Archive for category Commentary

Diversity within Diversity…

Posted by Alison in Commentary on August 22nd, 2010

It is something we have covered before in our SageCo musings, but this train of thought was reinforced by several speakers during last week’s Silver Century conference, a forum convened by COTA NSW and the Australian Association of Gerontology (AAG).

Pino Migliorino, Chair of The NSW Ministerial Advisory Committee on Ageing spoke passionately about the need to consider ‘ageing sub-groups’ in relation to ‘who gets employed and who stays employed’. Pino  highlighted the distinct challenges and needs of three categories of mature worker to illustrate diversity within diversity;

  1. those from a non English speaking background
  2. Indigenous Australians
  3. those living in regional and rural areas

This topic was further embellished by The Hon.Barry Jones AO in his key note address, encouraging us to create a fresh map of life - not confusing the third age with the fourth, one of dependence.

The third agers have no intention of ‘winding down’ - they are more interested in ‘revving up’!

It all forms part of rethinking traditional assumptions. In the words of AAG President, Professor Julie Byles;

it is demographic fitness - not age - that counts

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Why baby boomers won’t quit working

Posted by Catriona in Commentary, Research on August 2nd, 2010

Part of our ageing workforce

Ageing workforce

The weekend Financial Review’s 31 July 1 August excellent article by Deirdre Macken  provides an up to date snapshot of how our workforce is changing. You need to subscribe to get the full article, but in the meantime, here are seven stats to have up your sleeve:

  1. In the past three years, almost 100 000 extra older workers have entered the workforce annually
  2. Ten years ago only a third of people aged 60 - 64 were working; now more than half of the 60 - 64 population are working
  3. Three years ago, one in seven workers were older than 55; now it’s one in six.
  4. 40 percent of all the new workers in the past three years are 55 or older
  5. Since June 2007 the only age groups that convincingly increased their participation in the workforce were those over 55
  6. The number of workers aged 65 plus jumped 30 %compared with the population increase in that age group of 8.5 %
  7. The biggest increase in workers across the country is among women older than 65

As Barbara Pocock says:

Compared with 20 years ago, there is a lot more identity-making and meaning-making that has been attached to work. Even people’s friendships are more likely to be based at work than in previous generations.”

What’s all this mean? An ageing workforce means that organisations need to re-think the way we work and what a career life cycle is. The mantra we often hear: “Happy to work longer, but not the way I’m working now.” Let’s make our work association enjoyable, social, meaningful and supportive of other facets of our lives. Now that’s something no generation will argue with.

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CEDA focus on demographic change

Posted by Alison in Commentary on July 14th, 2010

The Government’s renewed focus on workforce ageing was apparent at yesterday’s CEDA Workforce Skills and Demographic Change forum held in Sydney.

Senator The Hon Mark Arbib, Minister for Employment Participation acknowledged that whilst the ageing of the Australian workforce is indeed a significant challenge, employers can combat the challenge by actively boosting the labour force participation rate of mature workers.

The Senator added that there is a ’supply and demand’ imbalance. This is only set to worsen through the unprecedented retirement of a generation of workers who occupy roles falling under the Skilled Occupation Categories (including engineers, IT and health workers).

“The most common letters across my desk are from writers aged 45+. We are talking about highly skilled and experienced people. Yet, they take 52 weeks on average to find a new job. Government AND employers need to work together to effect culture change”.

It was good to see that many enlightened employers were in the room to hear the address yesterday. AMP, Telstra and TransGrid to name a few. All of whom are already on the ‘age management journey’.

Professor Peter McDonald, ANU Director of Demographic Research, cited scenario modelling by Skills Australia and Access Economics that estimates 4.36m extra workers will be required over the next 15 years.

Almost the same number of boomers exiting the workforce over the same period to retirement…

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ageing with grace

Posted by Catriona in Commentary on July 12th, 2010

RobertButlerWe want to acknowledge the passing of Robert Butler, a Pulitzer prize-winning author and psychiatrist who coined the term ”ageism”.

Butler helped create the modern notion that ageing is a time of choice, of opportunity, of growth. He is recognised as having conducted one of the first long term studies of older people in 1955.

Some of the groundbreaking findings of that study were that senility is not an inevitable consequence of age and that psychiatric care is not wasted on the elderly, as was commonly believed. It also found that older people were more contented and tended to live longer when their lives were filled with goals, structure and a sense of purpose.

His work has certainly contributed to the core values and philosophy of SageCo’s programs for redirecting retirement.

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the dangers of retirement: a word from Aristotle

Posted by Catriona in Commentary on June 30th, 2010

We love this quote from the write up of Jeffrey Smart’s (aged 89) latest exhibition.

Life, happiness and activity, as Aristotle suggests, are all the same thing. There is a higher experience of transcendent joy, but happiness in general consists in being active; that is, exercising agency and initiative, fulfilling our vocation, acquiring and practising skills, enjoying the freedom to think and to make.

This is why retirement is so dangerous. People imagine they want more leisure, but they confuse leisure with idleness. The former is a state of freedom from material necessity that should allow one to pursue activities of intrinsic interest; but idleness is a lack of activity, and even the dull routines of work are more energising than having nothing to do.

Rethink retirement. If not a dangerous concept, it is at best outdated.

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