Posts Tagged flexible working arrangements
The Big Story: maximising mature-age employees
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!
Bring down the barricades
In January the Productivity Commission released a working paper focusing on the labour force participation of women over 45.
A few key points arising from the paper;
- there has been quite a significant increase over the past three decades in ‘contribution to total hours worked’, rising from 6% in 1979 to 15% in 2009
- labour force participation rates for women 45-54 are currently 78% but decline significantly over 55, with women still retiring earlier than men (at 58 years compared to 61.5)
- a woman’s health, care giving responsibility and access to flexible working hours are the major factors in determining workforce participation
- half of women working full time want to work less hours and one quarter working part time want to increase hours
- an acknowledgement that barriers to participation are significant and not easy to address
Around 7% of mature women (200 000 potential employees!) could be attracted back into the labour force…if we bring down the barricades and support care givers, create opportunities to work longer (but differently) and promote health and wellbeing.
There is much ado about gender diversity in the workforce with the new ASX reporting guidelines. But an opportunity exists to go one step further. Employers can view gender through the life course lens and take active steps to embrace women over 45. Those who do will attract enthusiasm, experience and empathy.
All qualities that customers love…
older and wiser talent pool
“Employers need to retain the talent, skill and knowledge of the triple decker sandwich generation” writes Julia Stirling in The Weekend Australian (16-17 January 2010), in an article featuring SageCo’s Alison Monroe.
Gareth Bennett from Freehills concurs. “People need to know that being a carer or a mature-age worker is not career limiting” adding that they need reassurance that they are an integral part of the firm and that leaders should encourage and indeed role model flexible work arrangements.
And so say all of us!
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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.
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
ageing workforce, Colleen Harris, flexible working arrangements, NAB, SageCo Talk, working longer
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