• MESSAGE TO EMPLOYERS: Family Caregivers Strengthen Your Workforce. October 2022. At present, there are 53 million caregivers in the U.S. providing care to people of all ages, including younger folks with special needs and challenges. In many cases, they are members of the “sandwich generation” watching over both children and aging relatives. As employers, you can help these caregivers navigate a dizzying set of responsibilities and time pressures while staying productive on the job. By doing so, you will strengthen your organization, preserve your talent base, and, in the process, boost your bottom line.

• Images Shape Attitudes About Aging. October 2022. How older people are portrayed in images plays an important role in the implicit messages that are sent through media, advertising, and other communications. AARP and FrameWorks Institute fielded an implicit association test, the findings of which show that aging advocates and communicators should consider not only how aging and older people are framed in writing, but also how they are depicted in images. 

• Unemployed Older Adults Encounter Age Discrimination. September 2022. Unemployed adults react to their situation in different ways based on length of time out of work, according to a new AARP survey. But one factor affects nearly all unemployed older workers: age discrimination. Long-term unemployed adults—those out of work for more than six months—are significantly more likely than short-term unemployed adults to face skill-based and age-based barriers. Yet, both groups indicate getting some training while unemployed to sharpen skills they already have, to remain competitive in the job market, or to move into a new career.

• 6 Things to Know About Working with a Younger Mentor—and Why You Should. July 2022. Workplace mentoring relationships often involve an older, more experienced professional helping a younger protégé who is newer to the field. However, “reverse mentoring”—relationships in which a younger mentor works with a more seasoned protégé—can also be an effective way for workers to connect and learn from each other across generations. AARP shares tips on how to find and work with a younger mentor.

• Employers Are Feeling Employees’ Financial Pain, Enhancing Benefits. SHRM, October 2022. According to Bank of America's 2022 Navigating a New Era of Financial Wellness report, with inflation outpacing salary gains, employers are feeling more responsible for employees' financial wellness—97 percent of employers said so this year, up from 95 percent in 2021. The Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies also finds that retirement expectations differ among generations in its report Emerging from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Four Generations Prepare for Retirement. SHRM highlights key findings and analysis of both studies. 

• Rethink: How do Americans view their economic opportunities? McKinsey & Company, October 2022. Although threats to the American dream do exist, they are not insurmountable. Organizations can take a few actions. One is to think hard about the flexibility that employers can offer. Companies and leaders can also think about geographic mismatches and explore ways to access rural talent. Finally, they can think more about the mental-health challenges that their employees are increasingly experiencing and consider the support that is needed.

• An Uptick in Elderly Poverty: A Blip, or a Sign of Things to Come? The New York Times, October 2022. While 9.5 percent of the elderly population lived in poverty in 2020, that figure rose to 10.7 percent last year, the Census Bureau reported. The coronavirus pandemic was a central driver, disproportionately disrupting the employment and income of older people. To prevent the poverty rate from rising further, advocates for older adults recommend three types of actions: shoring up employer-sponsored retirement programs, helping older people earn more by working longer if they need to and basing eligibility for public benefits on a more realistic definition of economic hardship.

• Here's How to Tailor Employee Benefits to A Diverse Workforce. The World Economic Forum, September 2022. Workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has become central to modern talent attraction and recruitment. Many people associate workplace DEI with employee resource groups, diverse employee populations, and inclusive hiring practices. But it is equally important for companies to evaluate their employee benefits. One way to do that is by assessing how equipped their benefits are to meet the needs of a multigenerational workforce globally. 

This month, we are pleased to highlight Collaborative member, Indeed: 

At Indeed, we strive to cultivate an inclusive workplace where all people feel comfortable being themselves in a safe and supportive environment. Together, Indeed’s spirited and open culture permeates across all offices and departments, lending a voice and support to a broader discussion on challenges and solutions. This is a global resource. This includes fostering partnerships through Inclusion Resource Groups (IRGs), community organizations, and training/educational resources. Our employee-led IRGs are thoughtful advocates and genuine connectors who are valuable business resources for their areas of focus.

To align with our mission to cultivate an inclusive and accessible workplace where all people feel comfortable being themselves in a safe and supportive environment, we have developed a resource titled The Menopause in the Workplace Managers Toolkit in association with The Menopause Hub. Through the Toolkit we want to raise awareness of menopause and provide information and support for both managers and employees. The role of the Toolkit is to support the management of employees who are experiencing menopause.

LLEL members are always invited to contribute to our newsletter by sharing new resources or by highlighting their recent LLEL-related efforts. Content and questions can be sent to aarp@publicprivatestrategies.com. 

The Living, Learning and Earning Longer Collaborative (LLEL) works with global companies to refine the business case for age diversity and highlight promising practices from around the world. With the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), AARP is considering the complexities of the multigenerational workforce in the context of an organization’s recruitment and retention practices, flexible work and caregiving benefits, lifelong learning, and training and assessment procedures. To learn more, visit Growing with Age: Unlocking the Power of the Multigenerational Workforce, LLEL's digital learning platform which offers tools—including the latest research that makes the business case for age diversity—to help employers build, support and sustain multigenerational workforces.

If your organization has not done so already, we highly encourage joining the AARP Employer Pledge Program. This program connects a nationwide group of employers that stand with AARP in affirming the value of experienced workers and is committed to developing diverse organizations. Learn more about signing the pledge.