Ageing Workers and Tomorrows Workplace

The academic discussion of „demographic change“ can be summed up by this simple statement: the number of young people is steadily decreasing, the number of older people is increasing. The reason: falling birth-rates with simultaneously rising individual life expectancy.

At the workplace this demographic change is already reality. Although current estimates forecast that it will take another ten to twenty years until a shortage of qualified workers will impact on the labour market the phenomenon of an ageing workforce is already visible and the speed of the process is accelerating. Therefore firms and companies confronted with an ageing workforce have to learn to cope and remain innovative. Furthermore they have to find ways to activate additional labour pools in order to stay competitive in a global market.