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Archive for category What we’re up to

A level playing field

Posted by Alison in What we're up to on November 30th, 2011

On Monday in her speech at the National Convention Centre in Canberra (‘Australia’s Welfare 2011′), Susan Ryan called for new visionary thinking when it comes to mature age workers.

We need to create a more fluid working environment where we are encouraged to keep learning at intervals throughout our life cycle – in a workforce that lets us move in and out – at any age, without penalty.

Today at an employer roundtable luncheon convened by The Age Discrimination Unit in conjunction with Sageco, The Commissioner was therefore encouraged and enlightened to hear from organisations doing just this.

Organisations in attendance were at various stages of their age management journey, from  building the business case through to showcasing Award winning strategies. Telstra, National Australia Bank, QBE, Service First, PepsiCo, TabCorp and 2disccover shared their thoughts, their challenges, their initiatives and the positive impact of their strategies with the group and members of The Australian Human Rights Commission team.

Catalysts for taking action were explored. What was it that made these organisations move forward in developing mature age strategies and solutions?

  • the data story – including a comparison of the average age of retirement within the organisation to the national average (59)
  • health and safety – in roles with a high level of physicality and an ageing workforce
  • knowledge loss – key people in the business retiring and taking with them critical know-how
  • a wave of premature retirements and the mention by one executive that he ‘didn’t want to drop dead two years from now!’

Attraction and recruitment. Why are more mature workers not breaking through to final offer stage?

  • a triple edged sword – successful placement requires a combination of marketable mature workers, age positive recruiters, and enlightened employers
  • over qualified – the assumption being made that an experienced worker is not prepared to ‘downsize’ in late career
  • ‘language’ – communication used in job ads by agencies and employers screening out mature workers at application stage

Retention. What are some of the triggers for retirement and how can organisations enable working longer, but differently?

  • unconscious bias – unearthing myths, assumptions and stereotypes residing amongst people leaders
  • conversations – enabling authentic conversations between mature workers and their people leaders
  • flexibility – throughout the life course, all ages, all stages
  • culture – creating an environment where mature workers feel valued and acknowledged for their experience

…and so much more!

Older workers have always been, and will continue to be, an important part of the Australian workforce. We are on the cusp of a vastly changing demographic, and it is now necessary for older workers to remain in the workforce to support Australia’s society and economy

- The Hon Susan Ryan, Age Discrimination Commissioner

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Monash Older Workers and Work Ability Conference

Posted by Alison in What we're up to on November 24th, 2011

If you are after a hearty injection of all things ‘ageing workforce’ then the 2011 Older Workers and Work Ability Conference is not to be missed!

With The Hon. Wayne Swann providing the Opening Address and presentations by Professor Philip Taylor, Susan Ryan, Professor Juhani Ilmarinen, and SageCo’s own Alison Monroe, this conference is bringing together the leading international experts on older workers.

It will be a forum for the exchange of knowledge among policymakers, employers and researchers and others with an interest in workforce ageing.

The Older Workers and Work Ability Conference will be held at the Rendezvous Hotel, Melbourne, on the 12-13 December 2011. Find out more and register now…

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One size does not fit all

Posted by Alison in What we're up to on August 16th, 2011

A very impressive line up of speakers generously shared their time, knowledge and insights at today’s 5th annual ageing workforce conference convened by Department of Premier and Cabinet, IPAA NSW and SageCo.

With over 100 attendees and held at Customs House, the agenda explored a wide range of topics under the umbrella of ‘targeting and aligning workforce strategies’.

Peter Duncan, Deputy Director General, Government Coordination and Corporate Administration, provided the opening address, stating some of the key ageing workforce objectives as;

  • greater levels of labour force participation
  • continual development of mature workers
  • managing the transfer of critical knowledge
  • implementing talent management systems to fill capability gaps

Geoff Gilfillan from the Productivity Commission in Canberra provided an overview of the Research Paper on Labour Force Participation Rates of Women 45+ with delegates then given an opportunity to work on a hypothetical challenging them to visualise “The Year 2020″ and what it would take to achieve ‘best practice accreditation’ for the employment of mature age women.

Output from the facilitated interactive session included tailored health and wellbeing interventions for mature women; equal representation of mature women in senior leadership and executive roles; redesign of the working day and the working week (from Part Time to Part Year?!); training in non traditional roles; carers leave extended to cater for elder and grandchild caregiving; and the debate on gender bias becoming obsolete as it will be a ‘non issue’ by 2020.

Chair Alison Monroe conducted an interview with Professor Philip Taylor of Monash University to gain an international perspective on age management and a ‘judges’ view of the AARP Best Employers Award for 50+ . Philip challenged Australian employers to look again at the opportunity to train, develop and upskill mature workers to enable them to remain employable, marketable and productive.

A lively session followed presented by John Cross, Assistant Executive Director of Workforce Planning at State Services Authority VIC, who challenged some traditional views and shared with delegates his framework for robust age management and workforce planning;

  1. Accountability – shared between organisational leaders, frontline managers and HR
  2. Appetite – assessing ageing workforce challenges through the risk lens and speak the language of the business
  3. Design – job redesign and evolution over time, learning and development models that address future skill gaps
  4. Data – the role of HR in collecting, collating and communicating the data story to the business, to which John added;

look at the ripples created by the rock, not just the rock itself as it is thrown into the water!

Case Studies were shared by Hunter Water, Department of Trade and Investment NSW and National Australia Bank – with a common thread seeming to be conversations and culture.

A jam packed agenda and one that resulted in delegates walking away with new knowledge and a variety of next steps. Each continuing on their individual and organisational journey, where one size does not fit all.

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Talent War turns grey

Posted by Alison in Commentary, What we're up to on July 2nd, 2011

June’s HR Monthly magazine features an opinion piece from Colleen Harris, NAB’s Executive General Manager of Human Capital and advocate for NAB’s MyFuture project.

There is not one, simple answer (to workforce ageing). Our experience at NAB suggests that it is increasingly about flexibility. People will choose to work longer if they can work differently, whether that is through a new career path or a change of pace or working conditions

In fact, feedback from NAB’s mature workforce last year demonstrated that 91% of participants would continue working longer, if they could work more flexibly.

Read the full article here

 

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7586 years

Posted by Alison in What we're up to on June 8th, 2011

7586. That is how many years of experience and knowledge were in the room on Tuesday morning at Parliament House.

250 senior executives and sages from the NSW Public Sector met for the inaugural mature professionals breakfast convened by Department of Premiers and Cabinet, IPAA NSW and SageCo.

Opening the breakfast, Director General of DPC, Chris Eccles said;

You all possess knowledge that has influenced and will continue to influence how we will do things in the Sector going forward. Every day this rich knowledge is harnessed to deliver services. This knowledge is not in policy guidelines and manuals…it goes beyond the ‘what’ to the ‘how’ and the ‘why’…

The Director General went on to encourage a return to the Master and Apprentice model, adding;

When you share knowledge, the very act allows you to gain unique insights and develop new knowledge from others. Share it and it will multiply.

We also heard from Ken, a retiree with 43 years service in the Public Sector. A ‘master’ who, with a colleague, wrote a software system that is now sold in over 100 countries around the World. Ken has worked with his ‘apprentices’ to identify and share his unique knowledge since 2008.

Participants at the breakfast engaged in conversation, created new connections, and identified their areas of specialist ‘mastery‘ – a very tangible first step in igniting a knowledge sharing culture within the Sector.

Hats off to DPC for leading the way in tackling the very real risk of knowledge loss in NSW.

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