Canada: Economy Leading Boomer Business Owners To Delay Retirement

According to a poll conducted by the Royal Bank of Canada, 37% of Canadian boomers who plan on retiring in the next five years and who own their own business plan on delaying their retirement due to current economic conditions. The Bank's 19th Annual RBC Registered Retirement Savings Plans Poll also found that 28% of Canadian boomers plan on delaying their retirement due to current economic conditions, 43% say their retirement has been delayed between one and two years, 37% say three-to-five years, and 9% say they don't know.

Further comparing business owners to other boomers, the survey found that 32% of retiring boomer business owners say they will never fully retire, 19 percentage points above the Canadian boomer average. 50% of retiring boomer entrepreneurs say they will be semi-retired or working part-time at age 65, compared to 40% of the general boomer population. In addition, only 37% of retiring boomers who own their own business expect to be fully retired at the age of 65, as compared to the Canadian boomer average of 47%.

Source: Royal Bank of Canada Press Release (February 18, 2009)

Australia: Government Acts To Encourage Small Businesses To Retain Older Workers

Australia's Department of Consumer and Employment Protection and the Small Business Development Corporation have engaged in a process to encourage Western Australian business to employ mature age workers as a way to improve performance and boost the bottom line. Through publication of "Don’t rule out mature age workers," will help small employers struggling to compete with large enterprises for skilled labor.

See also the Department of Commerce site Mature age employment for other information for employers and employees.

Source: Department of Consumer Media Statement (December 16, 2008)

United Kingdom: SME's Looking to Older Workers To Fill Skills Shortages

The Tenon Forum reports that entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom are increasingly relying on older workers to plug skills shortages in their businesses. Tenon regularly surveys small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and its latest research reveals that 30% of SMEs have a strong representation of employees aged over 50, with many businesses utilising the experience of older workers as coaches and mentors for younger employees (20%) or in the capacity of consultants following retirement (12%).

SMEs are looking to older workers to address concerns about skills shortages and that younger recruits are often just not up to the job: 34% report a lack of work readiness amongst graduates and 31% cite poor literacy and numeracy amongst school leavers as a key issue facing their business. Accordingly, 66% of SME leaders agree that the employment of workers aged 50 plus is a good solution to skills shortages, and 22% favor the hiring of older workers over college leavers as a solution to staffing problems.

According to Andy Raynor, CEO of Tenon:

Changes to pensions legislation, combined with the recent age discrimination legislation, are encouraging people to put their retirement on hold and continue working in some capacity, either as full-time or part-time employees, or as consultants. Older members of staff can bring huge benefits to an organisation and we expect to see more and more entrepreneurial businesses taking a flexible approach to recruitment and utilising this valuable skills base.

Source: Tenon Group Press Release (May 6, 2008)

Survey: Small Businesses More Prepared for Aging Workforce

The National Association of Professional Employer Organization (NAPEO) has released the results of a survey showing that 28% of small-business owners surveyed have planned for knowledge transfer from experienced older workers approaching retirement age to other workers. This contrasts with recent recent survey results from Novations that only one-quarter of large organizations are making any effort to transfer knowledge from soon-to-retire baby boomers to other workers and just 4% have created a formal process to pass on know-how.

According to Milan P. Yager, NAPEO's executive vice president, small business owners also know their own value and will not let themselves get caught short when it's time for them to leave: 35% say their own retirement plan is solid and another 10% will have a plan in place by the end of 2008.

In addition, the NAPEO survey reports that the small businesses have more older workers, with 21% saying that at least 5% of their workers are 60 to 64, compared to 16% last year. Furthermore, 37% (compare to 18% in 2007) are delaying retirement, and only 4% said that some workers would retire before age 65.

Source: National Association of Professional Employer Organization Press Release (March 5, 2008)

Canada: Study Presents Value of Partnership between Small Business and Older Workers

According to a study conducted by Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), small business and older workers form a valuable partnership in dealing with the skills and labour shortage in Manitoba. CFIB reports that the study--"Small Business & Older Workers--shows that almost half of small businesses employ at least one older worker over the age of 60 and are actively taking steps to retain them.

The steps taken by small business to retain older workers include allowing greater flexibility with hours, reducing the physical demands of the job, offering part-time or job sharing options, and allowing unpaid time-off for activities/volunteering. The report's conclusion states:

Concern over the shortage of qualified labour among small business owners in Western Canada will likely continue for many years. While there is no silver bullet solution to this challenge, one solution is to improve the participation rate of older workers, to encourage older workers who have already left the workforce to return and to maximize the contribution of older workers in the workforce from a small business perspective.

Source: Canadian Federation of Independent Business
Media Release (December 6, 2007)

United Kingdom: Small Businesses Slow To Adapt to Post-65 Work Rules

A study prepared by Lloyds TSB Business and the SERTeam at the Open University has found that three quarters of Britain’s small firms (with fewer than 50 employees) have yet to put in place procedures to allow their employees to carry on working beyond 65, with 45% saying they were still undecided as to whether they would implement the procedures and 28% claiming they intended to do so. Only 25% of the firms had put in place the ‘right to request’ rules for employees,

Even if they haven't implemented the rules yet--some fearing red tape or rising costs, most firms recognize that there is a need to retain older workers.

Despite the apparent reluctance to encourage staff to work beyond the age of 65, more than a third (34 per cent) of those surveyed said they were bracing themselves for a drop in the number of younger workers over the next decade. Amongst larger firms this view was even more widely held, with 57 per cent of firms employing 20-49 people expecting a fall in younger employees.

Source: Lloyds TSB Business News Release (May 25, 2007)

United States: Survey Shows Many Employees in Small Businesses Staying on Past 65

According to a survey of small businesses, almost a fifth report that their older workers are staying on past the usual retirement age of 65. More than a third reported employees are still working because they can't afford to retire, while twice that many said employees were staying past 65 because they liked working or enjoyed the extra income.

The survey--"Older and Wiser: As the Work Force Ages, Small Businesses Change, Too"--was conducted by the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations. Among other things, the survey found that almost 16% of the small businesses said 5% or more of their employees are between 60 and 64, a jump from five years ago, when it was 9%.

Source: National Association of Professional Employer Organizations News Release (March 15, 2007)