What you need to know about Australia's workforce

There is a growing trend towards a more remote and flexible workforce. Why?

General population trend and subsequent skills shortage

By 2050, 26% of the population is projected to be aged 65 years and over.

What is driving workforce ageing?
1. longevity - we are living longer, 20 years longer than 8 decades ago. males into late 70's, females into mid 80's on average;
2. fertility - despite recent increase in birthrate, it is still almost half of what it was in the 1960's when the average was 3.6 per family;
3. retirements - over 4m baby boomers (born 1946-64) are entering the retirement zone and if organisations do nothing to stop them, they will move out of the workforce, often prematurely.

Caring duties

41% of all employed people provide care (2009 ABS survey results). 75% of these people provide care is for children aged under 15 years. The next most commonly cared for age group was 75 years and over.

Transport and traffic problems

Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane are facing huge traffic problems. Many employers are now offering core work hours from 10am-4pm. Outside of these hours, employees are allowed to work from home. This offers employees the option to log in from home earlier in the morning and leave later to avoid traffic delays.

Proven success of businesses that have a remote and flexible workforce

It is becoming a common workplace offering. Back in 2007, 31% of employed people worked some hours from home. Most of these people worked from home for 15 hours or less per week. IBM has 140,000 staff worldwide working from home.