Demographics: a threat to the ability of companies to find enough workers.

According to a Swiss Federal Statistical Office study, the old-age dependency ratio will increase dramatically over the next two decades. In the worst case, there will be one pensioner for every employed person in about 20 years. Check yourself:

Source: https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/work-income/employment-working-hours/economically-active-population/future-trends-economically-active-population.assetdetail.12947899.html

This process is already impacting our economy and businesses, and the trend will intensify. Therefore, companies need to address this challenge to maintain a sufficient workforce in the long run.

There are several possible responses to this challenge. For example, one could increase productivity through automation, leverage economies of scale within their supply chain or simplify and streamline products and services. Another option is to relocate some labour-intensive activities to countries with ‘better’ demographics. Having worked in the off- and nearshoring industry for over a decade, I know this only works for specific constellations.

A promising approach is to rely upon the existing labour force better and longer. We must therefore rethink our attitude towards older workers. Older workers are often seen as a cost factor that one would prefer to eliminate, given the age-linked progression of contributions to the second pillar of the Swiss pension system. The fact that the experience and knowledge of these generations are precious, even if they may originally come from an analogue world, is often suppressed.

So, what if we changed our way of thinking about retirement? Instead of seeing retirement, from the employee’s perspective, as a time to stop working and enjoy life and, from the employer’s perspective, as a hard exit, we may want to think as a time of transition into another stage of life. We can do this by offering incentives for people to continue working part-time, such as flexible working hours, more holidays and flexible pension models.

But only workers who see purpose in their work, feel secure and stand behind the company’s values will engage in such a deal. Hence, it’s again all about culture: a healthy and inspiring corporate culture is essential for people to accept such transitional models.