In HR Daily today, I was asked ‘When should you talk to employees about retirement?’ It’s never too early, but we would recommend that by the time employees turn 50, their performance development review conversations should include the topics of future work intentions and retirement conversations. And organisations should be actively supporting their decision making about the future. Why?

1. Forward planning allows for enough time to transfer knowledge. There is an opportunity to shape a mature employee’s role to support knowledge sharing activities.
2. The more support a mature employee has in making work and retirement decisions, the more likely they are to experience a positive and productive career.
3. By having a timely conversation about future working intentions, you may retain that mature employee for longer. They may work differently, but you can reduce recruitment and training costs and minimise knowledge risk.

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

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…

It’s not new news. But it does provide another perspective to consider the social impact of this phenomenon and what it means for the workplace and baby boomers in particular. Salt talked about the need to re-engineer the space that now exists between ‘traditional retirement’ and death – a period of what could be twenty to thirty years. With our workforce participation and workforce planning glasses on, it would seem in employers’ best interests to support baby boomers to ‘re-engineer that space’.

• How to envisage life beyond the traditional retirement date
• How to create a transition to retirement.
• How to construct a portfolio career or lifestyle.
• How to work longer but differently.
• What actions to take about money, health, relationships and career

Baby boomers invented the concept of a ‘teenager’. I wonder in later life if they will invent a new name for that phase between traditional retirement and death. They may well do it with support from their employers.

From July 2013, all employees regardless of age will receive the superannuation guarantee.

This decision has been welcomed by Susan Ryan, Age Discrimination Commissioner, who says:

It sends a strong and positive message to older employees and to their employers that age should be no barrier to equal employee rights.

This decision means that in respect of superannuation, older workers, be they over 75 or over 80, will have the same rights as all other employees.

One more move in the right direction for mature workers in Australia. Chip chip…

So with this in mind, Susan Ryan’s latest opinion piece strikes a chord as she speaks of ‘redrawing’ the mature age picture.

Recently appointed as Australia’s first dedicated Age Commissioner, Susan is already making her mark, recently putting forward a suite of proposals at the federal Government’s Tax Forum held in September.  The objective? To remove negative tax impacts on older Australians.

Getting rid of age barriers in super, workers compensation and income insurance would produce more productivity. If, in the near future, we can provide successful examples, put in place by forward-looking employers, we would have inspirational models for the broader workforce.

Age caps currently leave workers over 65 uncovered for workers’ compensation and income maintenance insurance. Not conducive to the current trend of working longer and deferring retirement.

The changes put forward by The Commissioner will support employers keen to benefit from the skills, experience, knowledge and loyalty of the mature workforce.

(Published in The Equality Law Reform Project, 10 October 2011)

Just as 40 is the new 30, 65 ain’t 65 anymore

writes Greg Jericho in The Drum Opinion yesterday.

Last week the Daily Telegraph ran a front page story with the cheery headline “Graveyard Shift“, bemoaning that mature workers are being ‘forced’ to work longer. Not so, says Jericho. The facts support this counter argument, we are living longer healthier lives and mature workers have been steadily ‘working longer’ since 1983. A trend quite removed from the impact of the GFC and stock market fluctuations.

we should not be running front page stories about older people having to work, we should be running front page stories about what governments and employers are doing to encourage and help those over 65 to work

SageCo echoes these sentiments in an article published by Human Capital Online last week, sharing data gained from over 2500 mature workers in the past year on their future working intentions.

It comes down to individual choice (and of course ability) to continue working. For choice to occur, there need to be options available. For options to be available, organisations need to focus on reshaping the way we work and create space for the conversation.

81% stated they would continue to work, if they could work differently. The problem is that the conversation is not taking place, said Monroe

It is integral for leaders to be talking to the mature members of the team, and gauging their future work intentions, not their ‘retirement intentions’, which sends the wrong message to the older workforce.

Sageco always encourages employers to actively support mature workers in their late career and retirement decisions. Sometimes it is the ‘assumption’ of retirement that is the greatest barrier to this. If you manage mature workers, then follow these three easy steps to ensure that they’re not being overlooked:

• Have a conversation about their work and retirement intentions. Ask the questions, “What would you like the next ten years working here to look like?”
• Encourage your mature workers to think about taking charge of their own career development.
• Make sure that performance and development reviews are constructive and don’t assume that someone is ‘just going to retire soon’ because they are over 50.

NAB has been recognized with AARP’s 2011 ‘Best Employers for Workers over Age 50’ award for their innovative and exemplary practices in recruiting, retaining and promoting mature age workers. This is an international award and NAB joins 14 other non-US based organizations that were recognized with this distinction.

AARP is a US-based non-profit association with over 37 million members, dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for people over the age of 50.

This award shows that we’re really making a difference outside our organization, and even outside Australia

said Colleen Harris, Executive General Manager of NAB Human Capital.

Our focus on mature age workers as valued employees puts NAB in a unique position to retain experienced workers, which is critical in a shrinking labor market, and to build a sustainable competitive advantage

NAB is the 1st Australian employer to achieve this Award and they have placed a pin on the world map.

We put NAB’s winning strategy down to a few success factors;

• executive support and advocacy
• leadership awareness and education
• a passionate, dedicated and influential diversity team.

Find out more about NAB’s Award here!

And once again he demonstrates his ‘deep smarts’ by sharing advice for promoting your business’s best asset – your experienced workers.

Q: How do you help ageing workers embrace a changing environment and adapt to new ways of doing things, and how can employers better utilize their more senior employees?

A: As an ageing worker myself, I will attempt to answer on behalf of my contemporaries.

When people ask how old I am, my favorite response is,

Younger than Mick Jagger!

No disrespect intended to Mick, who is a friend of mine, but seeing him onstage certainly shows how big a disconnect there can be between doing what you do best and acting your age.

In the business of entrepreneurship, past experience is particularly helpful, since building a business is an art. There’s really no right or wrong way to do it, but the more you practice, the more skilled you become.

Read the full response from Richard on Entrepreneur.com