We have a long serving trade skilled employee in their early 60’s who has told us he wants to work for another 10 years. However it is clear he is tiring and his enthusiasm and productivity is declining. He has worked for us for over 15 years. We want to support him to transition to retirement. Can we require him to work part-time?
The short answer is that the business cannot require him to work part-time unless the employee agrees.
This would be a breach of his employment contract which is for ongoing full-time work. Also, any attempt to force/pressure him move to part-time employment could result in allegations and potential legal action in relation to discrimination, General Protections, or unfair dismissal.
However the situation can (and should) be managed and the employee may ultimately see that it is in his best interests to go part-time, creating a win-win situation for all involved.
This question highlights an issue that many, if not most, of organisations are experiencing at the moment. This is due to the ageing Australian population and consequently the ageing workforce.
Whilst highly experienced employees are a great asset to a business, the physical and cognitive impacts of ageing can begin to noticeably impact employees even before their 60’s, particularly if they are engaged in physically demanding work. This can create challenges for business and the employee.
The Australian Productivity Commission has predicted that labour shortages due to the ageing of the workforce will start to hit in the early 2020’s so strategies to retain mature age employees and to have them work safely and productively will become key to success for many businesses in the future. A business should aim to support a valued mature aged employee who has worked reliably and productively for a long period of time in the business – especially if they have skills that might be in short supply.
However, the employee may be physically struggling and fatigued in their role leading to a decline in both work and wellbeing and an increase in workplace health and safety concerns. In fact, numerous studies have identified the impact of ageing on our bodies with the average person experiencing a progressive decline in physical capacity including aerobic capacity, muscle strength and joint flexibility throughout adult life. This decline becomes more noticeable in a person’s 50’s. The likelihood of conditions such as arthritis, osteoporosis, and blood pressure also increase.
An employee in their 60’s is also staring into the abyss of possible significant life changes and may be struggling with the upcoming transition. For example, pending retirement has implications for:
There are many approaches to addressing the implications of an ageing workforce; however three potential strategies related to the employee in this question are detailed in the table below:
The above discussion has only touched upon the range of issues and human resource strategies that may be appropriate when tackling mature age workforce issues. One issue that may arise is performance management.
Businesses should be aware of the risks involved in allowing any employee to perform at unacceptable levels without addressing it. Being mature age does not excuse employees from reasonable performance expectations. The risk of excusing mature age employees from performance expectations are many and include:
Poor performance from a mature age employee can be symptomatic of a lack of fitness for work. If this is the case, this needs to be identified and addressed in this context (rather than performance management). If there is any reason to believe an employee (of any age) is unfit for work, this should be dealt with as a priority.
Employers who allow poor performance to continue for protracted periods of time can find the issue very difficult to manage and the risks great. An employee (or their representatives) in such a situation may advance that the poor performance or informal restricted duties (e.g. others doing their work but not in the context of a formal return to work plan) have became their new ‘normal’ role. They may then argue that raising performance or fitness concerns is harsh, unfair or discriminatory. Any organisation in this situation should contact the Workplace Advice Line on 1300 55 66 77 for advice on how to proceed.
On a proactive level, organisations may also wish to review their WHS systems, job design, hazard assessment etc. in light of how to provide a safe system of work across the generations. If you are wanting to explore any strategies relating to managing mature age workforces or to learn more about them contact the Workplace Advice Line on 1300 55 66 77.
