The services industries are always challenging. Any
situation where point of delivery is coincidental with point of consumption, requires not only a first class product but also delivery mechanisms which allow for adaptability and improvisation in the face of the unexpected. An integral part of that mechanism is the workforce, and from this perspective the UK, Australia, and many other countries
face some likely turbulent periods over the next five years.
For example, data from the UK’s Office of National Statistics (ONS) show for the first time there are more than 10 million people aged over 50 in employment. This means that over 50s now make up nearly one third of the entire UK workforce, up from around one in five (21%) in the early 1990s. Looking ahead, by 2034, the estimate is that more than 25% of the population will be over 65 years old.
Notwithstanding the advances in artificial intelligence (AI)
and predictions from some quarters that ‘we’ll all be replaced by robots’, these statistics, coupled with the World Bank’s 2017 estimate of a likely annual population growth rate in the UK of 0.6% clearly suggest that the makeup of the workforce will have to change