The Graham Lowe Group and EKOS Research Associates are pleased to announce the release of Bridging the Generations: Redesigning Workplaces to Prosper from an Aging Workforce. Written by Graham Lowe, the report breaks new ground by using multi-year national survey data to provide insights about major workplace transformations.
Useful for employers, HR professionals and policy specialists alike, this report mines more than a decade of public opinion research into workers’ attitudes towards jobs, the workplace, retirement, career planning and Canadians’ future prospects.
The report reflects on changes in the Canadian labour market, workplaces and work experiences. Anchoring the report are national surveys of Canadian workers, conducted in 2004 and 2012 as part of the EKOS ‘Rethinking Series’ as well as EKOS time-series data on public attitudes to economic change.
Bridging the Generations highlights how employers and policy-makers can take steps to ensure that older workers, facing delayed retirement, don’t reduce the career opportunities for younger workers who are entering a difficult job market. The report provides solutions for managing a smooth generational transition in the workplace in ways that enable workers of all ages to share their experiences and to fully contribute.
Some Key Findings:
– Most Canadians are worried that the next generation will be worse off than today. These worries spill over into workers’ perceptions of the future of the labour market, their retirement plans and a host of other workplace concerns.
– Redesigning workplaces to bridge the growing divide between younger and older Canadians will help to secure economic prosperity and make public healthcare and pensions more sustainable.
– HR practices can help older workers remain in the labour force and help younger workers fulfill their own career plans. Innovative solutions include making workplaces more inclusive, work more flexible and jobs more challenging and meaningful.
– Work-retirement transitions can be updated to enable baby boomers’ continued contributions to the workforce, while ensuring that younger workers’ skills and energy can be more fully harnessed. The result will be a more agile and productive workforce.
Bridging the Generations report PDF