Why is Upskilling an Ageing Workforce Essential for the Future of the Health Service?
The abolition of enforced retirement, along with increased life expectancy has seen the average age of the UK workforce rising. Indeed, it’s predicted that by 2030, 47% of all over 50s will be working in some capacity.
Far from ‘winding down’ in their late 50s, people are increasingly being viewed as valuable members of staff with a lot to contribute. But it’s not just the demographic that is changing – the way we work is too. And this could be the key to finding ways of helping people continue to work and contribute in later life.
What has changed in the workforce?
Globally, the workplace has been dominated by three major factors in recent years:
The pandemic
The digital transformation
The great resignation
These three are intertwined and demonstrate key points that employers need to be aware of when adapting and planning to reskill and upskill staff.
The pandemic showed how flexible the workforce can be when necessary and has helped overcome resistance to change at an organisational and individual level.
The digital transformation is cutting costs and increasing efficiencies. This is an opportunity to redeploy human resources where they can make the biggest difference, not reduce the wage bill.
The great resignation, as described globally, is a result of increased demand for a better work life balance. This can take many forms, but issues such as flexible working, annualised hours and remote working are at the forefront of the move to better working conditions – and they appeal to the over 50s who are more inclined to work because they want to, not because they have to.
Upskilling and reskilling in the healthcare sector
Technology provides new and innovative ways to learn, as well as new job roles and opportunities. Leveraging these advancements makes upskilling and reskilling quick, comprehensive and affordable.
Upskilling and reskilling an ageing workforce has benefits for healthcare organisations, patients and employees:
Multi-skilled staff are more able to adapt to short term surges in demand and longer-term changes in working practices.
New skills can result in additional support roles that take some of the workload off those who are under most pressure, such as frontline staff.
Diverse abilities across the workforce help ensure patients' needs remain at the heart of operational decisions.
Upskilled staff have options for promotion or sideways moves resulting in them being happier at work, more engaged, and more likely to stay.
Establishing an infrastructure
An NHS staff study carried out in 2021, showed that 39.4% of employees had been required to work remotely in the past 12 months.
When broken down into departments, you find that 86.3% of those working in central functions had spent some time working from home. Central functions are the engine behind what is one of the largest employers in the world.
So, it’s vital that individuals in those departments are fully equipped to keep that engine running and ensure continued delivery of services by frontline workers.
How upskilling and reskilling makes a difference
A British Medical Association poll showed the overriding factor for those considering retirement was health and wellbeing. But the overriding factors for those who chose to stay on beyond what would have been their retirement age were flexible working, job satisfaction and the opportunity to work in their favoured aspects of medicine and support, but with less pressure.
Ergo, upskilling means you retain your most experienced employees and get all the benefits of staff retention. Because when experienced staff leave, it’s not finding new personnel that is the biggest issue, it’s losing their knowledge and experience. To navigate the changing landscape, organisations must establish workforce development strategies that build capacity and sustainability in an ever-changing world.