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Archive for category Commentary

Budget bonanza for employers of baby boomers – or is it?

Posted by Catriona in Commentary, Musings on May 17th, 2012

The recent Australian Federal Budget decision to reward employers of mature age workers with $1000, generated a bunch of articles in mainstream and industry press about mature workers – the barriers and the opportunities. Given our 10 year focus on the risks and challenges posed to organisations by this demographic shift  in the workforce, we are avid absorbers of all research and commentary. We would love to read something more ground breaking and insightful than a regurgitation of the barriers of discrimination, the inevitability of retirement and the general assumptions about mature workers . That said, anything that keeps mature workers firmly on the agenda is good. But in the words of Elvis, “a little less conversation, a little more action please”.

Here are our suggestions for actions and a more thoughtful approach:

  • Don’t treat ‘mature age workers’ as an homogeneous group; within this demographic there is a raft of diverse needs and ambitions. Are they long term unemployed? Are they wanting to ‘downsize’ their work responsibilities? Do they want a more flexible role? Do they want a complete career change? Are they seeking a portfolio of a career? Do they need less physical load in their role? Do they simply need more time to address caring responsibilities? Are they experts in their field whom you need to retain for their knowledge?
  • As an employer, how can you redesign roles that suit the needs and ambitions of the mature age worker you want to retain or employ?
  • As an employer, how are you supporting your current mature age workers to make decisions about their future work and retirement plans? Unless we challenge the assumption of retirement and create options for work beyond the traditional age of retirement, we won’t be successful in increasing workforce participation for this demographic. Take a look at Envisage for instance!
  • As a mature age worker, what are you doing to stay connected and current and marketable to future employers? There is plenty of free and low cost help available to help you shape your approach to your career.
  • As a manager, what deeply held stereotypes do you adhere to when thinking about employing or retaining a mature worker? What are you doing about shifting those and what will you miss out on if you don’t?

By all means, reward employers who employ mature age workers. But if they haven’t done some of the groundwork as mentioned above, it could be $1000 bucks down the drain.

Here are some of the better articles we’ve read lately – enjoy.

Adage - Mature workers feeling the love in Swan’s budget for battlers (an excellent breakdown of what the government is offering)

The Advertiser – Older workers not the retiring type (a positive article on working longer)

Human Capital Magazine – Mature age workers – added extras at no extra cost! (the argument for employing mature age workers)

Saipan Tribune (US) – Age, appearance and attitude (tackling some elephants in the room)

On-Line Opinion – Hiring older Australians – Lessons from Singapore (a compelling argument for how the money might have been better spent with better returns)

 

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The twilighters emerge….

Posted by Catriona in Commentary, Media on May 6th, 2012

Twilighters, people aged 63 and above, have emerged as the fastest growing workforce segment group according to the May 2012 MyCareer Employment Forecast.

I’m not sure I would ever want to be called a ‘twilighter’ – but we’ll gladly add it to our wonderful list of euphemisms for ‘mature age workers’. What’s interesting about this report is the changing face of the workforce. The number of working people aged 63 and over has doubled in the last 15 years. It would seem that ‘twilighters’ aren’t simply a group of people ‘waiting to retire’ or trapped in a ‘work forever’ cycle. People are choosing to work longer and differently – for all sorts of reasons. This is THE fastest growing workforce segment group – faster than the Gen Ys!

So – five questions for employers might be:

  1. What are you doing differently in your workplace to ensure that you employ your fair share of ‘twilighters’?
  2. How would you attract a ‘twilighter’ to your workplace?
  3. What training ,development and support would you provide a ‘twilighter’?
  4. How will you retain your current employees so that they share the ‘twilight’ of their career with your organisation, rather that somewhere else?
  5. Is it age or attitude that matters?

Organisations that have planned and invested in mature age workers already will be the ones that benefit from this dynamic workforce segment.

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Finders Keepers

Posted by Alison in Commentary, Musings on April 22nd, 2012

Anything that keeps the ageing workforce issue on the agenda and in the spotlight gets the thumbs up from Sageco. However, the Jury’s still out on the new mature worker bonus incentive package announced this week.

In response to the Final Report of the Advisory Panel on the Economic Potential of Senior Australians (also entitled ‘Turning Grey into Gold’), the Government has pledged $10M over 4 years for new ‘Jobs Bonuses’ to help tackle age discrimination and encourage 10,000 businesses to employ 50+ workers. In return, the business will receive a $1000 bonus if the employees stays on board for a minimum of 3 months.

Which all sounds well and good. In principle. We are keen to read the fine print which will reveal how employers will find out about (and access) funding,  how much paperwork (and time) will be involved, and the criteria for eligibility (any mature worker 50+ or restricted to long term unemployed?)

As Sageco we would not seek financial incentive to hire mature workers. It simply makes good business sense. Why wouldn’t we want experienced, knowledgeable, sometimes quirky people over 50 joining our team and adding to our deep smarts?

So on the topic of hiring mature workers, here are Sageco’s 5 top tips for making sure you can not only find the goodies but also keep them on board:

1. Look in the right places. There are a wealth of fabulous candidates sitting on the databases of some of the niche job boards such as Adage and on the books of boutique recruitment firms like 2discover and 360hr. Mature workers are fed up of being overlooked and ignored by the ‘big guys’ so gravitate towards more mature age friendly employment providers.

2.Review your employer brand. When you take a look at your own careers page on your website, what do you see? Fresh faced young Grads smiling back at you? Or a page that represents a diverse workforce and therefore will also attract a diverse set of applicants? How is the language sitting? Age neutral? Steering clear of ‘fast paced’ and ‘dynamic’ that covertly indicates ‘youth’?

3. Assess your hiring process. Two candidates are on the short list, both with the skills and qualifications you are seeking. Candidate A is 27 and Candidate B is 57. “A” has been with their current employer for 18 months and is seeking a change. They are abreast of current interview techniques and psychometric testing. “B” has recently left their company after 26 years. They haven’t been for an interview in all that time and have never experienced modern testing methods. Who is set up to win? Think about levelling the playing field and adapting your processes accordingly to give everyone a fair shot at the goal.

4. Be flexible. Our research shows that over 2/3 of mature workers would continue working longer, if they could work differently. Funnily enough, ‘differently’ means different things to different people! So have the conversation. Find out what flexibility means to your new hire. It could mean full time hours over a 4 day week or later start/finishing times. Flexibility is a no-brainer. It engages, retains and enhances productivity.

5. Prepare for the future. We love this quote “Plan for the future, because that’s where you are going to spend the rest of your life”. Wise words from Mark Twain. So, it goes without saying that if you support your mature employees to think about, plan, prepare and take action regarding their ‘late career’ and future retirement, then they will give you their loyalty and commitment. And you will benefit from them being ‘fit for work’ health-wise and taking ownership of their work and life decisions.

The full paper detailing the Government response to the EPSA report can be found here

We would love to hear your thoughts…

 

 

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Employing out of the box

Posted by Catriona in Commentary on March 28th, 2012

Last week, I was invited to attend the launch of ACCI’s (Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry) Employ Outside the Box paper by Minister Bill Shorten – a strong advocate for the employment and retention of mature workers. The paper has a useful supplementary booklet for employers – The Business Case for Recruiting and Retaining Mature Workers. If you need any tips for developing a compelling business case, you might find some in here – here’s an excerpt.

  1. Review whether organisational culture (current personnel policies &management style) affects the employment of mature aged workers and therefore may need to be changed.There is value in spreading management activity over the full range of diversity issues in order to lessen the chances of certain groups in theworkforce feeling marginalised.To achieve changes in your workplace you may need to address perceptions of the value of mature aged workers – mature agedworkers should be considered for positions in the context of their individual abilities and capacities – and the challenge of contributing to thepromotion of cultural change in the way that the community perceives mature aged workers.
  2. Identify what alternative jobs or flexible arrangements (i.e. shorter hours, different start and finish times, additional unpaidor purchased leave) can be offered to encourage retiring workers to keep working or entice mature aged workers backinto the workforce.
  3. Ensure that any changes to the culture of the organisation benefit the business as a whole and do not lead to the loss ofkey younger employees.
  4. Communicate to all staff the reasons for and value of the business broadening its approach to employment.
  5. Don’t create age clusters, involve other generation groups where necessary to achieve greater harmony between groups.
  6. Introduce age-awareness training for HR personnel, managers & other key personnel.
  7. Support individuals or groups of staff who want to develop initiatives to combat age barriers.
  8. Encourage pre-retirement workers to pass on knowledge and competencies to other employees thus ensuring succession planning and minimising loss of ‘corporate knowledge’.
  9. Remove ageist barriers in language, processes and policies that might hinder retaining or recruiting mature aged workers.

If you want to know how you can do the above, contact Sageco.

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Solutions for mature age workforce participation

Posted by Catriona in Commentary, Research on March 13th, 2012

The Australian Human Resources Institute have just released a their  pulse survey findings about mature age workforce participation. It’s a neat snapshot of the sentiments of 1212 AHRI members. No surprises, but it confirms Sageco’s findings over the last seven years.

Here are some of the key points with our ideas for solutions:

  • Just under half the respondents said the departure of older workers from their workplace has caused a loss of key knowledge or skills.
  • Approximately 20% report that the departure of older workers has caused the organisation to be less competitive.
  • More than 80% would like to see steps taken to retain older workers.

(Sageco’s Exchange program provides a strong framework for transferring knowledge between workforce generations and developing older workers as knowledge coaches. It distils the critical knowledge requirements, bolsters natural knowledge sharing and enables the intentional transfer of knowledge before older workers choose to retire. In fact, older workers may choose to continue working albeit differently – with a key component of their role as a knowledge coach.)

  • Over two thirds or respondents believe the retention of older workers would benefit productivity.
  • More than 75% see retaining older workers as a necessary precaution against the sudden loss of essential knowledge and skills.

(Sageco’s Envisage program is a visible, tangible way to support mature workers making work and retirement decisions. If you seriously want to retain mature workers, you need to support them as they plan for their career, their finances, health and relationships. Help them answer the question, “If not retirement, then what else?” Help your mature workers create a positive and productive future.)

Thank you to AHRI for providing the snapshot about this much discussed issue. This data cannot be ignored. Compare the cost of proactive investment in your current mature employees to the cost of recruiting, replacing, losing knowledge and losing competitiveness. Take action now.

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