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Sydney, 13 July 2023 – More than half of Australian employers (58%) have hired someone who retired but since returned to the workforce in the past year, new independent research by specialised recruiter Robert Half finds.

Australia’s skills shortage remains a challenge for employers looking for specialised talent, with business leaders now more willing to explore different avenues of finding professionals, including reintroducing retirees back into the workforce.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics1 shows 40,600 more workers aged 65 and over were employed in February than in the same month the previous year. Retirees are largely seeking to return to work to increase their income and keep up with the rising cost of living2.

Hiring retirees has been a smart strategy for employers, as about half who have (47%) would do it again. More than a third (37%) have not yet brought on a retiree but would consider it in the future. Only 5% of companies stated they have not hired — nor plan to hire — a retiree.

Harnessing the value of the experienced workforce

Employers are most commonly hiring retirees who are re-entering the workforce because they:

• Have specialised expertise (60%)
• Can contribute quickly (57%)
• Have strong business acumen and knowledge of key business issues (51%)
• Can mentor less experienced colleagues (49%)

“Considering candidates who are retirees is a great way to uncover talent for higher-level or specialised roles to help combat Australia’s talent deficit.” says Andrew Brushfield, Director at Robert Half.

“Experienced workers bring a multitude of benefits to a business. They can share the knowledge and skills they’ve acquired throughout their career with current staff, they have a network of people across many areas, and they are often highly skilled and knowledgeable, which means they are able to offer a broad range of help to any business.

“A great candidate - regardless of their work history - should offer a mix of ‘science and art’ to their role. They should have the technical expertise to perform core job functions efficiently and effectively, and the ability to situate their skills within the wider organisational context, using power skills such as problem solving or stakeholder management.

“Alongside their tried-and-true technical capabilities, I often think a retired professional's greatest value is their business acumen. They are able to draw on years of experience across shifting industry trends and economic climates to approach a problem with an educated response,” concluded Brushfield.

Here are four key benefits retired employees could bring to a business:

1. Commercial acumen

Senior employees bring professional skills honed over a variety of industries, cultures, financial conditions and teams. A retired employee has navigated economic slowdowns and periods of great growth, staff conflicts and great collaboration, and everything that comes in between. This allows them to assess and respond to problems with an analytical, measured insight rather than leading with an emotional or instinctive perspective.

2. Technical expertise

Accumulated over a number of years, senior workers bring deep expertise in their craft. As well as being able to execute their tasks to a high level based on familiarity with the subject matter, retired employees can apply an understanding of what has worked – or failed – in the past to optimise processes and procedures. Whether returning to a familiar role or taking on a new remit, experienced employees are skilled at translating broad scopes of work into actionable priorities.

3. Adaptability

While some employers may fear that retired employees will be less responsive to digital transformation efforts than their ‘digital native’ counterparts, the reality is that older workers have embraced more technological and procedural advances than any other demographic in the workforce today. They are adept at layering new technical advances into their work, using this to complement the core business fundamentals that can only be developed over time.

4. Diverse perspectives

By being a dominant consumer group, the perspective of retired employees is a valuable asset when it comes to strategy, planning, and problem-solving processes. More broadly, and importantly, ensuring adequate representation and diversity within a team is an important part of doing good business and making sound commercial decisions.

Visit the Robert Half blog to learn more about the benefits of hiring retired employees.

1. ABS, Labour Force

2. 2022 National Seniors Social Survey

Robert Half - retirees - July.pdf

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Notes to editors

About the research

The study is developed by Robert Half and was conducted online in November 2022 by an independent research company, surveying 300 hiring managers, including 100 CFOs and 100 CIOs, from companies across Australia. This survey is part of the international workplace survey, a questionnaire about job trends, talent management and trends in the workplace.