{"id":237552,"date":"2017-08-24T04:45:21","date_gmt":"2017-08-24T08:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/uncategorized\/brian-sloan-an-ageing-workforce-should-not-be-viewed-as-a-challenge-but-as-an-opportunity-the-scotsman.php"},"modified":"2017-08-24T04:45:21","modified_gmt":"2017-08-24T08:45:21","slug":"brian-sloan-an-ageing-workforce-should-not-be-viewed-as-a-challenge-but-as-an-opportunity-the-scotsman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/abolition-of-work\/brian-sloan-an-ageing-workforce-should-not-be-viewed-as-a-challenge-but-as-an-opportunity-the-scotsman.php","title":{"rendered":"Brian Sloan: An ageing workforce should not be viewed as a challenge, but as an opportunity &#8211; The Scotsman"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><p>    Many people in their forties will have been disappointed by the    news that they are going to have to work longer before they can    claim their state pension.  <\/p>\n<p>    The UK Government has announced that 2037, not 2044, will be    the year when the state pension age rises to 68. Age Scotland    does not agree that this particular move was necessary, with    forecasts for increased life expectancy stalling. However it    has been clear for many years that as we live longer, with an    ageing population and the abolition of the default retirement    age, very many of us are going to have to remain in employment    longer.  <\/p>\n<p>    Age Scotland believes strongly that an ageing workforce should    not be viewed simply as a challenge, but as an opportunity for    our economy and our society.  <\/p>\n<p>    The economic imperative is clear. Population projections    suggest that the number of people above state pension age in    Scotland may increase by nearly 30 per cent by 2040, but the    working age population by only only per cent.  <\/p>\n<p>    Already older workers are playing a bigger role in services and    businesses across Scotland. More than 90,000 people over 65 are    now in employment in Scotland, double the number in 2004. It is    also important to recognise that the great majority of these    people are not in work out of necessity, but because they want    to be. 13 per cent say they do remain in work to pay the bills:    that is a concern, and a reason why Age Scotland continues to    campaign against pensioner poverty. But more than half of    workers over 65 in Scotland say they are not ready to stop    working yet.  <\/p>\n<p>    Reasons given include; wanting to continue to use skills, to    boost income, and to stay healthy and active. So the reasons    for older people staying in work are far more positive than    negative. For those who worry that older people continuing in    work will reduce opportunities for younger people, studies    dont bear this out. Dave Watson of Unison has written in The    Scotsman to highlight research that shows if unemployed older    workers returned to the workplace it would add 88 billion to    the UKs economy.  <\/p>\n<p>    The opportunities are tremendous, but there is a lot more to do    if we are to enable more people to work longer. Across the UK    there are one million people aged 50 to 64 who would like to be    in work but are not. Most have left due to poor health,    redundancy, or caring responsibilities. There is a rapid fall    in employment rates over the age of 50. This means that more    employers need to be proactive in providing better working    environments for older people, tackling ageism and promoting    models of working which support people with caring    responsibilities and help workers keep well.  <\/p>\n<p>    Age Scotland works with employers across the country to ensure    more of our workplaces are age-friendly. The charity has    developed Planning For Your Future workshops to help workers    decide when and how they will make the transition to    retirement, and what they can do now to ensure that they can    enjoy retirement. These workshops can also be beneficial for    employers by opening conversations with employees that enable    more informed future workforce planning. Age Scotland also    offers employers training on meeting the needs of an ageing    workforce. We work with staff to promote age inclusive    workplaces, exploring behaviours and opening minds so we    challenge stereotypes, prejudice and stigma about older people.    Age Scotlands Allied Health Professionals promote healthy    active ageing within workplaces, encouraging routines and    cultures which help employees keep fit, well and prevent a    range of illnesses and conditions. Additionally, with dementia    increasingly affecting employers as the workforce ages, we    provide dementia aware training for employers and employees.  <\/p>\n<p>    The Scottish Government has made clear that it wishes to do    more to create age-friendly workplaces and help those older    people who want to stay in work to do so. We look forward to    working with government on this important agenda, and to    continuing to work with employers across the country to provide    better support for older workers. This is not only good for    their staff, but great for their businesses as well as they    draw on the skills and commitment of their older employees. If    you want to find out how we support employers to take this    important work forward you can find out more on    <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nowandnext.scot\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/www.nowandnext.scot<\/a>  <\/p>\n<p>    Brian Sloan, Managing Director of Age Scotland  <\/p>\n<p><!-- Auto Generated --><\/p>\n<p>Read the original post:<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.scotsman.com\/news\/brian-sloan-an-ageing-workforce-should-not-be-viewed-as-a-challenge-but-as-an-opportunity-1-4539968\" title=\"Brian Sloan: An ageing workforce should not be viewed as a challenge, but as an opportunity - The Scotsman\">Brian Sloan: An ageing workforce should not be viewed as a challenge, but as an opportunity - The Scotsman<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Many people in their forties will have been disappointed by the news that they are going to have to work longer before they can claim their state pension. The UK Government has announced that 2037, not 2044, will be the year when the state pension age rises to 68. Age Scotland does not agree that this particular move was necessary, with forecasts for increased life expectancy stalling <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/abolition-of-work\/brian-sloan-an-ageing-workforce-should-not-be-viewed-as-a-challenge-but-as-an-opportunity-the-scotsman.php\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"limit_modified_date":"","last_modified_date":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[431579],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abolition-of-work"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237552"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237552\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}