The world will never experience as many millions of old people as it will in the next few decades. In the next 30 years, America, Europe, Japan, and China will be full of pensioners. America alone is expecting its retired population to increase from 35 million people to over 70 million as the Baby Boom population retires between 2008 and 2015.

The potential stress on the economy and social fabric of a nation resulting from millions of senior citizens would not have such a negative impact if there were an equal number of young people to support that generation, pay for government social services, and take their place in the workforce. However, because of the Baby Boom and low fertility rates there will not be a similarly sized generation of young people to support this retirement. However this represents an normous market for new products as well as an overwhelming demand for government services.

These retired Boomers will be nearly as healthy, active, and connected as their younger counterparts. They will travel and play sports. They will keep working if they so desire. They will be richer than any group of elderly before them, spend their money on entertainment and will make increasing demands on a high cost health care system.

The HR Implications: The Skilled-Labour Gap

Many companies and governments are facing the possibility that about half of their workforce is about to retire. 50% of the U.S. civil service is eligible to retire at any time. Companies such as Lockheed Martin have commented that they are getting ready to lose large numbers of their engineers to retirement.

The upside is that there will be millions of job openings created but companies will not be looking for just another warm body. Companies will be losing salespeople, engineers, product designers, and other skilled employees who grew with their industries.When they leave companies will want to replace them with another skilled worker already familiar with the industry and do not want to do the training. We have seen this over the last 15 years.The faster industries change, the less willing companies have been to train. They want pharmaceutical salespeople and IT people who write bank-networking software. This is made more acute by the low numbers of students graduating in maths, engineering and science subjects.

Employers may not be able to be so choosy when half the skilled workforce retires. They will have to train and develop people again and entice them to stay like they did 25 years ago. Training programmes need to start now. If companies don't want to replace their retired workforce with capable but untrained young people, there are many firms in India and China with qualified graduates and skilled workers waiting to pick up the slack in case Western companies decide to outsource or relocate their operations overseas.

Filling the Gap: The Retired Part-Timer

Because fewer jobs today require backbreaking physical labour or inhaling coal dust all day, there is rarely a physical reason most people must retire at age 65. Many lucrative jobs will be well within the physical abilities of retirees. Most professors, lawyers, office workers, and even trades people have the physical capacity to remain in the workplace if they choose to do so. This could help to fill the expertise gap that might otherwise constrain businesses around the world.

Retirees will actively seek part-time work, new careers,and different ways to contribute to society because our social programmes were not designed for the life expectancies of people today.

New Products and Services for Retirees

Tomorrow's retirees are looking at a healthier and more active life. As people age, they will eventually face a variety of physical and medical problems.Knees get creaky. Eyesight goes bad. That does not mean that older people are going to accept boredom and poor health if they can help it.

Companies will design a wide range of everyday products for those with arthritic hands and blurred eyesight. OXO has designed kitchen tools with fat handles for the elderly. Imagine that kind of design applied to a myriad of other products. Redesigning the world so it is more readily accessible to older people will not only result in happier, more independent older people; it will save millions of the cost of assisted living.

Homes will need to be adapted to the needs of older people who may not have children living nearby to help with the tasks of day-to-day living. Designers will need to make cookers, microwaves, can openers, abd bathrooms useful to the older person. "Smart homes,' that combine information technology and safer designs, can track people's movements, help prevent injury, and warn caregivers if an accident has occurred could fill many of these needs.

Advances in sensor technology and IT will make a smart house of the future more possible. The home network of the not-too-distant future could call for an ambulance in the event of a fall or serious health problem.

Transportation

Getting around independently enhances people's quality of life as they age. According to the Japan Aging Resource Center the society of the future must allow older people to get around on their own. However, as people age their reflexes slow and their eyesight may be poor and therefore many stop driving, However others remain on the roads creating the possibility of accidents. But people will demand independence later in life. There will be a need for improved automotive technology designed with the elderly in mind, as well as alternative forms of transportation.

There will be a market for vehicles that help aging people continue to drive-sensors to warn of danger ahead and provide a heads-up display that would magnify the road and enhance vision and mitigate hearing loss. GM's mobility team just invented the "Sit-N-Lift" which helps elderly and disabled people get in and out of automobiles easily and comfortably'For easier transportation within cities, elderly people may need something besides the potentially dangerous automobile. Toyota has just released a robotic city walker that will transport people with low mobility comfortably and quickly.

Entertainment

The Boomers are members of today's fast-paced environment. They are accustomed to fast-paced information and active lifestyles and will want access to music, theatre, movies and Boomer home entertainment. There will be a tremendous increase in the need for services that keep them entertained and engaged. Health clubs that promise physical activity and entertainment will become popular.

Housing

The places today's retirees congregate are becoming full and expensive. This provides an opportunity for other communities that can accommodate retirees-places able to provide or build their infrastructure to balance peace and quiet with good roads to get people to and from small cities, among others.

The retirement of the Boomers could be the force that makes many cities function more as communities. Boomers will want a pedestrian-centered community atmosphere for safety and ease of access. Cities will need to redesign their centers with older residents in mind. Cities surrounded by far-flung suburbs will not be practical. They are house owners and voters so they will be voting for this.

Action Planning

You will not go wrong investing in keeping older people mobile, nourished, entertained, and connected to society. Not only might it be a good business to be in,it will help society in ways big and small. Think about new services for this new generation of active retirees but also on how to optimize what you already do for this newly important demographic group.

The need for assisted-living facilities will increases as longevity and the number of aged people will necessarily increase. Diseases of the body and mind, such as Alzheimer's which costs significantly more to treat than any other disease and is expected to affect twice as many people in the next 20 years, will require more care than assisted living can provide.

Elder Care will become more important than child care. Prepare for the future when your employees will require flexible schedules to help care for older family members who can no longer be left alone during the day. You may even need to give them an "elder care" center on site so they can meet family needs and work obligations are the same time. Kids are in school once they reach age 5. Infirm elderly folks can need help for decades!

You need to plan to keep valuable knowledge in your business. Many businesses are knowledge driven, dependent on R&D, manufacturing know-how, and specialised knowledge. With so many experienced workers getting ready to retire, how will you make sure that the business can continue without that hard-earned knowledge? Will you write it down? Hire retirees to consult part-time? Expect new workers to have several degrees and already understand the industry? This is going to be a bigger challenge than most organisations realise. Get ahead of the curve or you risk losing valuable knowledge.

Prepare for the scarce commodity of talented young workers. The sheer noise generated by the Boomer generation has often obscured the obvious fact that Generation X isn't as big. Just as industries become far more specialised to remain competitive, the overall pool of applicants is shrinking. Get ready to cultivate young talent now or face the rush to hire good candidates from Generations X and Y when the crunch is on.