Blog

From awareness to action and now to the advancement of age management. This was the theme of the 2010 ageing workforce conference convened yesterday by the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Office for Ageing and IPAA NSW, with SageCo’s Alison Monroe as conference Chair for the day.

Having bounced back from a brief spell of retirement himself, Brendan O’Reilly DPC’s Director General was the perfect sage to provide an opening address to the 110 delegates present, including representatives from NSW Public Sector agencies, Local Government, and Industry.

Brendan opened the inaugural ageing workforce conference held in 2006 and by his own admission “did not expect to be here 4 years later!” but gave his support and advocacy to the mission stating;

This conference provides an opportunity to share knowledge, discuss the challenges and create strategies to tackle workforce ageing

Delegates heard from a range of speakers on policy development, program implementation and best practise case studies from the transport and health sector.

A few key themes arising from the day;

1. know your data and create the story around it. present a sound business case for action
2. executive support and advocacy is critical in positioning ageing workforce as a priority
3. measure project outcomes and present back to the business
4. continuity and consistency is key. this is not a ‘tick a box’ challenge.

One aim of the conference is to ignite the age management journey for those contemplating the enormity of the task. We look forward to seeing delegates from yesterday up on the speakers podium in years to come sharing their stories and successes.