Workforce ageing: Materials for Human Resource practitioners in the APS

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Foreword

The Australian Public Service (APS) Commission has compiled this package of materials in response to the Management Advisory Committee's (MAC) report Organisational Renewal, which documented the demographic shifts in the APS.

The report identified the key implications for the APS and individual agencies of actively managing a workforce characterised by significant demographic change and began the process of mapping out strategies for ongoing organisational renewal.

This package has been compiled to assist agencies to develop human resource management strategies to retain and attract mature-aged employees. The package is divided into two parts that provide guidance on:

strategic management issues, such as workforce planning in the context of broader demographic change, strategies for succession management and knowledge transfer, and approaches to injury prevention and management
practical measures for retaining mature-aged employees by addressing individual concerns about workplace issues and superannuation entitlements.

The effective management of a mature-aged workforce should be a priority issue for agency heads and senior managers in all agencies irrespective of their size or the nature of their business. However, the material is designed primarily as a resource for human resource practitioners who will play a key role in determining how agencies address workforce planning.

We are grateful to the agencies that provided materials for inclusion in this package: Comcare, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations and the Department of Finance and Administration. We are also grateful to the Australian Bureau of Statistics for making available the mature-aged workers survey prepared as part of the Organisational Renewal project, and to the Boards of the Public Sector Superannuation Scheme and the Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme for making available their fact sheets on superannuation and part-time work and phased retirement. Finally, we would like to thank the individual APS employees who provided us with their experiences.

Andrew Podger
Public Service Commissioner

November 2003

Planning for a mature-aged workforce

Planning for mature-aged employees

Using APSED for workforce planning

Mature-aged workers questionnaire

Managing ageing in the workplace