An increasingly older, diverse and nontraditional work force will compel companies to change how they meet workers' needs, according to a new survey of human resource managers.

        The Society of Human Resource Management survey found little impact in work settings over the past year due to certain demographic trends, such as the growth in the number of women working and an increasingly diverse work force. However, the survey, released Tuesday, found personnel managers expect these changes to have significant impacts over the next five years.

        “Some of the old rules will no longer apply and businesses will need to adapt to succeed,” said the society's director of research, Debra Cohen.

        Of concern to those surveyed was the need for tolerance and acceptance of diversity in the workplace, getting different ethnic populations to work effectively in teams and to improve recruiting of diverse qualified workers. The survey found that large organizations were more likely than small and medium organizations to report an increase in diversity training. Large and medium businesses were also more likely to report an increased need for bilingual communications and the need for workplace interpreters than small organizations, the survey found.

        George Lumsby, vice president and diversity practice leader at Boyden, an executive search and personnel firm, said executives have to actively embrace diversity to send a message throughout the company. “The mechanism for bringing about change, it always comes from the very top,” he said.

        Businesses should also establish a diversity committee drawing from the ranks of executives, human resource staffers and various departments. The group can set goals and steer the company's efforts, Lumsby said.

        The survey found that the country's aging population will force employers to focus greater attention on health-care issues and succession planning in their companies. More than half of the respondents reported a growing need for training or retraining as well as a need for retirement planning.

        With married couples with children accounting for less than a quarter of American households and with the growth in single parents, companies are being forced to reconsider the changing face of families. More than 60 percent of respondents indicated that there had been an increase in the need for flexibility surrounding different family issues, followed by an increased need for awareness of different types of families.

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