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Soapbox

1. The ageing of the workforce is primarily a business issue. It is not an HR or diversity issue. The challenge must be owned and managed by the Executive and Board.
2. Companies willing to address the challenges and opportunities must first understand the risks they face and then develop strategies that address their unique situation. While there is a pattern emerging across the companies I am working with there are subtleties as you would expect. There is no "cookie cutter" intervention or magic bullet. Customisation to the particular risks, strategies and needs of an organisation is required.
3. While policies such as flexibility are important and being non-discriminatory is a not negotiable, what is more important to employees is the day to day practices of a company. My observation is  that often the first response is to write policies. What employees want is action, a culture that embraces them irrespective of age. In fact the more age friendly policy reviews I carry out the more I am seeing policies in organisations that are about what people can't do rather than being empowering. Somewhat ironically many flexibility policies are in fact very inflexible!
4. The focus must be on achieving a culture change if you are going to manage the risks and realise the opportunities. This requires organisational leadership who fully understand the issues and embrace an age inclusive approach. Clear messaging and initiatives that matter to people and make business sense are called for. Culture shifts are never easy to achieve.
5. This is not just about older workers, it is about engaging with employees across all life stages. How a company works with its older workers in my experience provides a lenses into how it works with people across all life stages.
6. In many organisations health and well-being is emerging as a significant issue. I am seeing some great initiatives being developed by innovative individuals, however my sense is that this is still seen as discretionary and not yet considered mainstream. I anticipate health and wellbeing, along with ergonomics will become increasingly mainstream as companies look to extend peoples working lives and mitigate some of the affects of bad work practices and poor health decisions from the past.
7. I continue to be concerned by people's lack of preparedness for retirement. White and blue collar workers alike talk about how frightened they are as they anticipate a future beyond work. Health, relationships, finding meaningful activities and money all figure in the conversations we have. Bearing in mind that a 60 year old could have another 30 years ahead of them this is a major concern.

International Federation on Ageing Conference

This three day conference was a joint initiative between the International Federation on Ageing and Turyak (TURYAK Senior Council Association's). It attracted over 400 delegates from 56 nations to Istanbul. The conference ranged across a broad number of areas including mental health, social policy, new technologies, housing, the future shape of cities, workplaces etc. 

Three impressions remain post conference;

• the passion and dedication of people working in this field
• the disparate nature of the field in terms of areas of practice and interests
• the urgency, given population ageing, to develop a unified and compelling agenda for the future.

• A new paradigm and agenda is urgently needed based on life course thinking. Current models are no working.
• Inter-generational solidarity is being called for. We can’t consider the challenges of ageing without also considering other life stages
• No one admitted to having it got it sorted. Some outstanding work is going on. I was especially impressed with the age friendly initiatives in Ireland and New York
• The Age Friendly City movement, sponsored by WHO, is gaining momentum and seeing some very innovative practices cross 130 cities and 18 countries (Sadly not NZ)
• The lack of retirement readiness is potentially a global crisis. In a global retirement readiness survey across 12 countries 39% of respondents had no idea if their retirement savings were on track. Only 20% of respondents felt capable of understanding financial matters relating to their retirement.
• While people talked about the ageing of the workforce there was little evidence of much actually being done. As usual more research, reports and recommendations from experts on what older workers needed. I was inspired by the work of Elizabeth Isele from the USA with senior entrepreneurs. Close to a quarter of new businesses in the USA are now started by people aged 55-65.
• Age friendly workplaces is only just emerging as an area of interest.

• “We are on the edge of a new stage in history, we do not have a road map and we can not rely on history, we must generate evidence to guide us. Often fear drives policy, what we need is evidence to counter our fears and to ensure we do not create policies we neither want nor need”. Professor Linda Fried Columbia University
• “Ageing is not about old age pensions and the demographic burden. Rather it is about the untapped potential for development.” Martin Raiser, World Bank Turkey
•  â€œOlder people are the experts on their lives and needs. An ‘age in everything’ approach is key to planning”. Dr Ruth Finkelstein Director NYC Age-Friendly program
• Lack of retirement readiness is a global challenge and potentially a global crisis.”  Ugur Tozeskerli AEGON
• “I don’t happen to be old, I am just growing older.”
  Ms Noor Al-Malki Al-Jehani QATAR

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