Myopia is the condition of short sightedness. It presents with blurry distance vision, but generally gives good near vision.

When it comes to the ageing of the workforce many organisations have this condition. They are focused on what is close at hand and not overly concerned or even interested in the future shape of their workforce.

I recently revisited the human resource data for the group of 30 departments and 5 crown entities that comprise the New Zealand core public service. Each year Government Departments file a return with the State Services Commission and they produce a report, The Human Resources Capability Report. Sitting behind this report is a spreadsheet that allows people like me to dig a bit deeper.

So what did I find?

1. Staffing levels in the NZ Public Service fell over the year to 30 June 2012. The number of Full‐Time Equivalent (FTE) employees decreased for the third year in a row by 250 to 43,345 (-0-6%).
2. Core unplanned turnover (resignations, retirements, and dismissals) increased to 11.4% in 2012. Up from 9.2% in June 2010.
3. The amount of sick leave and domestic leave taken by public servants rose to an average of 7.6 days per employee. Up from 7.4 days in 2011.
4. The report also noted that the Public Service average age is increasing by 6 months every year. Now at 44.6 years. Well I am never sure what the average age means. It tells us more about the entry and exit patterns than about the actual employees. The SSC reports that “Despite new recruits being hired in large proportions in this range, young staff are leaving their roles at an equivalent rate, meaning there has been no significant increase in the proportion of young staff in the Public Service workforce over the last year.”
5. Now the data that isn’t reported in the 38-page report. The proportion of staff over the age of 50 has in fact increased by 19.5% over the past 5 years. The over 50’s now comprise 35% of the public service workforce. Up from 29% 5 years ago. There are now 15,600 people in the public sector over 50 years of age and close to 5,000 over 60.
6. The proportion and size of the 65+ group has also increased over the same period from 1.9% to 3.1% of the Public Sector. There are now 1400 public servants over 65 years of age.

My next task, scan the SSC website to see if they are taking the ageing of the Public Sector seriously.  I found two Performance Improvement Review reports from 2012 that noted two agencies as having an ageing workforce. There was a few reports on related matters around 2005/5. But nothing more showed up.

Well what we do know is that the public service workforce is ageing structurally and numerically. The data and experience tells us that older workers are staying on at work through choice and by necessity. We also know that they will be needed as the declining birthrate of the past few decade’s bites and it seems younger workers move on. It is my view that the biggest workforce issue of the 21st  century will be the ageing of the workforce. Organisations are going to have to adapt but where is the leadership coming from in the NZ state sector? Maybe it is a case of myopia – short sightedness.