TOP OF MIND Nick McKissack

My father recently passed away at the age of 90. Thinking back on his life, I realise he enjoyed a long period of retirement. He stopped working in his mid-sixties and worked only part-time through his early sixties as a clinical psychologist. He was basically working for himself by then and phasing out of full-time work towards retirement.

It’s predicted that by 2028 over 1 million people in New Zealand will be over the age of 65. Many of these people won’t retire at age 65 as my father did. Some won’t want to retire, and others simply won’t be able to afford to live without continuing to work. The reality, too, is that New Zealand Inc won’t be able to afford for this growing demographic not to work.

So keeping people in the workforce beyond the age of 65 is going to be critical. I can predict a few barriers to this.

One barrier is a shocking level of ageism in recruitment processes. I can remember when I was in my early fifties having a recruitment consultant tell me that I was no spring chicken. Goodness knows what he would call me now. This is the unfortunate reality though. Ageism can kick in at quite a young age and at a time when some people are probably at the top of their game. Assumptions are made about the prevalence of health issues, being slower to train, being more costly to hire and having difficulty accepting change. These stereotypes are not only unhelpful but also inaccurate. We know that people are living longer and remaining highly active much later in life.

Another significant barrier will be a mismatch between the expectations of mature workers and their potential employers.

Thinking ahead to my own retirement, I don’t see myself finishing work completely. I’ll be wanting to build a casual or part-time work schedule around the things I want to do with my life, instead of the other way around. I will also be keen to do things that are both interesting and purposeful. I can imagine wanting to have a mix of working around other people and from home.

It’s easy to see how the odds are stacked against people finding a comfortable fit with their plans to transition into retirement in a world where immediate prejudice exists in recruitment practices and employers who are sticking with traditional models of work.

The year 2028 is not far away, so those million Kiwis over the age of 65 are in our very near future. Creating age-friendly workplaces needs to be a priority for HR professionals. Understanding the needs of these employees is essential. Developing flexible work practices in relation to job design, hours of work, place of work and employment relationships are just some examples of the HR practices that need to be considered.

Attracting the best of the best from the ageing workforce will be a significant challenge for employers. After all, we’ll be competing for time, which our prospective employees might have far better uses for.

My father had a sailing boat moored in the Raglan harbour. It would have taken a very compelling employment offer to convince him to forego his daily jaunt around that harbour.