Trevor Cook: Worried about the ageing population? Then make workplaces family-friendly

24 February 2005

Worried about the ageing population? Then make workplaces family-friendly

Interesting to see people in business picking up (at last?) on some of the key themes in what Pru Goward and others have been saying for sometime. This caught my eye from Tim Watts of the Nous Group:

I was chatting to a CEO the other day about Australia's population. "Too small" he said. "We need a market double this size if we want to be serious global players". Grey-haired and bullish on Australia adopting America's high immigration programs, he thinks our relatively small and ageing population is one of the biggest scandals of our times.

This same CEO also wants a more "flexible" workplace. By this he means he wants the freedom to be able to hire and fire employees as the needs of his business ebb and flow, and to drive their productivity in whatever way he can.

What is it with employers who want total commitment and flexibility, but don't want to be flexible and committed in return? Very short-term thinking.

24 Feb 2005 14:36:05

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