KEY POINTS:
When I go to the United States I am struck by the number of receptionists, or people on information desks, who are 65 or older, whereas those jobs are usually held by school leavers here.
With workforce shortages looming, employers should be focusing not just on how to attract and retain young graduates, but also the parents of Generation Y.
New Zealand's seniors - those over 65 - will climb from 18.5 per cent of the population last year to 39 per cent in 2050. At the same time, fertility, after a mid-century surge, has fallen to below accepted replacement levels.
The Department of Labour expects New Zealand's working-age population to begin to contract after 2020. Many tradespeople and technicians are over 50 and we have only begun to lift training levels in the past decade.
For some performing arts, we now have more people in training than are employed in the whole New Zealand industry. Good luck to them if they have a dream, but meanwhile, we have insufficient plumbers, carpenters, toolmakers and those with other technical skills. These vacancies for skilled people are only being filled by increased immigration.
The New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development has begun examining how its members are addressing the issue of managing an ageing workforce.
Fonterra, for example, has set up a training initiative to teach its ageing workforce of maintenance engineers to use their experience and skills as assessors and appraisers.
Members are doing work around structuring and phasing in retirement by introducing reduced hours, and identifying roles for older employees which balance work and lifestyle aspirations.
The issue was also scheduled to be raised at New Zealand's first pre-Budget summit yesterday in Wellington - a constructive opportunity for invited business leaders to talk to politicians and officials about practical ways to overcome challenges facing New Zealand in the next few decades.
The "Cullen Fund" and Kiwi Saver proposals have gone some way to addressing retirement income issues but in the area of skills shortages and rising health costs the challenges remain. Our first and last years of life are the most expensive in terms of health costs. We are neither putting money aside through the Government nor through private health insurance policies to meet the health costs which rapidly increase as we get older.
Australia has made its ageing population a focus of recent Budgets.
The other long-term issue for business, particularly small and medium enterprises, is how to adapt to a world where customers increasingly want products and services made in ways which respect people and the environment. Many larger businesses are successfully making the transition but it is harder for SMEs to do this. They often don't have the profitability to make the necessary investments or to market themselves. Equally, customers find it hard to back the "good guys" when they don't have the knowledge to separate the good from the bad.
Major Government promotion of environment labels and accreditation programmes would assist here, as would central and local government using their purchasing power to reward the "good guys".
A report by professional organisation CPA Australia, looking at how to keep workforce numbers up through retaining experienced professional employees over 45, is relevant to New Zealand where employers are grappling with the same challenges.
It is estimated that Australia faces a potential shortfall of 195,000 workers over the next five years as a result of population ageing.
The finance and industry sectors would have 9400 fewer employees, while the property and business services would have 20,300 fewer employees over the same period.
Australia is facing a skills shortage, including the accounting profession.
While the Australian Government has increased skilled migration intakes, population policies such as migration are unlikely to affect ageing trends and as such, participation and productivity policies are considered as more effective solutions.
In a joint initiative with the Government, CPA Australia examined the viability of retaining mature age accountants to meet demand for skilled accountants. This initiative was a 12-month project which included secondary research into mature age employment and issues relating to the ageing population; investigated barriers to employing mature age professionals; and piloted a recruitment project to place up to 20 mature age members with employers in Canberra.
The outcome, a report called A Mature Solution, highlighted the need to support and assist mature age workers to identify employment opportunities, get relevant training and develop career change strategies before retiring.
As a society, New Zealand should consider seriously the needs of this group if we wish to tackle the nation's skills shortage.
We also need to decide how we should fund the health service cost growth that will come with an ageing population. Businesses in New Zealand affected by the ageing population need to factor this into their recruitment strategies and find solutions to dealing with skills shortage and an ageing workforce.
* Peter Neilson is the Chief Executive of the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development
