We asked our WorkingNation Advisory Board to share their thoughts on the most important issues and challenges facing the workforce and the labor market in the coming year.
Paul Irving is a senior fellow at the Milken Institute, previously serving as the Institute’s president and founding chair of its Center for the Future of Aging.
Here are his thoughts on The Future of Work 2023.
“Facing high inflation, uneasy markets and retirement accounts at risk, many older adults want and need to work longer. Employers, confronting skills deficits and workforce shortages need talent, especially for customer-facing roles — the “essential workers” recognized during the pandemic as critical for business success.
In a challenging business environment, older, experienced workers offer employers greater loyalty and reliability as well as sound judgment in addressing critical customer needs. An emerging body of research confirms that older employees bring a collaborative spirit and enable organizations to benefit from the diversity of intergenerational teams.
Recruiting and retaining older workers can solve immediate workforce challenges for many global organizations. But in aging societies, including Japan, Germany, France, Italy, China, and the US, critical long-term labor shortages must be addressed by policy and practice changes that enable and encourage longer work lives.
Flexible schedules and compensation arrangements, clear and open communications, well designed and collaborative environments and other adaptations can help employers recruit and retain not just essential workers who are older, but essential workers of all ages.”
