The Facts on Australia's Ageing Workforce

According to the Intergenerational report, the number of Australians aged 65 and over is projected to more than double by 2055 compared with today. In 2055, there are projected to be around 40,000 people aged 100 and over, well over three hundred times the 122 Australian centenarians in 1975.

Here is a graph of the number of working age people (15-64) for each person aged 65+ in 1950, 2011 and 2050:

(Image referenced from Steve Beales, Imperial College London)

2015 data from Worksafe Victoria has revealed that injury claims amongst over 55 years employees are on the rise.

With an increasing ageing workforce, employers need to ensure the safety of their older employees and prevent them from being injured whilst on the job.

Ageing workers face specific occupational health & safety concerns. These include decreased physical capacity, fatigue, increased rates of musculoskeletal disorders and greater incidence of disease.

In order to ensure the health and safety of your mature employees, it is vital that organisations adopt effective policies, implement the right technologies and where appropriate, provide the right support to at risk employees.

To protect their older workers, employers can implement these 4 strategies to ensure their safety in the workplace:

1. Implement formal reviews of observed behaviour, this may include presenting or talking to workers about expected safe working behaviours and make suitable adjustments to cater for each individual’s physical needs
2. Encourage managers and peers to keep an eye out for their older workers and communicate with each other when they have observed safe/unsafe acts. This may require providing non-threatening feedback if something requires improving or changing
3. Set improvement goals for both mature and young employees so that every employee follow and comply with company OHS and workplace safety policies or guidelines
4. Re-enforce improvement and objectives immediately when noticed in a positive fashion. This requires managers to address unsafe issues in a timely manner to prevent injuries from happening

To learn more on how you can protect your older workers from being injured, attend Akolade’s upcoming 2^nd Annual National Ageing Workforce Forum, held in Novotel Darling Harbour, Sydney on 30^th  August – 1^st September 2016.

Being brought up in a typical Chinese family in Australia, Vivian takes pride as an ABC (Australia-born Chinese) where she happily embraces both the Chinese and Australian cultures. 

In high school, Vivian wanted to become a fashion designer, however she has developed a passion for running events after working backstage for multiple live shows. Prior to starting at Akolade, Vivian worked 4 years in the wine industry and she misses the wine tasting sessions and openly drinking on the job. As the Marketing Coordinator, Vivian enjoys using her creativity to design unique and fun campaigns for each event. In her spare time, Vivian loves to spend time with her two adorable pets; a cat and a dog.