Grey hair, golden outputs
I’m 56 this year. At this age, my Dad had already been retired for 3 years, and yet I feel like I’m just getting started! Each one of the grey hairs, lines around my eyes and wrinkles on my forehead represents experience, learning, parenthood, success, loss, stress, heartache and plenty of fun!
When you are self-employed, age is no barrier; however, for many in employment who don’t have the luxury (or desire) to either work for themselves or retire just yet, age and the opportunities that come with our extended years can often be a huge barrier. In terms of opportunities in their current role and new opportunities.
Of course, age - like race, gender or disability - should never be an issue when hiring people, and yet it continues to be so. Indeed, age is always dead last in the DEI conversation.
Recent research from The Untapped Workforce: Why Employers Can’t Afford to Ignore Age Anymore - reinforced this. They found that only 13% of organisations say age is a top DEI priority over the next five years and that less than a third offer retirement planning support (with even fewer offering benefits specifically tailored to older workers), this despite older workers contributing over £600 billion to the economy.
The other side of the story is often that a minority of older workers seemingly coast towards retirement or as one gentleman said to me recently, ‘I’ve done my dash, it’s time for me to watch the race now!’
In my experience, this is a minority, with the majority recognising the importance of learning the skills required for our ever more digitised age and looking for ways to further expand their knowledge and build relationships with those who are younger than them. Indeed, the benefits of reverse mentoring - where younger and older employees share wisdom and knowledge - is something that I wrote about in Detox Your Culture (recently shortlisted for Business Book Award!)
Given that the life expectancy rate (in the Western world at least) continues to rise alongside the cost of living, there will be many more older employees in the workforce in the future. It’s important that organisations remember this and look for ways to retain their current people and hire new ones, too, especially given the golden opportunity for value delivery.
Thankfully - here in the UK and in Europe too - there are some great examples over the last 3-5 years of organisations that are actively age-friendly that others can learn from:
Aviva implemented a "Mid-Life MOT" programme, helping older employees plan their careers and retirement transitions.
Barclays launched a "Bolder Apprenticeship" programme specifically targeting career changers aged 50+, with a structured reverse mentoring
One-third of the B&Q workforce is over 5,0 with options specifically designed for employees approaching traditional retirement age
Whilst BMW launched a (much talked and written about) "Today for Tomorrow" initiative redesigning production lines specifically for older workers, resulting in productivity increases across age groups
In a business landscape obsessed with disruption and change, older workers offer the rarest commodity: perspective. They have already survived the mistakes your younger talent is about to make, so retaining and hiring older workers isn't just about experience; it's preventative intelligence worth millions in avoided failures.
