Knowledge lost as older workers leave workforce

Media Release
February 19
Knowledge lost as older workers leave workforce
According to a report released today, less than a quarter of the respondents to a
survey on older workers say that their organisation takes routine steps to capture
the knowledge of the workers as they transition out of the workforce.
With the large number of baby boomers now leaving the workforce, the potential
for permanent loss of intellectual property by Australian businesses is
considerable.
The HR Pulse study, by the Australian Human Resources Institute, reports on a
survey sample of 1931 respondents conducted online in November and December
last year.
Other findings of the survey include:

Respondents identified the main benefits of recruiting older workers as the
experience they bring to the workplace, the professional knowledge they have
acquired, and their reliability.

A majority of respondents believe older workers are more loyal, reliable, aware and
committed and have better levels of attendance than younger workers.

They also believe, however, that younger workers have more energy, career
ambition, technology skills, creativity, and are more physically capable than older
workers.

Retirement, redundancy, illness and injury are identified by respondents as the most
common reasons why older workers leave the workplace.

Around three quarters (77%) of respondents say line managers in their workplace
are offered no training in ways to manage different generations.

Slightly more than half the sample group (53%) say age-related bias seldom or never
occurs in their workplace.

Almost four out of ten respondents (38%) would classify a worker as old if the
worker was between the ages of 50-55 (13%) or 56-60 (25%)

Only 3% of respondents report that their workplace has ever considered menopause
as a HR issue.
Commenting on the report, AHRI chairman, Peter Wilson AM, said: “It is
encouraging to see that only a small proportion (12%) of respondents believe that
age-related bias is common in their workplace. However, with around a third
(35%) of respondents acknowledging bias sometimes occurs, it appears to be an
issue which requires a degree of attention.”
The full report can be found here:
http://www.ahri.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/43517/AHRI-Pulse-Survey_Older-Workersmedia.pdf
END
For further information contact:
Paul Begley, National Manager, Government & Media Relations, Australian Human Resources
Institute
0402 897 884
paul.begley@ahri.com.au
www.ahri.com.au