Firms 'should think about employee engagement' with ageing workforceWith British employees getting older on average, company bosses must find a way manage staff to get the most productivity out of them later in their careers, an expert has said.

Rachel Krys, campaign director at the Employers Forum on Age, said that there are benefits for employers who engage workers, but they must consider ways to keep them as active and "up-skilled" as possible in the long-term and suggested that attitudes about older colleagues will alter.

She added: "As the workforce ages, what we will think of as old will change just as it does in society."

Ms Krys argued that, with good management of resources, employment can help workers of a mature age to achieve maximum productivity.

Meanwhile, according to Bupa the cost of ill health to British businesses is set to rise beyond the current figure of £100 billion, with more people likely to be obese and working later on in life.

By Cameron Thomson