Impact of Ageing Workforce on Workplace Performance: Nigesta Ltd

This report assesses the impact of an ageing workforce on the workplace performance of Nigesta Limited, a UK construction company. The study employs an interpretivism approach, descriptive research design, and inductive philosophy, using both primary and secondary data sources. A qualitative method is used to analyze data collected through interviews with 10 managers, using a simple random sampling technique and a well-designed questionnaire. The research concludes that the UK construction industry, including Nigesta Limited, faces challenges due to a significant portion of employees nearing retirement, affecting productivity. The report identifies potential solutions, such as hiring younger workers to handle tasks requiring heavy manual labor. The study also includes a literature review, research methodology section, preliminary results, findings, discussion, recommendations, limitations, and a summary, providing a comprehensive analysis of the issue and potential strategies for improvement. The report aims to contribute to the understanding of the impact of an ageing workforce, offering insights for Nigesta Limited and the broader UK construction sector.

RESEARCH PROJECT

ABSTRACT
There are some specific sectors like banking and construction where maximum people
employed are elders. In the UK construction sector, maximum number of employees working in
the firms are more than 60 years than any other age group. However, on the other hand, the fact
cannot be ignored that ageing workforce is valuable for organisation as they have high
experience along with plenty of knowledge, skills and abilities in comparison to fresher. But,
there are many limitations as well that business has to face due to high rate of ageing workforce
working in the firm as it directly put a huge impact on their performance. It can be said that, with
increasing age, performance or work of employees in the organisation gets affected in both;
positive and negative manner.
Appropriate research methodology has been used by the scholar so as to attain the
objectives of study. In the present study, to assess the impact of ageing workforce on workplace
performance of Nigesta Limited, UK Construction Company, researcher has used interpretevism
approach, descriptive research design and inductive philosophy. Along with that, for collecting
information, both primary and secondary sources have been used along with qualitative method
for analysing data. Apart from that, with the use of simple random sampling technique, sample
size of 10 managers has been used that have been interviewed by the researcher with the use of
well-designed questionnaire. On the basis of responses gained, final conclusion is drawn.
It has been concluded by the study that construction industry of UK is facing the issue of
ageing population, that is, maximum employees are in between the age 50-60 years that are
going to be retired soon. Due to this reason; productivity of companies in this sector is getting
affected as they are not able to contribute efficient efforts in the accomplishment of
organisational goals. But researcher has given some ways by which the issue can be resolved in
Nigesta Limited and in the entire UK construction industry. If youngsters will be hired in the
firm, they will be easily able to perform tasks that would require heavy manual handling that will
resolve the issue of hampered work by ageing workforce.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Overview......................................................................................................................................1
Background..................................................................................................................................1
Aim and Objectives.....................................................................................................................2
Research Questions......................................................................................................................2
SECTION 1.....................................................................................................................................2
Literature Review........................................................................................................................2
SECTION 2.....................................................................................................................................5
Research methodology.................................................................................................................5
SECTION 3...................................................................................................................................11
Preliminary results and interpretation........................................................................................11
SECTION 4...................................................................................................................................17
Findings and discussion.............................................................................................................17
SECTION 5...................................................................................................................................18
Recommendations......................................................................................................................18
Limitations and areas for future research..................................................................................18
SECTION 6...................................................................................................................................18
Summary and conclusion...........................................................................................................18
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................20

TOPIC - Assessing the impact of ageing workforce on workplace performance – A case study
on Nigesta Limited, UK Construction Company.
INTRODUCTION
Overview
In the present scenario, there has been a great debate in recent years about the impact of
ageing workforce on their performance at workplace. There are some specific sectors like
banking and construction where maximum people employed are elders. Especially in public
sector, firms are facing the issue of ageing workforce. Now-a-days, it has become the issue due
to which nation’s productivity and economic performance is getting affected (Adane and et.al.,
2013). However, on the other hand, the fact cannot be ignored that ageing workforce is valuable
for organisation as they have high experience along with plenty of knowledge, skills and abilities
in comparison to fresher. But, there are many limitations as well that business has to face due to
high rate of ageing workforce working in the firm as it directly put a huge impact on their
performance. It can be said that, with increasing age, performance or work of employees in the
organisation gets affected in both; positive and negative manner (Chan and et.al., 2012). In the
present report, there will be research conducted on assessing the impact of ageing workforce on
workplace performance for which the firm Nigesta Limited is selected that is the UK
construction company.
Purpose of the study and areas for future research
Main purpose behind conducting the present study is that in construction industry of UK,
major ratio of people working in the firm is of higher age, that is, in between 40 to 60 years.
Thus, due to ageing workforce, firms in this sector are facing many issues like lack of innovation
and creativity as fresh talent is not there in the firms as well as reduced productivity as ageing
workforce cannot make high contribution in the attainment of goals. Therefore, in order to
suggest different ways to one of the UK construction companies, that is, Nigesta Limited, by
which it can resolve the issue of ageing workforce can be resolved, present study is being carried
out by the researcher.
Here, at first the researcher will formulate research aim and objectives and accordingly
the literature review will be done. After that, research methodology will be suggested on the
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basis of which data analysis will be done. By this way, findings will be gained and based on
same, conclusion will be drawn by the researcher.
Apart from that, this research will prove to be helpful for other researchers or Ph.D.
scholars as well who want to conduct study on the same topic. Furthermore, firms in the other
sectors like banking industry that are facing the same issue would also gain help by this study. In
addition to this, professors and teachers can also make their students understand the same topic
in more detailed manner by the help of this study.
Background
In today’s era, needs and demands of population are getting changed day by day.
Therefore, like all other sector, construction industry is also required to take into account the
changing needs of target market. In the UK construction sector, maximum number of employees
working in the firms are more than 40 years than any other age group. The ratio of elder
employees is increasing year by year because of which firms in this industry are now needed to
take several measures. Due to increased number of ageing workforce, it is has become necessity
for the firms to provide a safe environment as they are not physically strong who can deal with
any kind of uncertain situation if occurs. It increases the cost of business due to which profit of
organisations gets reduced (Zheng and et.al., 2014). On the other hand, when rate of ageing
population increases in the firm, it leads to issue of increased number of retirements at a time that
causes problem for HR department of organisation. It is because; in such case, on urgent basis,
HR department needs to do recruitment so as to meet the requirement of staff in organisation.
Nigesta Limited is a private limited company based in United Kingdom and deals in
specialised construction activities. Being in the UK construction industry, company is facing the
issue of ageing workforce and thus, its performance is getting affected in terms of profits and
productivity. Because of ageing workforce, there are many business activities that are not
conducted on time and in the manner which is desired by the management to attain its set targets.
Therefore, it is important for the firm, Nigesta Limited to recruit fresh talent in the organisation
so that all activities which ageing workforce is not able to perform can be done by the newly
hired employees. This issue is creating many other impacts also due to which company is needed
to take corrective measures. With taking proper initiatives and appropriate decisions, prevailing
issue in the organisation can be solved that will be discussed by the researcher in this report
(Chileshe and Haupt, 2010). Therefore, to resolve the stated issue, present research will be
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conducted in which impact of ageing workforce on workplace performance in Nigesta Limited
will be assessed.
Aim and Objectives
Aim – To assess the impact of ageing workforce on workplace performance – A case study on
Nigesta Limited, UK Construction Company
Objectives:
 To identify the impact of ageing workforce on workplace performance in UK
construction industry.
 To evaluate the relation between ageing workforce and their performance in Nigesta
Limited.
 To recommend the ways by which ageing workforce can be motivated in Nigesta
Limited.
Research Questions
1. What is the impact of ageing workforce on workplace performance in UK construction
industry?
2. Is there any relationship in between ageing workforce and their performance in Nigesta
Limited?
3. How the ageing workforce can be motivated in Nigesta Limited so that their performance
would get negatively affected?
SECTION 1
Literature Review
It is the most important part of a research by which it is shown that researcher has a good
grasp on the information about topic on which investigation is to be made. For literature review,
data is collected from different secondary sources like books, journals, published material, online
articles, etc. It can be said that researcher studies the earlier researched work and then re-write it
in his own language. After gathering information, scholar makes critical assessment of the same
so that final conclusion can be made. In this, views and opinions of different authors can be
reviewed and gaps in research are highlighted so that by concluding the summary of collected
data, final results can be gained. In the present research, views of different authors on assessing
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the impact of ageing workforce on workplace performance in Nigesta Limited will be critically
evaluated.
According to Hairault, Sopraseuth and Langot, (2010) construction is one of the major
sectors of UK which is highly contributing in the success of whole economy. This sector is
generation approximately £90 billion annually, that is, 6.7% of the GDP (gross domestic
product). It is also playing a significant role in providing employment opportunities to the people
of nation and increasing the standard of living of individuals. However, this industry is facing the
issue of ageing population, that is, maximum employees are elder that are going to be retired
soon. This is the reason; firm’s productivity is getting affected as they are not able to put very
high and efficient efforts in the attainment of organisational goals (Hairault, Sopraseuth and
Langot, 2010).
On the other hand, Järvholm and et.al., (2014) say that diversity issue is also present there
as due to excess number of older people, youngsters are not feeling comfortable and thus, they
are leaving the firm. It has increased the attrition rate of organisations. However, companies
cannot terminate older people before their retirement as they are highly knowledgeable and
experienced who are required to train the fresher. Because of the issue of ageing workforce in
construction industry, it is important for the firms that diversity among employees is well
managed that will ultimately result in smooth functioning of the business activities and thus,
targets will be achieved on time and in an effectual manner (Järvholm and et.al., 2014).
However, in the words of Chileshe and Haupt, (2010), with proper diversity management,
companies will enjoy the benefit of large talent pool if they will follow the policy that values
diversity. Apart from that, most of the older employees are about to get retired as around 15% of
the workforce in this sector is in their 60s. On the contrary, firms are already going through
shortage of labours as due to recession in the year 2008, approximately 140,000 jobs have been
shed over by the sector. All these issues are affecting the workplace performance to a high extent
(Chileshe and Haupt, 2010). Thus, it can be said that ageing population put a huge impact on the
performance of Nigesta Limited.
As per the views of Francine and et.al., (2012) there is the direct relation in between
ageing workforce and their performance at the workplace. However, the impacts of same are
both; positive and negative. Due to increased ageing population in industry, its image has been
affected and has a detrimental impact on its construction business. This is the reason; firms are
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now unable to recruit and retain people with having desired skills, abilities and knowledge. It is a
perception of maximum families that their children should go in field like medical, law or
finance to grow their career. Because of this reason; fresher are not coming in this sector which
is leading to increased ageing population (Francine and et.al., 2012).
In can be critically assessed in the words of Dong, Men and Ringen, (2010) that on one
hand, government has imposed laws and legislations according to which discrimination on the
grounds of age cannot be made in between workers. Thus, for the same, it is important that due
consideration will be given on policies framed with keeping in mind the diversity among
employees. When ageing workforce and fresh talent; both are present in the firm, it leads to
combination of varied viewpoints that will help in working on the complex and expansive
projects.
However, on the other side, ageing workforce is unable to attain the set targets of
organisations in UK construction industry (Dong, Men and Ringen, 2010). Also, it can be
critically evaluated that according to Parry, (2011), as construction industry is a heavy manual
sector where injuries and health issues are common, it proves to be tough for elder people to
perform these kind of tasks in an effectual manner. Due to natural decline in the age of
employees like hearing and visual ability, work of firms in this sector is getting hampered. Along
with that, with increased age, muscle strength and stamina gets reduced which is also one of the
reasons due to which ageing workforce cannot perform their work effectually (Parry, 2011).
Thus, it is clear that factor of ageing workforce has a direct impact on their performance in
Nigesta Limited.
In the words of Van Ours and Stoeldraijer, (2011) there are many ways by which issue of
UK construction industry, that is, hampered productivity and profits or firm due ageing
workforce, can be resolved. It has been critically assessed that if ageing workforce will be made
highly motivated through using methods like effective training and development sessions, their
knowledge can be made up-to-date as well as skills and abilities of them can also be enhanced.
This will help the organisation in increasing productivity and ultimately the profits of business.
Apart from that, by focusing on recruitment strategies, this issue can also be solved. If
youngsters will be hired in the firm, it will prove to be beneficial as tasks that require heavy
manual handling can be effectually performed by them (Van Ours and Stoeldraijer, 2011). Thus,
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it can be said that with recruiting more number of young employees, productivity of Nigesta
Limited will get increased and thus, the profits would also get raised.
However, Parry, (2011) says that retaining ageing workforce is also important as they are
the people who have been working in this industry since a long time and seen many ups and
downs in the business. This is the reason; they have abundant knowledge about the field along
with high experience. So, these people will be required by the firms to train the fresher as this
sector requires practical training to make individuals understand the work. Elder employees of
the organisation who are working from many past years are the major assets who can make new
hired personnel to understand the job and perform in the desired manner (Parry, 2011).
Therefore, Järvholm and et.al., (2014) said that by recruiting fresher and retaining the
ageing workforce, issue of reduced productivity and profits can be resolved in Nigesta Limited to
a high extent. However, for recruiting fresher, companies are needed to have proper talent and
knowledge management. With the help of this, at the time of recruiting employees, panel will
emphasise on selecting right person for the right job that will make the hiring process better and
effective. It ultimately result in retaining the workers in the long run and enjoying advantages of
their skills, knowledge and abilities. When there is effectual talent and knowledge management,
organisations become able to meet the increased competitiveness in the market and thus, gain a
competitive edge over others (Järvholm and et.al., 2014).
It can be critically analysed in the words of Francine and et.al., (2012) there are some
more ways by which the issue of increased ageing population in UK construction industry can be
resolved. Through employee engagement, participation from the side of workforce can be
increased that will result in increasing their morale and thus, they would feel themselves to be
valued and highly recognised. It helps in enhancing their confidence level through increased
motivation. Through the same, organisation will gain the benefit of increased efficiency level of
workforce which leads to high productivity and profits of company. Through organising different
programs and providing opportunity to elder employees to participate in the same, new skills and
competencies among them can be increased (Francine and et.al., 2012).
On the other hand, Hairault, Sopraseuth and Langot, (2010) said that one more effective
way by which the issue of increased ageing population in UK construction industry can be
resolved is keeping the skills and abilities of employees high through following proper talent and
knowledge management. With the use of number of technologies and processes, it can be
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assessed that right information will be available with the employees whenever needed. In this
way, skills of older of employees can be increased with which they become capable enough to
perform their work in more effectual manner (Hairault, Sopraseuth and Langot, 2010).
Apart from that, Dalen, Henkens and Joop Schippers, (2010) says that by considering
their age, through providing flexible working options, they can be made comfortable and willing
to perform their tasks efficiently. In this, extra leaves can be provided to them, working hours
can be reduced, breaks can be increased, etc. Also, if they will be paid with attractive salaries, it
will also help in retaining them in the long run and getting advantage of their skills, knowledge
and abilities. Furthermore, if firms are unable to hire sufficient number of employees with
desired skills then they can recruit people from other nations as well. This migration will play a
vital role in maintaining adequate availability of staff in construction firms (Dalen, Henkens and
Joop Schippers, 2010). Thus, through adopting these ways, Nigesta Limited can resolve its issue
of ageing workforce and thus, its performance can be maintained in an effective manner.
Summary of key issues
Key issues that have been found in literature review on the basis of topic of research, that
is, impact of ageing workforce on workplace planning of Nigesta Limited, UK are reduced
productivity, decreased profits and revenues, hampered goodwill of the firm, need of fresh talent
to gain innovation and creativity as well as natural decline in the ability of employees like
hearing and visual capability. In order to resolve the same, various suggestions have been given
by which these issues can be effectually resolved like providing effective training and
development sessions, focusing on recruitment strategies as well as if youngsters will be hired in
the firm, it will prove to be beneficial as tasks that require heavy manual handling can be
effectually performed by them. Apart from that, through employee engagement, using number of
technologies and processes and by providing flexible working options, they can be made
comfortable and willing to perform their tasks efficiently.
SECTION 2
Research methodology
It is the process in which data is collected, analysed and interpreted in such a manner that
the final conclusion can be made with the use of appropriate tools and techniques. For the
purpose of making business decisions and resolve the issue for which research is being
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conducted, researcher uses many methods depending on the topic and nature of study. It includes
publication research, surveys and interviews along with many other methods that may include
present as well as past information both (Hassan, 2010). Research methodology refers to the
steps of scientific method by which final conclusion is made in a generalized manner to the real
world. In the present study, researcher will use different tools and techniques to assess the impact
of ageing workforce on their performance in Nigesta Limited which are stated as below:
Research design
It serves as a framework under which the whole study is conducted. It is a kind of
blueprint which shows all activities that are going to be carried out by researcher to reach at the
final conclusion. There are three kinds of research designs which are exploratory, casual and
descriptive. In the present study, for assessing the impact of ageing workforce on their
performance at Nigesta Limited, descriptive research design will be used by the researcher. With
the help of this, characteristics of a population are described along with in-depth explanation and
details of the same (Johnson and Christensen, 2010).
Research approach
It refers to a kind of approach or theory by which pattern of meaning of topic is looked so
that on the basis of same, data can be collected. It is an approach to gather information and
making its analysis in a methodical way along with high flexibility. There are two research
approaches which are used by the researcher, that is, inductive and deductive (Flick, 2011). In
the present report, deductive research approach will be used in which initially, general data about
impact of ageing workforce on workplace performance at Nigesta Limited will be collected and
then it will move to specific conclusion with appropriate results and findings.
Research philosophy
It is a belief about the manner in which information is to be collected and analysed
depending on the nature of business. Three types of research philosophies are there which are
positivism, realism and interpretivism. For the present study, interpretivism research philosophy
will be used in which elements of the study will be interpreted that will integrate human interest
into the topic. As the research demands theoretical information, this research philosophy would
provide the best suitable results.
Data collection
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For assessing the impact of ageing workforce on workplace performance with respect to
Nigesta Limited, both; primary and secondary sources of data collection will be used by the
scholar. Under primary sources, information will be gathered from managers of Nigesta Limited
by the method of interview for which tool of questionnaire will be used with having both open
and close ended questions (Fiegen, 2010). On the basis of findings of primary research, data
analysis will be done. However, for conducting literature review, secondary sources have been
used in which data is collected from different books, journals and online articles of various
authors.
Sampling
Simple random sampling will be used to select the managers of Nigesta Limited for
making survey in which every manager will be having equal probability to get selected in the
sample. Sample size will be 10 managers and research universe will be all employers of the
organisation (Lemeshow and Levy, 2011).
QUESTIONNAIRE
1. Of what age, maximum people are working in your organisation?
45-50 years □
50-55 years □
55-60 years □
60-65 years □
2. Approximately what percentage of workforce in Nigesta Limited is having age more than 50
years?
20-35% □
More than 35% □
40-50% □
More than 50% □
3. In your opinion, does ageing workforce put a positive or negative impact on organisation?
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