, hire, develop and retain older workers. Swaminathan offered the following specific recommendations:

  • Offer flexible work arrangements. Employers can employ retirees to complete short-term projects, offer full-time employees part-time hours for several years, or allow semi-retired individuals to work part-time jobs.
  • Stay in close touch with retirees. Older adults could become boomerang employees who return to the workforce in digitally-enabled roles. Employers should prepare to offer digital skills updates and reskilling.
  • Re-imagine job descriptions. Avoid jargon and tech-speak that might deter older workers from applying for available positions. Older adults may not understand terms like digitization, datafication, metaverse, RAM, or VPN, even though they may be capable of performing the work required of the role.
  • Re-examine digital workload. Evaluate how automation, process re-engineering, and digital innovation could accelerate digital transformation and ease the workloads of older workers.
  • Avoid viewing the aging population as a monolith. While some older adults are inching toward retirement, others may have retired, downshifted, or changed careers. Still, others may be newly minted entrepreneurs or gig workers who seek fresh opportunities.

The bottom line: Older workers are skilled and experienced. They tend to have a strong work ethic and stay in jobs longer than their younger counterparts. They maintain an organization’s knowledge and networks and play a critical role in training the next generation. They offer customers and clients consistency, empathy, and attention, and confirm that top-performing teams are often multigenerational.

“Organizations should recruit and hire older workers because they deliver experience, reliability, and confidence,” said Swaminathan. “Having a diverse workforce and a welcoming work environment reflects positively on any brand.”

Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Draup, who sponsored this thought leadership spotlight.

Joyce Flory, PhD, is a Chicago-based freelance writer with decades of experiences in public relations, marketing, and thought leadership with a focus on the health care industry.

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