August 20th Journal Column
Steven Ord discusses the governments plans to scrap the retirement age and how important a better healthcare schemes are within a company
The Government’s plans to scrap the default retirement age from October 2011 have been met with celebration from some camps and consternation by others. But where should the construction industry stand on this issue?
Construction is an industry which needs workers who are both physically fit and mentally active. While it is perfectly reasonable to suggest that employees in other sectors are still able to work effectively past 65, construction is no desk job. The lives of the worker, their colleagues and the final users of the project are all at stake if they, or their workmanship, are not up to scratch.
That said, with better healthcare and lifestyles, and an increasing number of companies with schemes which bear the employees and their health in mind, people are living longer. Not only that, they are staying active, healthy and sentient longer.
65 is not the age it once was. Pensioners are no longer Zimmer frame-wielding, free-bus-pass touting oldies. They enjoy active sports, surf the web and take holidays in far flung destinations. Those from the construction industry, with a lifetime of physical labour behind them, are often fit and strong, well able to continue working past their 65th birthday. Many would prefer to.
Dispensing with the set retirement age will banish the spectre looming over the construction industry. We are a trade with a lot of older, experienced workers and a deficit of younger, trained ones. Knowledge need to be passed on before skilled workers are legally unable to continue. Even those who are unable, or would prefer not, to continue active work in the construction industry beyond 65, are well able to educate and train new recruits.
This becomes even more crucial with the realisation that the baby boomer generation are heading towards retirement. Those born between 1946 and 1964 account for a large percentage of most construction occupations, especially construction managers, foremen, and operating engineers.
By 2015 the baby boomer cohort will be between 51 and 69 years old. Under the current system, by 2029 all may have retired. With the exception of low level labourers, drywall installers and roofers, the construction industry will be significantly affected in the next decade.
The exit of the baby boomers from the labour force will drive up demand for skilled workers, which will, in turn, increase the need for worker safety and health training in construction. It is imperative that we address this issue now.
Fitness to practice should be the strategy behind retirement, not arbitrary age. Forcibly retiring our experienced workers at 65 is bad for our industry but by the same standard, allowing older workers to continue when it is not 100% safe to do so is dangerous. What must prevail is common sense.