Employers will need to be more innovative in their talent management when legislation removing the UK’s statutory retirement age comes into effect, according to a director of a US over 50s campaigning group.

The UK’s default retirement age of 65 is due to be phased out by 30 September.

Deborah Russell, director of workforce issues at AARP (American Association of Retired Persons), told Recruiter: “Talent management typically has been based on a mandatory retirement age.” But the US experience suggested that employers would need to manage their employees in a different way, she argued.

Fears have been raised that ending of the UK’s retirement age would mean young people missing out in the job market.

Speaking at an event in London organised by TAEN (The Age and Employment Network), Russell acknowledged this as “an ongoing concern”. However, she argued that this could be mitigated if employers took an innovative approach. For example, many older workers were happy to make lateral career moves, freeing up job opportunities for others at lower levels in their organisations, she said. Older and younger workers could also be brought together in inter-generational teams, she added.

Similarly, fears among employers that older workers could not perform physical aspects of certain jobs could be alleviated. For example, the use of hydraulic lifts and teams of orderlies in hospitals to lift patients would help in this.