Age friendly employers…. Do they exist?

The notion of ‘age-friendly’ employers is a reasonably new phenomenon born of an ageing population. In fact there is an argument to say the term should probably be ‘older age friendly’ employers.

What is an age-friendly employer? No single thing makes an organisation age-friendly. It is about policies, processes, actions, words and commitment.  It is about making sure there is a culture and attitude throughout the organisation where ‘older age-friendly’ is so normal and every day that it doesn’t require any special consideration when making any type of decisions.

Research shows that several overseas countries have been older age-friendly for decades but it has taken high levels of trust, co-operation and commitment by all parties to trial, test, research and play with different models but those countries are now leading the way.  Sweden and Germany have done considerable work in this area and are decades ahead of Australia in the recruitment, retraining and retention of older workers.

There is no one industry in particular that is older age-friendly, nor is there a particular size company leading the way in Australia.  What we do have is many industries with organisations of all different sizes from Woolworths to a small family company, implementing various older age-friendly HR practices.

The larger the organisation, the more difficult it is to say hand on heart that the organisation has it 100 percent right.  The policies and processes may be written but are they all being carried out all the time?  Unlikely.  Many of the larger companies have gone to great lengths to move their company forward in the area of diversity, some through necessity and others through a sense of fairness or customer requirements.

From our experience some of the better known companies in Australia doing this well or ‘on the right track’ are Woolworths, Masters, Dial-An-Angel, Classic Moves, Bunnings, David Jones, Accor and the list goes on.

Certainly any organisation advertising on www.olderworkers.com.au has an age-friendly recruitment policy.  Older jobseekers can apply for jobs confident that their age will not be a disadvantage.  Many of the companies we work with are looking for older workers for a variety of reasons, experience, reliability, loyalty, people skills and the list goes on.

What do older age-friendly companies offer?  Some of the key things you could expect might include:

• Flexibility of hours/days if possible
• Specific training (if required)
• Appropriate financial payment for your experience and knowledge
• No age discriminatory practices
• Older age-friendly recruitment processes

My personal view is that governments at all levels need to, and will through absolute economic necessity, make it easier for older workers and older jobseekers to get a job and stay in a job.

With an enormous increase in the over 50’s in Australia over the next 3-4 decades successive Federal governments have funded several Intergenerational Reports clearly stating that it is imperative to Australia’s economic health that wherever possible workers must continue working for longer; that the aged pension will not be as readily available as it currently is and future generations will have to self-fund their retirement.

For this to happen requires a much bigger effort by governments and employers.  Much of the current government expenditure in this area, while well-meaning, is simply not hitting the spot.  Paying employers (and consultants) heaps of money to do the right thing doesn’t make any sense; there must be a better way to spend these millions of dollars.

I’d be keen to hear from you and your experiences with older age-friendly employers, the good and the bad.  I’d also be keen to hear of any ideas you might have on the best way to get older jobseekers into work and keep them there, assuming they still want to be in the workforce.