Тема: THE HRM CHALLENGES DUE TO THE AGING POPULATION: EVIDENCE FROM CHINESE FIRMS

Population ageing is one of the major trends in global population development today. Around 16% of the world's population will be over the age of 65 by 2050 (UN, 2020), which will have a significant and lasting impact on socio-economic and firm sustainability in the coming decades. While the degree of ageing in developed countries continues to deepen, developing countries will become the main force for the growth of the elderly population in the next few decades. Existing research has pointed out that the cause of ageing is the result of the simultaneous reduction of death and fertility rate (Galor, 2012), and its direct impact on the economy includes sustainable economic development, labor productivity, labor market structure, and public policy (Feyrer, 2008). According to existing research, for firms, the impact of ageing is more complicated. On the one hand, affected by the external economic environment and changes in labor supply, ageing is not conducive to the expansion and sustainable development of firms (Aghion, Howitt, 2009). On the other hand, firms face challenges in recruiting and retaining employees (Kooij et al. 2014), more complex employee needs and preferences (Wang, Shultz, 2010), and reduced productivity due to age discrimination in the workplace (Arlene, Hirsch, 2017).
In order to reduce the negative impacts of ageing on the development and management of firms, it is crucial to use human resource management practices to address these challenges. Such as the existing research, the importance of employer branding and employer attractiveness in helping firms to win in the highly competitive human resources market (Berthon, Ewing, & Hah, 2005). The theory of old talent management demonstrates the value and potential issues of ageing employees and how to better deal with the strengths and weaknesses of ageing employees (Feldman, Kim, 2015). And age inclusion policies can help create an inclusive and supportive workplace, which is critical for both elder and younger employee groups (AARP, 2018).
Although ageing is becoming a global problem, it still has different characteristics based on different countries and cultural backgrounds (UNDESA, 2017). For developing countries, they are in the early stages of ageing. Their population ageing has not been accompanied by
social and economic growth like developed countries and may be forced to the allocation of limited resources across generations. More specifically, when ageing happened, their socioeconomic level is still far from the level of developed countries when they entered the ageing society. In other words, developing countries may face the situation of getting old before getting rich and this suggested that developing countries need to develop new policies. Or adjust structures from the firm level to better address the challenges of the ageing workforce (Lee, Mason, 2011). In addition, there is a lack of understanding and practice experience of ageing in developing countries. Due to differences in population trends and economic development processes, developing countries are in an ageing stage different from developed countries, and there is no way to directly replicate the attempts of developed countries to deal with ageing (United Nations, 2016). As the main source of ageing population growth (United Nations, 2020), if developing countries cannot effectively deal with ageing, it will have a negative impact on their economic development, labor productivity, and communication between generations (WHO, 2015). It may further intensify the contradictions between different age groups, and the loss of knowledge and skills. Furthermore, for firms in developing countries, in order to ensure long-term development and stable operation, it is necessary to have a deep understanding of the characteristics of ageing in developing countries and the challenges it brings to the firms (Kwon, 2017). At the same time, it is necessary to analyze from an empirical point of view, what kind of HRM method should be used, or how to adjust the existing HRM methods of developed countries to deal with the ageing workforce, so as to help firms deal with these challenges more efficiently.
In addition, in order to better address the challenges that ageing brings to firms, human resource management practices also need to be adjusted based on different national cultural and economic backgrounds, culture, and industries (Jackson, Schuler & Jiang, 2014).
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This study explores the management challenges that ageing may bring to Chinese firms, combines the characteristics of China's ageing and empirical evidence, and summarizes human resource management practices that can help Chinese firms deal with these challenges. It provides a preliminary understanding of the research on this topic and expands the theoretical knowledge. The study concludes that for firms in China, the challenges that ageing may bring include workplace management issues due to internal conflicts. The challenges of recruiting and retaining employees and business expansion and development resulting from changes in labor structure and supply. Increased age diversity and challenges of age discrimination due to changes in the age structure of the workforce. And the challenges of knowledge transfer caused by the lack of effective communication between employees. And at the same time, based on the China context, gives a specific analysis of the reasons. In addition, the study also analyzed the practical methods that can be used by Chinese firms to address the challenges. Includes methods for building a good employer brand, implementation details of age-inclusive policies, and practical approaches to old talent management. Also, the detail was adjusted based on Chinese contexts.
However, the study has some limitations related to the fact that although the study covered some industries but still not cross-industries research. At the same time, although the information comes from the firms’ managers and HR departments, there is no way to reach out to their elderly employees. Although the research is supplemented by literature to try to understand the real situation, it still lacks an understanding of the real thought of ageing issues from the perspective of employees. Future research can analyze whether employer branding, age-inclusive policies, and ageing talent management help firms in other industries of China address the challenges of ageing. And conduct further research from the perspective of elderly employees. In addition, this study may also provide a theoretical basis for other developing countries, who can verify whether the finding of this study is applicable to different contexts. Taken together, further research will help to enhance the theoretical and practical value of this study, and also provide deeper insights.
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