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Writer's pictureAnita Polite-Wilson, Ph.D

Declaring Our Workplace Independence (3 of 5) | Prepare for Change and Embrace It

Updated: Sep 10, 2023

According to recent workplace statistics by the Center for American Progress, by 2030, which is 6 short years from now, 54% of new workers will be people of color.


A January 2020 article in Fast Company explains it this way: “Currently about 17% of the population is 65 and older,” says Patricia Buckley, director of economic policy and analysis at Deloitte. “By 2040, it’ll be [about] 22%. Then there’s the projected upswing in the Asian, Hispanic, and mixed-race communities.”


According to my independent research, this projected change in workplace demographics will be happening 16 years from now.


Buckley goes on to say that, “This is now a national conversation. It’s a conversation boards are having with their leadership team.” And as a board director, I can tell you that she’s right—conversations about changing workforce demographics are happening as a critical component of strategic planning efforts. And here’s another data point to consider:


In the March 2023 edition of Forbes Magazine, an article entitled “How Population Trends are Impacting the Future of Work,” author Sheila Callahan reports that, “People who live longer, healthier lives may need or want to work longer to support their continued longevity. As a result, the workplace is experiencing increasing pressure to change. Instead of a retire-by-60 ideology, there is the natural desire and necessity of a 60- to 80-year career.”


She further states that, “companies can no longer deny that age, like OTHER protected dimensions of DIVERSITY, deserves leadership attention and action. If doing the right thing is not reason enough, the changing demographics leave no other choice.”


To sum it all up, in 2002, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted that, “Among the factors affecting the composition and growth of the labor force over the next 50 years are the aging of the baby-boom generation, the stabilization of women’s labor force participation rates, and increasing racial and ethnic diversity in the workforce.” In 2050, which is 27 years from now, the workforce will have changed.


Some people are going to see changes in the workforce, as changes that are being DONE to them instead of reframing changes in the workforce as an opportunity to show up in different ways and cultivate a culture of inclusion and belonging in the workforce of tomorrow, by preparing for it today. Which category do you fall into?


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