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Opinion | A no-brainer for Hong Kong’s talent search: embrace older workers
- While Hong Kong is trawling the world for talent, it could also tap the potential of workers over 65
- In addition to raising the retirement age, companies could attract older workers with measures such as flexible working hours and specially developed titles and roles
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Hong Kong is facing a declining and ageing population. Tens of thousands of residents, a large number of them below 44, left Hong Kong for various reasons such as work, study and settling abroad. To maintain a stable, committed and productive workforce in Hong Kong, the government should extend the mandatory retirement age beyond 65, and employers should embrace older workers.
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Firms around the world are paying attention to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) to address systemic inequalities related to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and other dimensions of identity. However, age is often overlooked as a facet of the term DEI.
Ageism in the workplace reduces opportunities for older workers to develop and advance in their careers. According to a survey conducted in the United States by the non-profit AARP in 2017, two-thirds of respondents between 45 and 74 of age said they experienced age-related discrimination. Ageism can affect the way older workers are perceived and treated by their colleagues and managers, leading to social isolation and reduced job satisfaction.
Thanks to the advances in healthcare over the years, Hongkongers’ life expectancy has increased to 85.4 years. Insisting on people retiring when they turn 65 is a waste of human resources, especially when most jobs in Hong Kong require knowledge and experience that older workers have accumulated over the years.
Embracing older talent is a no-brainer especially when Hong Kong is trying to replace the many professionals who left the city. The Top Talent Pass Scheme aims to attract foreign professionals who graduated from the world’s top 100 universities.
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This scheme appears to be effective in attracting young Chinese citizens from the mainland or overseas to work and live in Hong Kong. But mainland China is also short of young talent, as its population, like Hong Kong’s, is shrinking and ageing.
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