Age diversity will shape the workforce of the future: BSI research

By 2050, 22 per cent of the world’s population is expected to be over 60. As demographics shift, people will likely be working for longer, which raises a series of major considerations for the HR professionals who’ll be supporting them. 

For its whitepaper, Evolving Together: Flourishing in the age-diverse workforce, The British Standards Institution (BSI) spoke to senior professionals from nine countries about what they wanted from work. What emerged was that they prioritised structural shifts, including how, where and when work is done, economic realities and career pathways, and formal leave policies. Across the board, health and wellbeing support, flexibility, remuneration, training and acknowledgement of caring responsibilities were top considerations.

BSI’s report identifies clear areas for action. These include:

1. Plan ahead: The age-diverse workforce is fast becoming a reality —  now is the moment to consider strategies which support meaningful careers and sustainable work throughout everyone’s lifetime.
2. Rethink and reframe work: More than four years after the pandemic, now is the moment to open the conversation around how this flexibility can be enabled for the longterm.
3. Support health and well-being: A flourishing workforce will be equipped to maintain physical health and psychological/ mental wellbeing. This may include proactive efforts to support workers to manage their health or investment in services used by the wider population.  
4. Train, retrain and refresh: For people to flourish decades on, opportunities to learn new skills, returnships, or the chance to shift away from manual roles will be critical, especially in the context of AI transformation.
5. Make work worthwhile: Reward and remuneration will be core to how people relate to their job at any age – as will ensuring people remain challenged by their work.
6. Enable an inclusive culture: Employers can partner with employees to ensure different generations are listened to and have an equal chance to contribute.

As working dynamics shift, there is an opportunity to collaborate across society and accelerate progress towards a future of work where everyone can flourish, whatever their age or stage.

“Our working world is changing. Organisations and policymakers have the opportunity to harness these changes to help more people thrive in a future age-diverse workforce,” explains Susan Taylor Martin, chief executive of BSI. 

“Investment in health and wellbeing is vital. So too is being agile when it comes to flexibility, skills, training and recruitment. Putting people’s needs at the centre of change offers the potential to unlock longterm productivity gains by empowering experienced people to stay in the workforce.”