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Mature Workforce – Can You Compete Without Them

Carleen MacKay, Director of CPI Mature Workforce Initiatives

In the 21st century, the opportunity to work is increasingly tied to the tangible, market-driven value of the worker. The 20th century social contract of providing full-time jobs to most of the population has become passé. Forward-thinking workforce strategists and planning experts will lead organizations into productive, profitable and cost-effective futures in workplaces that are more flexible than ever before. Using the experienced workforce is one solution to providing needed flexibility – and a more vital strategy than many realize.

What’s Your 21st Century Strategy?

A few good reasons to start thinking strategically about the mature workforce as contributors to your organization are:

  1. The 21st century is the era of the highly experienced Specialist. The global talent war is heating up. Larger, emerging nations are rapidly taking their rightful place on the world stage. In developed nations, expert contributors will be in short supply and high demand. That means demand for mature workers who have specialized in areas of high marketplace need, such as engineering and scientific careers.  These workers will defy leftover stigmas about chronological age as a disqualifier and remain in the workplace for as long as they wish.
  2. The 21st century is the era of the Free Agent. Agility and flexibility are the names of the new game in the world of work.  Workers who are not needed full-time will not be hired full-time.  Why?  Because to compete, organizations must manage the variable costs over which they have the most control – the people costs. Mature workers are ideal for projects that require workers who are productive on the first day of an assignment – at a fraction of the cost of hiring and training regular, full-time workers.  They are the Free Agents of the future.  [Sources:  Return of the Boomers by MacKay, Newbold and Taft; Free Agent Nation by Daniel Pink and The Age of Unreason by Charles Handy, a former Irish executive with Shell Oil.]
  3. The 21st century is the era of the Lifelong Learner. Guess which generation is returning en masse to the classroom?  In 2009, U.S. News and World Report claimed that among 78 million boomers (born between 1946 and 1964), over 2 million were taking advanced courses in order to remain competitive or, in some cases, to change career direction.  The Institute for Higher Education Policy in the U.S. reports that the “number of pupils age 40 and older has tripled since 1970.”  Simply stated, the non-traditional, older student is now a traditional student. Savvy organizations will not pass by the opportunity to hire (or engage) students who offer experience, a heads-down willingness to do what it takes to succeed plus the readiness to compete.
  4. The 21st century is the era when qualified workers from four generations must contribute to ensure workforce competitiveness. There are fewer people in upcoming generations in most developed countries. The U.S. also lacks enough qualified workers in the next generation to replace mature workers. Need painful proof?  The U.S. is the “only country among 30 free-market countries where the current generation is less well educated than the previous one.” [Source: The U.S. National Commission on Adult Literacy.]  Talent-driven organizations in which all members, including the oldest, are challenged to imagine,  experiment and contribute brain-power, offer the ticket to ride the high-speed train to the future.  [Read Leveraging the Talent-Driven Organization by Richard Adler on behalf of The Aspen Institute for more information.]

Lack of Jobs Doesn’t Mean Lack of Work

Unemployment, as solely measured by the loss of regular, full-time employment (jobs), is likely to persist in developed countries. [The Economist’s Intelligence Unit and other sources support this argument.]  Joblessness is one way of increasing fear about ongoing recession. If traditional jobs are the only way we look at opportunities in the emerging world of work, many will become increasingly discouraged as they seek refuge in the imagined security of the past.

There is another way to look at recovery, and that is to view the world of work on its own terms. Today, full-time, part-time and just-in-time work belongs to the prepared.  Some prepared workers will easily segue between these approaches to work in order to manage their careers. Others will begin to specialize. Still others will re-direct their careers to meet new demands.

Experienced Minds Are a Terrible Asset to Waste!

Our shared role is to educate and to encourage self-accountability among your workforce. CPI’s New Horizons offerings for the mature workforce can help you make the most of your existing workforce. Are you ready to start thinking about new ways to keep your company competitive in the years ahead by more effectively utilizing mature workers? Our new programs are a perfect complement to CPI’s team development services that can help workers of all ages quickly unite and achieve amazing results. The workforce of the 21st century will be far more dynamic than ever before – with teams of all types of workers being rapidly formed in response to the changing needs of a competitive marketplace.

For additional information about CPI’s New Horizons programs for the mature workforce, please contact CPI Twin Cities.