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Posts Tagged intergenerational report

who’s retiring when?

Posted by Catriona in Research on November 25th, 2010

New research from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research and ANU provides more of a breakdown of who’s retiring when – according to the type of workers who remained in the workforce beyond the retirement age of 65 in the past 10 years. As reported in the Australian, there are two distinct groups who are ignoring the retirement age and remaining in the workforce; the most educated and the least educated.

Why the most educated?

  • they enjoy work and the social interaction
  • attractive employment conditions
  • they need to recoup an investment in education

Why the least educated?

  • the financial considerations of cash flow
  • less accumulated wealth
  • limited access to good retirement arrangements with super

We’re with Chris Ryan – author of the research:

I think there are positive things about keeping experienced, capable people working longer. I think there will be more people working at 70 than there are now, but they will have more choices with superannuation and pay more attention to their financial position as they age.

Organisations who actively support their employees in late career will benefit.

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We need to raise the age definition of ‘old’

Posted by Catriona in Uncategorized on June 1st, 2010

Phil Ruthven has a refreshingly different viewpoint on intergenerational challenges. We particularly liked these  comments:

At 65 years of age :

  • in 1800, you were dead 27 years ago
  • in 1900, you were dead 12 years ago
  • in 2000, you had 12 – 15 years to go
  • in 2100, you may be two-thirds through your life

We need to be very careful about what an ‘ageing society’ or the ‘greying of Australia’ really means

Even at 70 years of age many will still be working, probably part-time and will be fit and healthy.

Sourced from Market Watch, AICD

We agree; we need to raise the age definition of ‘old’. We also need to challenge the traditional assumption of retirement.

Yes – we will have a growing porportion of older workers – most only too happy to do different and mostly part-time work beyond 65 years of age.

Sourced from Market Watch, AICD

Employers need to build capability in role redesign and incorporating flexible work practices into their modus operandi.

SageCo’s key questions::

  • How clear is your pathway for mature workers in your organisation?
  • How are you supporting your  employees in preparing for work and life in late career?
  • How many roles incorporate flexibility?

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double trouble

Posted by Alison in Commentary on May 12th, 2010

The number of age discrimination complaints in the first quarter of this year has doubled, according to Elizabeth Broderick, Commissioner responsible for Age Discrimination. “I think that’s because the issue has had more airing in the last six months through the Intergenerational Report that Treasury launched, which talked about the eligibility for the pension going up to the age of 67” she says.

This continues a rising trend with a 20% increase in age discrimination complaints seen between 2008 and 2009.

“The Government is sending strong signals that we need to work longer but the question is can we when there’s a culture that says you’re not valuable when you’re over a certain age.”   More…

Let’s hope Risk Managers have this topic firmly on their agenda. Organisations who are the subject of a complaint suffer not only significant costs but damage to their coveted employment brand.

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Intergenerational regurgitational

Posted by Catriona in Commentary on February 1st, 2010

Everything old is new again. Here’s a quote about the release of the ‘new’ intergenerational report out today:

The Government says improving workforce participation, skills and infrastructure are the keys to growing the economy and ensuring productivity improves.

We’ve been tuned into intergenerational reports for over seven years now; our business SageCo is pretty much based around this unprecedented demographic shift in workforce population. We’ve heard countless renditions of the same message; it’s not new news.

What is new is the approach that some organisations are taking to increase workforce participation of workers in ‘late career’. Interventions like:

  • individual phased retirement development plans
  • flexible working contracts
  • company sponsored retirement coaching
  • knowledge transition programs for specialists
  • job re-design
  • elder care leave

But if we have any hope of increasing workforce participation on a large scale, these solutions and more need to be part of the mainstream workforce management plans – not just special programs.

And another thing – we agree with SmartCompany, the ‘ageing generation’ is an unfortunate and unhelpful label. In the same way that this generation helped define the term ‘teenager’, they are redefining the notion of  ‘retirement’.

Lumping an entire generation into the “ageing” category is extremely limiting. Within this old fuddy-duddy group you have a huge array of very wealthy, sophisticated people with masses of money to spend – or leave behind. You also have a deep skill set, leadership skills and acquired wisdom.

Comments on the intergenerational report

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