IT’s Not Just X and Ys
IT’s Not Just X and Ys
July 19, 2007: The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) has hit out at the IT talent shortage, stating talent is alive and kicking in taxi drivers and the over-50 employee market.
AIIA’s CEO Sheryle Moon believes that with an aging population out our fingertips, it doesn’t make sense to put a ‘use-by-date’ on employees. “Fifty-year olds are still perceived as being past their use-by-date in the workforce,” she says.
“At the same time, the latest census data reveals that 11 percent of Australia’s population is between 55 and 64. It is these people that ICT industry needs to do more to attract, retain and retrain.”
Discrimination of age appears to run rife through the IT sector, with a 2006 Australian Computer Society Employment Survey revealing on in five respondents feel they have been discriminated against on the basis of their age. “Alarmingly, 34.1 per cent of 46-50 year olds had experienced some discrimination because of their age,” says Moon. “This figure rises to 76.9 per cent of 61-65 year olds.”
According to Moon, maintaining an older workforce can be achieved through consistent training programme, but this should not just be the responsibility of employers. “Employees need to recognise that they work in a fast-paced industry where training is paramount,” she says. “Continuing employment or re-entering the workforce may require a commitment to retrain and some attitudinal shifts too.”
Moon says Australia’s economic growth alongside the IT sector’s prosperity will depend on mature-age workers remaining in the workforce. “So it’s time to discard negative perception of baby boomers and support them in their working lives as much as Gen-X and Yers,” she says.”