Age diversity and an ageing population in a new age management Essay

Age diversity and an ageing population in a new age management strategy - Essay Example The new holistic age management strategy provides a new perspective of viewing employee capacity. This has been different from the previous fixed retirement age with the notion of younger breeds of employees are much better than older ones, since the former was perceived as aggressive, more innovative, more creative, and are thus, more productive. The statistics posed by UK labour force indicative of a necessity for UK to attract 2.1 million entrants to the adult workforce signifies the adult's demand for these jobs, and hence, a designed HR strategy focussing towards this scenario. The holistic management strategy suggests a more participatory stance for the ageing population. However, as the UK has a default retirement age of 65 alongside limited opportunities for older workers leading to the inference that the demographics are not in employers' favour, it goes to say then that a tighter law must ensure the welfare of the aged employees in terms of retirement (Blyton and Turnbull 1 992). For the organisation, this would suggest a restructuring of retirement scheme, extending the retirement age for employees while others might continue with their phased retirement, caused by a not too stringent policy on retirement. As the report concludes that the need can be met only through a combination of most adults working longer and an increase in the number of adults, such as unemployed people and mothers re-entering the labour market, the organisation will be impacted with retraining of these people who used to be outside the work force for a long time. The HR function will have to synergize with the modification of the workplace that either rises the retirement age of its ageing employees and/or hires unemployed people and mothers, who have diverse needs and different job approaches. The HR would have to structure its functions to these people, who need to employ greater adaptability in order to adjust to the new work setting (Brewster 1995). Female employees who use d to be full-time mothers have likewise diverse needs that the HR should focus on and must be able to provide, such as a day care system within the workplace in which mothers can frequently visit for their infants. This is one option of the organisation in terms of hiring adults to the workforce but not necessarily extending the retirement age of ageing employees. Extending employees' retirement age can be viewed in two ways; either positively or negatively. People who view that the psychological and physical capabilities of ageing people might not be as healthy as those of the younger ones would say that it is just appropriate that the organisation give them a retirement pay and let them rest from the tiresome buzz of everyday work. It may also be viewed in a way in which retirement age must be fixed and pursuing an otherwise policy means catering to the demand of the capitalist market to extract more labour power from the workers, despite their ageing condition. On the other hand, advocates of holistic age management strategy view the extended retirement period as one that only enhances the capacity of ageing population and viewing them as still productive members of the organisation and society despite their age (Rubinstein and Kochan 2001). This might also cater to the view that older people are wiser, more experienced, and are more learne d than the younger ones. This scenario impacts the individual in two ways as well. The pro-active might see this as a greater opportunity for the ageing employees to exhibit their capabilities, talents and skills in the workplace that enhances their self-esteem, while the other side of the fence might view this as the reverse of the former; in that ageing employees are still