Three-quarters of employees expect to be working beyond the age of 65 by 2017, according to Aon Consulting.
The pensions, benefits and HR consulting firm found that just over half of their respondents anticipate having to work longer to top up pension funds. Only a quarter said they would work past their retirement age because they wanted to.
Currently, only an estimated 1 million over 65 year-olds are working.
Regionally, Newcastle workers were most committed to swelling their pension investements (57 per cent) while less than half (49 per cent) of Scottish employees were least willing to carrying on working to achieve this.
Jon Beaumont, HR Consultant at Aon Consulting said: “An ageing workforce is inevitable with an estimated 3 million people likely to be working beyond their retirement age within 10 years time. This could be a huge benefit to organisations, so long as the key challenges are tackled sooner rather than later. Businesses used to think that older workers could not drive companies forward but this old fashioned attitude needs to shift.
“Age should not be seen as a barrier. There is a vast pool of mentally agile people, with great work and life experience over the age of 60 and industries will be missing a trick if they do not capitalise on their productive potential. Effective performance management will be the key discipline in making an ageing workforce into a competitive advantage.”
