An Acas policy paper highlights how an ageing workforce and the removal of the default retirement age will have implications for the way in which employers manage later-life workers. Planning needs to start now because over the next 20 years there will undoubtedly be a significant shift in the age work profile.
The Acas policy paper, ‘The future of workplace relations – An Acas view’ warns that the shrinking value of pensions and the removal of the Default Retirement Age may well mean that many older workers will opt to stay in work longer. Some, on the other hand, may be unfairly pressured into going before they are ready, whilst others with generous enough pensions and a long held expectation of retirement at 60 or 65 will leave in the traditional way. This means that the UK may not see the full impact of these changes for at least a decade. But employers will need to start planning now because over the next 20 years there will undoubtedly be a significant shift in the age work profile.
Acas highlights that employers will also have to tackle performance management of older workers. As the workforce becomes older, and people no longer automatically retire at 60 or 65, managing disability will become a greater challenge, as, at the moment more disabilities materialise in pensionable years and employers remain unaffected. But if people work into their late 60s and 70s employers will have to be much more proactive in terms of providing reasonable adjustments to meet their duties under the Equality Act 2010.
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