Employers will play a critical role in shaping public policy as the population ages and healthcare and pension benefit costs grow, according to a new report by Mercer.

Mercer recommended that employers together with governments promote work for older people, provide financial education, improve savings processes and improve annuities to make lump-sum payouts more effective.

"While benefits for individuals approaching retirement may remain unchanged, the level of prospective benefits is being cut for the current and future workforce. There also continues to be movement by both governments and the private sector to shift risk to pension plan participants," Mercer said.

"In defined contribution plans, far too few plan members understand their own objectives and needs and many fail to correctly choose and update their investment options."

In the report, titled Transforming Pensions and Healthcare in a Rapidly Ageing World: Opportunities and Collaboration Strategies, the World Economic Forum and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) found the ratio of elderly people to the working-age population will dramatically increase in coming years.

As a result, the labour force will decline and employers will need to take on a much larger role when it comes to public policy.

"This report inspires employers and policymakers to expand and shift their strategic thinking," Mercer chief executive Michele Burns said.

"The report makes a compelling case for immediate and collaborative action by the private and public sectors. Even more impressive, the analysis sets out a pragmatic blueprint for transformation by identifying the most promising strategies and providing key scenarios of the future."