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Posts Tagged ageing workforce

hitting the ground running

Posted by Alison in Media on August 2nd, 2011

On Monday, the Gillard Government announced the appointment of the Hon Susan Ryan AO as Australia’s inaugural Age Discrimination Commissioner.

In her new position of Age Discrimination Commissioner, Ms Ryan will be a dedicated advocate not only for older Australians, but also young people who might be affected by age discrimination

said Attorney-General Robert McClelland upon announcing the appointment.

Ryan is the independent chair of the IAG & NRMA Superannuation Plan, as well as honourary chair of the Australian Human Rights Group and ambassador to WomenAid Australia.

Ryan says her track record in the area of gender discrimination gives her confidence things will change, in legislation, culture and the workplace. On a personal note Ryan adds;

I’m 68 and want to hit the ground running!

Ryan takes the baton from Elizabeth Broderick, who has been at the forefront of keeping age discrimination issues firmly on the agenda.

Read more…

 

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The Big Story: maximising mature-age employees

Posted by Alison in Media on July 8th, 2011

Baby Boomers have challenged each and every life stage they’ve passed through, and the concept of retirement is proving no different. However, with unconscious bias and discrimination still occurring, clearly there’s a lot more that employers need to be doing to maximize the potential of this workforce.

In this HCTV Big Story, we talk to Alison Monroe, managing director, SageCo, about what employers need to be doing to facilitate mature age workers in their workforce. As Catriona Byrne, director, SageCo, points out, often it starts with a conversation between manager and employee. Cindy Grass, HR director, Millward Brown adds that flexibility can work for all employees. As an example of how seriously the mature age challenge is being taken by many organisations, Rowan Arndt, head of diversity & inclusion for the NAB Group, talks about his company’s new mature age strategy.

Watch the video interviews here!

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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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age equality front and centre

Posted by Alison in Commentary, Media on June 24th, 2011

Elizabeth Broderick spoke this week at The Sydney Institute on the pervasive issue of age discrimination and confirmed that from July 2011 there will be an inaugural, dedicated Age Discrimination Commissioner in Australia.

Elizabeth shared stories gathered throughout her term with AHRC from mature workers not given a ‘fair go’; reviewed the positive changes and reforms that have taken place in recent years; and talked about the development of a Convention on the Rights of Older People.

A binding convention will recognise the fundamental human rights and freedoms of older people globally. A convention will open up a space for the voices of older people to be heard – for older people themselves to be the architects of their own destinies.

Elizabeth reflected on a personal story of her father, when hearing ‘exclusive language’ being used, asks “Where’s the evidence?”.

A question that organisations and recruitment agencies across Australia should be asking when it comes to the recruitment and career opportunities of mature workers.

One thing is for sure, Elizabeth Broderick has paved the way for a ‘community where when we speak about human rights, age equality is front and centre’.

Full speech

 

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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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