Identifying the Inter-relationship in the context of Aging Workforce
System thinking in the simplest manner can be understood as the interactions between different parts of the system which can be related to a city, society or a sector and ensures that it delivers more than the individual some of the parts. In today’s competitive and evolving world, goals are set to be achieved and people work hard to achieve those goals(Adams et. al., 2016). However, it sustainability development goals are to shift the entire system into a sustainable path, a serious focus on joined up thinking is the need of the hour. The organizations which are up to the challenge of ensuring sustainability follow a three pronged strategy which goes on as; collaborating with the effort of others to reach the individual goals, identifying and looking towards the inter relationship between all the identified goals and lastly delivering the goals or the solution in a way which models the characteristic required for a truly global society(Bocken, 2014).
The above mentioned introduction can be seen as a preamble for the essay here which focuses on favouring the system thinking as critical to developing solutions for the sustainability challenge. This essay however will focus specially on a critical problem, which is the Aging workforce of Australia. The problem is of grave concern as one in every four people is older than 55 years and it is expected to increase over the next decade and will reach one to three. This is considered as a wicked problem due to the nature of the problem, this problem can be sought to be addressed by the implementation of system thinking.
As mentioned in the introduction section that one of the critical elements of system thinking is identifying the inter relationship in the context and the connection of the wicked problem Once the relationship is identified it becomes easier to establish perspectives and the boundaries of the work to be done in order to achieve sustainability(Clayton & Radcliffe, 2015). The problem of Aging workforce in Australia is a wicked problem, it be said so as this problem can really not be solved by focussing on any one factor, also a complex system can be understood only from one perspective. Thus, comes system learning and thinking in place which focuses on the wicked problem from a holistic angle by being oriented towards social and organizational learning and adaptive management(Abson et. al., 2017).
System thinking is most soughed to over the challenge of sustainability because of the manner by which the constituent of the system interact with one another. The wicked or complex problem thereby can be solved by applying the concept of system thinking(Epstein, 2018). These sustainability challenges are also called as adaptive challenges due to their inherent nature and the protocols and procedures which have already been put in place cannot be apply to the scenario. Additionally there is no cohesive approach towards dealing with some of the wicked challenges towards sustainability(Wiek et. al., 2015).
The aging workforce is a wicked problem which is clouding the Australian sub-continent, the need of the hour is to deal with this challenge and ensure the sustainability in overcoming this challenge. The Australia population of 24 Million is getting older day by day, and this in a way is putting a lot of downward pressure on the labour force and the economic growth of the population. One of the research reports on the Aging workforce mentioned that older Australians over the age group of 55 or older are lower. However, a sigh of relief here is that in the coming decades the rise in the retirement age is proposed at 67 years from the present age of 65.5 Years. According to the estimate of the UN, one in every three person staying in a developed country will be over the age of 60 years. Whereas in Australia there will be one in four people older than the age of 55 years which in another decade will shift to three(Truxillo, Cadiz & Hammer, 2015).
System Thinking as the solution to Wicked Problems
The discussion on the topic of aging workforce has become rhetoric in nature, and the government is already discussing the increasing cost of healthcare and the impact on the social welfare system, the savings from retirement and the broader economy. As the working population of Australia will get older the heat and the pressure will be felt largely by the government, families and various industries. The role of human and function is changing drastically with the advent of globalization and evolution in technology, hence the older age employees will have to sharpen up their skills or rebuild the skills to stay employable in the industry. Moreover, the wicked problem of Aging population is more crippled by the challenge of social biasedness and stereotyping along with the deteriorating health and the growing expectation of the family(Thomas et. al., 2018).
Moreover the population of Australia is very much in control and the couples are opting for lesser and lesser children, thus the population growth in Australia can also be seen as marginal with a growth of 1.4 CAGR. Thus it can be clearly said that the Aging population of Australia poses certain serious challenges towards the growth and the economic policy decisions of the country. However, the effect on the productivity will be negligible, but it will cause a decline in the economic growth of the country, which is a wicked problem. This will further lead to the constraints on the taxation revenue which will impede the growth of the economy and will lead to recurring budget deficits. Thus, the need of the hour is to deal with this challenge in a stern way and apply the concept of system thinking approach to tackle this problem and focus on the sustainability(Connell, Nankervis & Burgess, 2015).
System thinking which helps in finding the sustainable solution to a problem or a challenge is based on the concept of finding inter-relationship between the different components of the system. The model has been in existence of over 50 years and has been helpful in creating sustainable solution towards problems like household food wastage and many more.
The important aspect here is to evaluate the significance of the condition and the circumstances, along with the ramification of such circumstances during the implementation phase. The beauty of the system thinking is that a small change in one of the element can result in significance development in other element while dealing with the wicked problem. As mentioned earlier the government and the industrial lobby in Australia have already showed their concern towards the problem, and want to come together with the objective of fighting the problem of Aging Workforce.
Utilizing the approach of system thinking, some of the ways by which the companies can alleviate the problem of aging workforce is:
- Help and ensure that the aging workforce is provided good hours of training to counter the effect of tech evolution. The additional hours of training will make them competent in their line of work and they can sustain longer in the business organization and contribute effectively.
- The culture of coexistence of multiple generations has to be fostered and nurtured in the business organization. This will give motivation to the aging workforce and a sense of belongingness with the organization (Rashwan, Abo-Hamad & Arisha, 2015).
- Providing consistent opportunities to the aging workforce to update their skills and pick the skills which will stay relevant for long and are contemporary skills.
- Safeguarding and preserving the critical knowledge of the workforce before they depart.
- The efforts have to be expediting in the direction of redirect recruiting and sourcing efforts to accommodate the ageing workforce.
- Create alternate work arrangements for the aging workforce.
These are some of the alternative to alleviate the problem of aging workforce which is created by focusing on one component of the system machinery, the business organization. Some of the other elements which have to be considered while finding a sustainable solution would be by analysing the measures taken by the government and the society of overcome this problem of aging workforce.
Challenges of Aging Workforce in Australia
The government in its budget of 2018 has increased the funding to accommodate the greying population of Australia. The government is committed to spend over AUD 17.4 million over the four years with the objective of establishing a skill checkpoint for the older workers program. Along with this, AUD 189 billion is kept aside to help and support the maturing workforce to better accommodate to the transitioning economy. This is where the system thinking approach plays its roles as the problem is being tackled from all the possible angle and all the components are being addressed and readdressed to lead to a sustainable solution(Shaw et. al., 2014).
Another positive impact of this awakening regarding the aging workforce has resulted in increasing the retirement age in Australia. Despite the fact that the informal retirement age in Australia is 65 years, the silver lining here is that the proportion of people as a part of labour force in the age category of 65 years is on a rise. This is a positive indication for the economy and also for the industry(Lussier & Hendon, 2017). All this awakening has been possible only and only by applying the concept and approach of system thinking and attacking the wicked problem in all its aspect and at the very roots. This goes onto say that creating a joined up efforts on individual goals which have been done by Public and Private Partnership approach and everyone working collaboratively to overcome the problem and lead towards sustainability. Creating a network set of goals, which is identifying the inter-relationship between the goals is extremely helpful. For instance, there exists a relationship between the aging workforce and their skill development, thus this relationship has to be understood clearly and the efforts of skill development and enhancement will result in a sustainable solution. The last point of system thinking approach which states to define the “How” of sustainable development implies that utilizing the concept of micro-economic and macroeconomic environment is of aide in solving the problem.
Another problem which comes along with Aging workforce is the challenge of dealing with the stereotypes related to the aging workforce. This can be alleviated by first deep understanding of attitudes of people who are working with the older people. Once the attitude of these people comes to an understanding the next logical step is to identify the shapers of that negative and unproductive attitude. As Shakespeare said, “Age is just a number”, as it is more complicated that the chronological years. Business organization need to be highly transparent and ensure that their recruitment and the sourcing strategies are fair and bias free. It has been shown that a quality contract between different generations helps in sharing of ideas, experience and also reduces any negative perception associated with the aging workforce(Kerzner & Kerzner, 2017).
Conclusion
Australia with a population of 24 million is facing a severe problem of aging workforce. It has been predicted that by 2030, every one out of three people working in Australia will be over the age of 55 years. Looking at the situation holistically it allows for finding of a sustainable solution to not feel the heat of family expectation, slowdown of economy and other social and global pressures. Thus, the need of the hour is to focus on system thinking approach which can play a major role in alleviating the problem of aging workforce. The unique concept and theory which has been in existence for over 50 years asks to understand the relationship between the different elements constituting the system, these interactions than has to be analysed holistically to create a sustainable solution. For instance the micro and macro-economic development by the government, creation of skill program and skill development and redevelopment, tax cuts and many others are the ways by which this problem can be effectively addressed.
References
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