Title: The Aging Worker: Implications for the Work Environment and Job Design

Primary Message

As the skilled workforce ages and the numbers of replacement workers diminish, employers must re-engineer the workplace to maintain safe productivity levels or lose skilled workers to what might otherwise have been a minor impairment.

Key Points

• The workforce will grow more slowly, become older, more ethnic, and more female.

• The decline of physical abilities is predictable and will render many job descriptions unsafe as currently written.

• Once injured, the older worker is significantly less likely to return to work than a younger worker.

• Healthcare costs for the older workforce will be three (3) times that of workers in their thirties.

• Light to moderate work and exercise can slow the effects of aging and sustain productivity.

• Workplace modifications and job redesign will be imperative if safety and productivity are to be maintained.

Key Advice

Start to develop new job descriptions and safety procedures now, before a crisis develops. Prioritize those areas where absenteeism or the incidence of injury has been historically high.

Employee Materials Included