Older workers face another decade stuck with a workplace hangover where the dream of retiring early isn't an option and spending 70 weeks trying to get back into the workforce is the grim reality, reports sbs.com.au.

The Australian workforce needs to be much more accommodating for older workers and mature age people trying to find a job, according to experts.

Older workers will be stuck in the hangover stage of work for a very long period, warned University of South Australia human resource management research professor Carol Kulik: "They may already be feeling a little unmotivated about their work and now they say `I can't access my [superannuation] for another five years or maybe I'm not going to be able to retire for another 10 years’.”

She added that not enough is being done to ensure mature-age employees are motivated and engaged at work, to make staying on the job longer a good experience: "We're not really seeing businesses jump in and do these things. I think they're assuming that older workers are going to be there, doing the same thing, being managed the same way, just 10 years longer."

More than 25% of people surveyed by workforce management solutions firm Kronos believe that they will have to work longer to make ends meet, said Peter Harte, Managing Director of Kronos for Australia and New Zealand: "The luxury and dream of retiring at an early age is not an option for them.”

But most companies were not agile enough to allow mature-age people to come back into the workforce, he said.

Mr Harte said the healthcare and retail industries tended to be more understanding.

Greg Goudie, Executive Director of South Australian employment service DOME (Don't Overlook Mature Expertise); said, in the past, employers' attitude was that once a worker reached 60 was that they were either coasting or ready to retire.

A lot of employers now are keeping people on if they want to stay longer. But he said a big issue was getting people back into the workforce at a mature age, with people aged 55 and over spending an average of 70 weeks out of work.

And mature age these days can mean as young as 40. In recent years an increasing number of people in their 40s and 50s have registered with DOME.