Menu Search

Looking for practical strategies & solutions for your ageing workforce? Try our online Risk Assessment.

Get Started Now

Posts Tagged reinvention

An Easter egg for you

Posted by Catriona in Musings on April 4th, 2012

Beginning not an end

Whatever your religious beliefs or persuasions, it’s well accepted that the egg is a symbol of new life or a new beginning. And eggs are hard to avoid at Easter time. The shops are full of them.

This is our Envisage egg. Envisage is all about creating the future from what otherwise might be considered ‘the end’. We’re adamant that late career, retirement or redundancy is not the end. Envisage provides a framework to turn ‘the end’ into the beginning of something new.

As you indulge in an Easter egg or two, think about the future you want to create and what framework you need for support.

Enjoy the Easter holiday break!

 

, ,

No Comments

Managing outplacement – more than ticking boxes

Posted by Catriona in Commentary, Musings on March 5th, 2012

Envisage - create your career

Envisage - create your career

Since the eighties, restructures, redundancies, downsizing and outplacement have all been an unfortunate part of business. Maybe after thirty years, it’s time to make managing outplacement a core skill. We’ve all heard about bad outplacement: poor communication, knee-jerk reactions, low quality programs and an HR manager ticking boxes and hoping it will all go away soon. Employer of choice is so important. It drives investment in HR programs. Why, oh why, would you risk it all with a poorly managed outplacement program? Seriously, one disgruntled ex-employee on twitter has the power to undo a tonne of good.

Leon Gettler’s latest article in Business Spectator includes some blunt perspectives. What struck me most is the lack of monitoring of outplacement outcomes by HR managers.

“There is never a monitoring factor. It’s simply hand over the bucks and we feel really good and we can tell our shareholders that we have been good corporate citizens. There is never any follow-up, ever. The HR people are not financially accountable at all. All that money goes out for a feel-good purpose, but they don’t care a rats whether the person has a new job.”

Sageco has been running outplacement and career transition programs for years in addition to our suite of mature age workforce solutions. We believe career transition can be one of the most positive, life changing experiences for employees facing redundancy.

Here’s our tick-a-box approach for easy to implement, worry free outplacement:

  • oversight by Sageco MD Alison Monroe who managed the largest single outplacement project for the Sydney 2000 Games
  • a dedicated project manager providing guidance, monitoring, reporting and evaluation support for HR
  • high quality, holistic resources via individual, group and online solutions
  • superb, experienced coaches who’ve seen it all
  • options for all budgets, locations and volumes of candidates

The Sageco Envisage program can be tailored, ensures a high duty of care and builds the capability of HR to manage redundancies successfully.

Duty of care. Tick. Employer of choice. Tick. Ex-employees who sing your praises despite experiencing a redundancy. Tick.

Get your outplacement program sorted now.

, , ,

No Comments

What will you do when you retire?

Posted by Catriona in Musings on April 29th, 2010

Create retirement success

Create retirement success

Do you have an answer to this question? It’s a commonly posed question, but think about the answers you get. My experience is that the question is oft met with a shrug of the shoulders and a laugh.

” Oh – definitely play golf every day.”

” Don’t worry; my wife has a long to do list for me.”

” I can’t afford to retire the rate my kids are going.”

Our business is built around influencing work and life decisions and slowing the rate of retirement so thatorganisations are sustainable in the future.

Last week I had coffee with a  CEO of a not-for-profit in Adelaide. Whenever I talk about our Create seminars which are designed to support employees in their ‘retirement’ decisions, I throw a version of the above question in: What do you want when you retire?  She impressed me with her answer:

“I plan to work a few more years at this level. Then I want to retire and provide support for organisations that help underpriveleged children, because my children have had such a comparably priveleged upbringing. I also plan to do some study in the Fine Arts. I imagine that I will always work in some capacity, but not the way I’m working now.”

Retirement is an assumption. What most people we come across want, is the opportunity for redirection. Working, but working differently. Making time for other success factors like your nearest and dearest, your own wellbeing and your long time goals.

What do you say when you’re asked this question? Do you shrug it off with some glib answer? Or can you articulate what ‘retirement’ looks like for you? Try it..

, ,

No Comments

prepared for what?

Posted by Catriona in Commentary, Musings, Research on March 29th, 2010

The recent Mercer Superannuation Sentiment Index indicates a dip in retirement confidence given the impact of the GFC on funds. But it is this statement that really interests me:

Only 11% of working Australians feel they are thoroughly prepared for retirement.

This figure correlates with the research that SageCo has conducted over the last five years. Over 5000 employees have been through organisationally sponsored ‘retirement preparedness’ programs with us. While financial reasons weigh heavy on decisions about retirement, we think there are fundamental questions which need examining before you can adequately address the financial concerns.

  1. What does retirement look like for me?
  2. Do I really want to retire?
  3. What do I really want to do?
  4. How much money do I really need to do what I want to do?
  5. How could I continue working in some way?
  6. What are the (often unspoken) expectations of my family and friends about my retirement?
  7. How could I improve my health?

These are tough enough questions at any age. Even when ‘retirement’ may seem a long way off, having a plan in mind while you have earning capacity is so important. Not having a plan weighs heavily on mature employees.

Organisations who support their ‘late-career’ employees in retirement preparedness will reduce the risk of retirement loss and increase productivity.

, , ,

No Comments

dreaming of a second life

Posted by Catriona in Commentary on March 10th, 2010

Saw the iconic Kathryn Bendall in her Adelaide Fringe debut show “Kath on a Hot Tin Roof” on Sunday night. Kathryn is a friend of SageCo‘s – but she’s more than that. As her favourable review in the Advertiser yesterday remarked, “she is a magnificent example to all who dream of a second life.”

Kathryn found herself retrenched four years ago at the age of 55. Defying very unhelpful comments from supposed ‘career professionals’ advising her that she was ‘dreaming’ if she thought she was employable – Kathryn reinvented herself into a stand up comic. The show is a great chuckle; I do love the barbecue story.

Faced with a somewhat enforced retirement, Kathryn has redirected her life. And as her husband Ron says, “At least stand up comedy is cheaper than golf!”

There are five more shows to catch. Quick. Hurry. This mature age icon deserves an overflowing house.

No Comments

Get Email Updates of SageCo Talk / Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS)