Congratulations to Probuild Constructions who were the winners. Great to see a company leading the way in a challenging industry such as construction.

Kathryn found herself retrenched four years ago at the age of 55. Defying very unhelpful comments from supposed ‘career professionals’ advising her that she was ‘dreaming’ if she thought she was employable - Kathryn reinvented herself into a stand up comic. The show is a great chuckle; I do love the barbecue story.

Faced with a somewhat enforced retirement, Kathryn has redirected her life. And as her husband Ron says, “At least stand up comedy is cheaper than golf!”

There are five more shows to catch. Quick. Hurry. This mature age icon deserves an overflowing house.

From full-time work to lifelong work

The proliferation of part-time work has contributed to the growth in employment among Dutch seniors. Seen in the early 1990s as a life-work balancing tool, part-time work is now perceived as a tool for ‘lifelong’ work. It is incorporated into the labour organisation set-up with a consolidated status. Some 5% of working persons aged 55 to 64 years old work jobs less than 12 hours per week, earning extra income for the seniors concerned.

If organisations are really serious about stemming the loss to retirement, then redesigning roles to enable a choice of lifelong work has to be part of the solution.

“It is imperative that active strategies be developed to address the discrimination and prejudice that older workers can experience when looking for employment or even continuing in employment,” said Broderick.

We would add that employers need to implement intentional programs to address the development of workers in ‘late career’. There is a great paradox; employers will spend a large proportion of their development budget on Gen Y employees who are lucky to stay for even five years, but question investing even a small proportion of that budget on their ‘late career’ workers who may gladly work for another ten years, beyond a traditional retirement date, if they get the right support and training to do so.

In the words of Workforce Planning sage Julie Sloane:

Remember, retention first and recruitment will follow…

Anecdotal evidence to suggest that mature workers would hang on to their jobs and defer their retirement plans has been supported by results of a survey by ageing workforce specialists, SageCo.

“Most companies are remarkably ill-prepared. There was a flicker of interest in the problem a few years ago but it was snuffed out by the recession. The management literature on older workers is a mere molehill compared with the mountain devoted to recruiting and retaining the young”

This is reality. It is not just about ‘preparing for an ageing workforce’ (like you might for Y2K in the hope that it never happens); it’s about MANAGING an ageing workforce.
The ‘molehill’ of management literature on managing an ageing workforce compared to the ‘mountain devoted to recruiting and retaining the young’ also reflects budget allocation by most organisations. In a word: CRAZY.

I’m not sure it is as difficult as The Economist makes out. It just requires a different mindset.

“Genuine choice is the key to success in supporting and increasing mature age workplace participation – choice to work if we need to, choice to work if we want to,” Commissioner Broderick said. “Enabling this choice is important because, for various reasons, many people wish to work longer – and let’s face it, people have a right to work.”

Personally, I love seeing the lights come on for people in our workshops when they realise that retirement is just an assumption; they do indeed have a choice about creating their future.

The Government says improving workforce participation, skills and infrastructure are the keys to growing the economy and ensuring productivity improves.

We’ve been tuned into intergenerational reports for over seven years now; our business SageCo is pretty much based around this unprecedented demographic shift in workforce population. We’ve heard countless renditions of the same message; it’s not new news.

What is new is the approach that some organisations are taking to increase workforce participation of workers in ‘late career’. Interventions like:

• individual phased retirement development plans
• flexible working contracts
• company sponsored retirement coaching
• knowledge transition programs for specialists
• job re-design
• elder care leave

But if we have any hope of increasing workforce participation on a large scale, these solutions and more need to be part of the mainstream workforce management plans - not just special programs.

And another thing - we agree with SmartCompany, the ‘ageing generation’ is an unfortunate and unhelpful label. In the same way that this generation helped define the term ‘teenager’, they are redefining the notion of  ‘retirement’.

Lumping an entire generation into the “ageing” category is extremely limiting. Within this old fuddy-duddy group you have a huge array of very wealthy, sophisticated people with masses of money to spend – or leave behind. You also have a deep skill set, leadership skills and acquired wisdom.

Comments on the intergenerational report

Gareth Bennett from Freehills concurs. “People need to know that being a carer or a mature-age worker is not career limiting” adding that they need reassurance that they are an integral part of the firm and that leaders should encourage and indeed role model flexible work arrangements.

And so say all of us!

Full article

By 2020 our population will hit 27M with 1 in 5 aged 60+. An acceleration in baby boomer exits from the workforce will see the beginning of the ‘age wave hitting Australia’ says McCrindle.

The stage on which organisations perform is changing radically. When the closing curtain comes down on this decade, how many will have thrived rather than simply survived? According to McCrindle, this will require a return to skill development, training, longer job training and stability.