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Aging Workforce Challenges

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Aging Workforce Challenges
Aging Workforce Challenges

Abstract
There seems to be many key issues that come along with an aging workforce. Not only do companies and management have to worry about losing qualified workers as they come into retirement age, they are finding out that the pool of qualified workers is getting smaller. Also, many of the retirement eligible workers are staying in the workforce. Management is forced to look at this aging population in a multitude of ways to figure out how to keep their own productivity and profitability on track. I will look at different thoughts about the aging workforce and how management can cope with the changing landscape. Keywords: aging workforce Aging Workforce Challenges Management is facing some key issues within their environment. Probably one of the most important and daunting is dealing with the aging workforce. “Workers over the age of 55 are an increasingly large portion of the workforce” (Robbins, S.P., & Judge, T.A., 2013, p. 41). With such a large pool of workers that are older, leaders are going to have to focus on different styles of management behaviors when dealing with the age gap. The percentage of workers over the age of 65 is increasing at an alarming rate. Due to waning economic security, longer life expectancy, and second careers, projections are that there will be 20 million workers over the age of 65 by the year 2017 (Perry, L.S., 2010, p. 22). Companies and management are having to deal with these changes with employing drastic changes in policies regarding aging in the workforce and other workforce diversities. It has long been a thought that as age increases, job performance declines (Robbins, S.P., & Judge, T.A., 2013, p. 45). Whether true or not, management has to find ways to bridge the gap between the older and younger workforces. Older workers may be able to use their previously learned skills to adapt to new challenges, which overall creates a satisfactory job


References: Robbins, S.P., & Judge, T.A., (2013). Organizational Behavior. Boston, MA: Pearson Perry, L.S. (2010). The Aging Workforce. Professional Safety, 55 (4), 22-28. http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/docview/304680959?pq-origsite=summon Streb, C.K., & Voelpel, S.C., & Leibold, M. (2007). Managing the aging workforce:: Status quo and implications for the advancement of theory and practice. European Management Journal, 26 (1), 1-10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2007.08.004 Frolik, C. (2013, May 6). Aging workforce threatens growth: Training younger workers may be costly for employers. Dayton Daily News, pp 1A. http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/docview/1348579361?pq-origsite=summon
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