Forecasting the Impacts of an Aging Workforce Using System Dynamics

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The objective of this overall SBIR effort is to develop a workforce planning tool that can be used by any organization, both small and large and both government and commercial, to understand how work flows through the o rganization and what adjustments must be made in different groups within the organization to balance trade-offs among maximizing the use of human resources, minimizing costs, meeting customer demand, and improving throughput. The emphasis of the Phase I ef fort is on succession planning and the impacts of the retirement of an aging workforce (e.g., baby boomers). Phase II will expand the Phase I model to include all aspects of workforce planning (e.g., hiring/removing people that are not of retirement age, t raining and productivity improvements). This proposal directly applies to the need of the National Institute of Aging for tools to help forecast the implications of an aging workforce. Based on prior discussions and work with the City of Arlington and the North Texas Municipal Alliance (NTMA), there are currently no tools on the market that fully address all the elements of the aging workforce dilemma. To date, only portions of the entire workforce planning domain have been modeled and analyzed, resulting i n a piecemeal approach to solving large, systemic problems, especially those related to an aging workforce. By showing the full consequences of decisions, actions, and policies within organizations for both the short-term and long-term, the system dynamics simulation model developed on this SBIR effort will enable organizations to implement the best workforce policies for the long run. For the public, this integrated approach will result in better performance results for organizations, better care of employ ees and retirees, and better cost awareness of critical organizational decisions. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: For the public, this integrated approach will result in better performance results for organizations, better care of employees and retirees, and bett er cost awareness of critical organizational decisions.