AgeBounce

More Older Women Marrying Younger Men

2012-01-13T03:39:00.000-08:00

In the Harvard Business Review, there is the following report which is quoted here:

"The proportion of male-female partnerships in which the woman is at least five years older than the man increased sharply in the UK and US in the 1980s and 1990s.
Having remained at 3% for decades, it rose 8.3% in 2000 and is likely to be much higher now.

Today's wider career choices give women the opportunity to increase their desirability through financial success, an option that once was limited to males, the researchers say."

Another age boost for women?

2012: tackling key issues of our age?

2012-01-13T03:31:00.000-08:00

The business guru Peter Drucker once said (something like) "technology is not the greatest challenge of age, but demography is". 2012 is the year when two of the great issues of our age,retirement and long-term funding,are scheduled to (hopefully) get the attention they deserve.

In Spring, the White paper on social care is expected, following on from the Dilnot recommendations last year. Hopefully it will not fudge the funding challenges which we face.

From October, the auto-enrolment of employees into pensions schemes and the launch of NEST (National Employment Savings Scheme) will start to make their mark and will hopefully be well supported and promoted by employees.

These two areas are massive issues and let's hope that the financial services industry also plays a major part in this process, not just to boost their own business potential but to do some social good too.

Boomer women are the key demographic for the next decade

2011-11-02T01:43:00.000-07:00

Bridget Brennan author of "What women want when they shop" is asked:

" Which of the trends in your trend chapter has strengthened the most since you first published the book, and which do you expect to be the most important in the next decade?"
Her reply:

"Boomers! Boomer women are the key demographic for the next decade. They are enormous in number, they have the largest amount of wealth in this country, and yet most advertisers and marketers don’t spend any time marketing to people over the age of 54.It’s a huge miss for firms that choose to ignore this segment".

Life long learning: mindset makeover

2011-10-03T09:26:00.000-07:00

On the 1st October the default retirement age of 65 was abolished. Regardless of whether you regard this as a positive or negative move, what it means for all of us with working lives of c 50 years is that individual skills have to be kept up-to-date across the decades. This will be the only way of ensuring that we maintain our employability with relevant skills and performance capabilities.

The common attitude of "self write-off" reflected in statements such as "there's no point me learning anything new at my age" or "self-smugness" reflected in "you can't teach me anything new, I've worked here for 30 years" will have to go and quickly.

Employers have a key part to play in this workplace cultural change by putting in place support to enable all workers to update there skills.

For the full version of this article see www.maturetimes.co.uk/mindset-makeover

Countdown to Cultural Change

2011-09-06T03:56:00.000-07:00

We're now only 4 weeks away from the massive change about to hit employers and employees. On 1st October 2011 the default retirement age of 65 will become unlawful without "objective justification", giving older workers the choice and the right to continue working into their late 60s and beyond if they are still performing effectively.

This has big implications for employers if they do not have robust performance management processes in place and have not considered the issues in relation to succession/workforce planning and potential responses from employees of all ages and the potential threat of age discrimination claims.

Employment Tribunal figures show a 31% increase in the number of age discrimination claims lodged indicating that the 2006 Age Regulations are now starting to bite.

It is very likely that as a result of the removal of the default retirement age the number of age discrimination claims will continue to rise.It is important that employers respond positively to the opportunities and challenges that the October 1st changes bring which will also provide benefits in retaining experienced and skilled workers for longer.

Granny Au Pairs

2011-07-27T03:12:00.000-07:00

Great news reported in the press this weekend for older women looking for adventure and something new and different.

A German company, see www.granny-aupair.com,was set up in 2010 to provide opportunities for older women to be au pairs. Their member register includes women from ages 49-76 with the most active users in their 60s.

This service provides older, independent women with a taste for adventure, opportunities to travel the world to new countries and to learn new languages. Many of the women have already raised a family and have all that experience and knowledge to draw on.

Hopefully someone in the UK will think about setting up something as the website is in German!

Social wealth and working

2011-04-15T01:19:00.000-07:00

The latest Labour Force Survey provided by the ONS has revealed that there has been a significant increase in the numbers of people in their late 40s to early 60s living on their own ( and increase of a third in a decade). A number of reasons are given for this. One is that this may just be the baby boom of earlier years working its way through the population, another to do with the increase in the break-up of relationships.

A survey a few years ago also showed that there was an increase in the concept of "living apart together" where two people with some life experience behind them opted to be in an established relationship but did not actually commit to living togteher.

The BBC Radio 4 programme raised the issue that as these people get into their older ages then they may become more socially excluded and more vulnerable. While they may be relatively well-off financially compared to other younger generations, their "social wealth" could be severely impacted. It will be interesting to see whether single people chose to continue working for longer because they need and appreciate the social contact which work can provide. Whether employers can use the "social wealth" angle to attract and retain talent of all ages only remains to be seen.?

The day of more opportunities for older workers

2011-04-06T00:11:00.000-07:00

Today, April 6th 2011, the default retirement age of 65 is abolished and older workers can continue working for as long as they need provided their performance continues to be effective.

It is therefore more important than ever before that older workers, say anyone over the age of 50, grasp the opportunities for training, on-going learning and development to keep skills up-to-date and to learn new ones so as to take advantage of workplace opportunities. A spokes person from the CIPD has stated that older workers are the group most likely to deselect themselves for training opportunties for a variety of reasons and it is therefore important for employers to have "more targeted engagement, encouraging older workers to engage in these opportunities or providing training which is more adapted to older workers' needs".

Living longer is having a profound and increasing impact on the world as we know it. It is therefore important that as individuals, employees and employers, we take the opportunities, and help others, to be as economically and socially active for as long as possible simply because there doesn't seem to be much of an alternative!

April showers in good news for the 60+

2011-04-01T00:56:00.000-07:00

April 2011 is a significant month for those retiring. The default retirement age of 65 is effectively abolished and for many employers this will have a significant impact on performance culture and workforce/succession planning. The changes give employees the right to choose when and whether they wish to leave work and removes the nonsense of being effective and capable at aged 64 and 364 days and then suddenly pensioned off the following day. Hopefully businesses will benefit from the continuing experience and skills that older workers can bring to the workplace if they continue to be capable and effective.

In addition, from 6th April it will no longer be necessary to purchase an annuity at 75. More flexible "income drawdown" rules will allow greater control over an individual's pension fund during lifetime and on death. This again is a much needed improvment to the current position.

And finally, the Government has announced plans to increase the state pension to £150 per week. How this is to be funded has yet to be announced but it does seem another move in the right direction, again helping people to secure a better financial future in their later years.

Bras for 50+ Women

2011-03-21T01:50:00.000-07:00

Underwear provider Playtex has just announced that it will be spending £1m on repositioning its underwear brand to women over the age of 50. They state that their research revealed that women over this age felt they were essentially "ignored", [a common finding in this age group]. The advertisements will feature a 42 year old model with the strapline " Feeling better than ever" and the approach is designed to appeal to women who are still "young at heart" and coping with a changing body shape.

Over the weekend the Guardian also ran a feature about films and the fact that stories never involve women aged over 50. A major cinema audience survey "reveals anger" at the film industry for perpetuating stereotypes.

It is good to see that these aspects are finally getting some airing but it seems incredible that it has taken so long for businesses such as Playtex to finally realise what a massive market the 50+ population is and how under-serviced their needs still are. The menopausal women is a good example of where age could help in targeting but there are many other life events triggering new needs for men and women in the following 4 decades of life which still need addressing. A huge opportunity for businesses to do something worthwhile and earn money.

Public Sector Pension Reform

2011-03-10T01:06:00.001-08:00

Lord Hutton has just announced his proposals for the reform of public sector pensions. The proposals clearly demonstrate the impact of increasing longevity such that the extension to our lives has been calculated as an extra 5 hours for every day we live. This effectively means living 29 hours a day ie 24 now and 5 for the future. How we live our 24 hours today ie in terms of keeping fit and healthy will impact how we live our extra 5 hours in the future. And the cost of this is now having to be addressed due to the £30bn pension liability which means we all (not just the public sector) will have to pay more, work longer and receive less in retirement. We have to pay financially some how for our extra 5 hours a day.

While the public sector are losing their pensions linked to final salaries they are still retaining "defined benefits" even though this is changing to the lower "career average". This is still much better than the changes experienced by the private sector which has moved from "defined benefits" to "defined contributions" providing much more uncertainty for individuals in terms of what the market for annuity rates will be like at retirement age. The differential between public and private pensions still seems to have been maintained with the proposed reforms and we are now at last starting to address some of the very real issues of the ageing population.

The over 65s for marketing

2011-03-07T00:28:00.001-08:00

Just to reiterate a couple of points made in the Observer newspaper yesterday.

Will Hutton's piece about the most dynamic part of the labour market is the growth in employment of the over 65s with 104,000 of the 218,000 job growth going to the over 65s, much of this part-time.This may suggest that employers are still wanting to reap the benefits of the skills and experience of older workers and are prepared to offer flexible options to enable them to do this. As Will says, this will accelerate from April when there is no requirement to leave work at 65.

The there is Andrew Clark's comment about the annual spending in the UK of households which include someone over 65, which passed the £1bn mark in 2009.

This might suggest where the potential growth in our economy could be for businesses if you put these 2 points together,an increase in the number of peope working beyond 65 ie being economically active, and the spending power of people in their mid-60s- mid 70s (who spend a higher proportion of their budget on food and drink, housing, furniture and recreation, per Saga research). However, the 65-75 age group doesn't tend to be where most marketers focus.

Hope for the future

2011-03-04T00:09:00.000-08:00

There have been many negative issues trailed in the media in recent weeks about getting older. The fact that we're not saving enough for our old age, that we will have to work until 66 to get the state pension from 2020, and Saga's research into the overs 50s which shows that all the the measures of quality of life have declined in January compared to the previous year. In this survey, the 50-59 year olds are reported to be having the worst time, with happiness, health and living standards all falling (and no doubt concerns about having enough to live on in their old age preying on their minds in the run-up to retirement).

The age group with the smallest decline in well-being was reported to be the 65-69 year olds who were not as worried about their health as older age groups, or about their standard of living as younger. (This might suggest that they are the people for marketers to target).

It was therefore quite refreshing to hear some positive news this morning that there is a potential medical breakthrough in the battle against Alzheimers which could have significant impact on sufferers, possibly in the next 10 years. This is a reminder that the reasons why we are living longer, and having to face complex social and economic issues, are largely due to massive improvements in public health and medical achievements over the last few decades and that these deserve a bit more emphasis and attention.

Saving for Retirement

2011-02-10T02:46:00.000-08:00

Aegon published its latest research into the savings market recently (entitled Effective Incentives for Savings)and the report reveals a lot of the complex issues about why people generally don't save enough for their older age. Apart from the general point that most/many financial services institutions are not trusted it reveals that there is a lot of negativity about pensions because they appear complex and the term "pensioner" is old fashioned and presumably conjures up a fairly stereotypical image in line with the "deficit" model and view of ageing.

While the report is really targeting the policy makers and suggests action that could be taken by government to improve the position, it clearly reveals consumer behaviour, not least that some research participants regretted leaving things too late with a preference for lifestyle today over lifestyle tomorrow.

A spokesman from the seemingly more lightweight piece of research from the Lloyds Group about new year resolutions,also stated "for many of us, saving is a bit like going to the gym, we know we should do it but we keep on putting it off".

It seems that one of the points in the Aegon's summary to increase the "focus on encouraging employers to engage with pension provision and maintain valuable employer contributions" is therefore well placed. Another aspect is that the cost to the employer of these incentives can be measured and countered in terms of improved competitive position through increased employee retention, enhanced reputation and improved social impact by their ex-employees having more income/better lives in their older age.

One of the Positives of Ageing

2011-02-01T01:30:00.001-08:00

This is taken from page 86 of Haruki Murakami's book entitled "what I talk about when I talk about running."

" My muscles can be as stubborn as -or more stubborn than-I am. They remember things and endure, and to some extent they improve. But they never compromise.They don't give up. This is my body, with all its limits and quirks. Just as with my face, even if I don't like it it's the only one I get, so I've got to make do. As I've grown older, I've naturally come to terms with this. You open the fridge and can make a nice- actually even a pretty smart- meal with the leftovers. All that's left is an apple, an onion,cheese and eggs, but you don't complain. You make do with what you have. As you age you learn even to be happy with what you have. That's one of the few good points of growing old".

2011: ageing population finally on the agenda

2011-01-13T00:28:00.000-08:00

Today the Governments confirms that it is abolishing the default retirement age of 65 effectively from April this year. This means that older workers have more control over their later years although many will still want to retire when their pension, if they are lucky enough to have one, becomes available. The Government seems to have ignored the pressure from employers and the CBI to delay their plans, largely due to the high costs involved of leaving things as they are. A key issue for all of us is that we can no longer afford to be economically inactive in our 60s when we have another 20-30 years more life in us.

In addition,this year the Government will be making progress on its plans to raise the state pensions age to 66 and the review of public sector pensions will also be published, as will a report on long term care.

2011 is hopefully going to be the year where real progress is made in tackling the very real challenges presented by an older population and hopefully will also present key opportunities for us all as we age.

Learning from leaf cutter ants!

2011-01-07T02:54:00.001-08:00

An unlikely feature on this morning's Today programme on Radio 4 about Leaf Cutter ants and their performance in the work place seems very relevant to 2011 when the default retirement age is going to be abolished and employees can work longer. The research from Schofield et al "measures the efficiency of leaf cutter ants' mandibles". These are the ants whose duty it is to cut and carry something like 50 times their size in leaves (Tom and Jerry style).

As the ants wear with age the individuals with the most worn jaws are less than half as effective at cutting. Instead of making the ants redundant or them just dying, their role changes and they spend more time transporting leaf fragments sliced from their sharper sisters IE they still have a valuable contribution to make but that contribution has changed. Maybe there is something for us humans to learn from these tiny and industrious creatures for the new year.

Making retirement redundant

2010-12-02T01:58:00.001-08:00

Today the Mature Times has published my latest article which you can see currently on the home page at www.maturetimes.co.uk. Basically older people will need to resign when they want to leave work rather than "retire" when next year's changes to the default retirement age come into force. This will have both cultural implications and an impact on current employment practices, particularly performance management. See the article for more details.

The Mature Times also covers another story about Longleat and the fact that management are to retire all their over 65s before the new legislation comes into force, next October. There are likely to be other organisations doing the same thing IE clearing out their older worekrs while they can.

The new legislation can't come soon enough in terms of ensuring that everyone is treated equally based on their abilities, capabilities, experience and skills and not a stereotypical view of what someone is like at a particular age. Hopefully more and more employers will recognise the benefits of this approach and get into the spirit of the changes rather than just complying with the law.

MORE older workers HAVING to work into their retirement

2010-11-30T01:25:00.000-08:00

Figures published recently by the Department of Communities and Local Government show that almost 250,000 people aged 65+ are still repaying their mortgages and that there are c1 million homeowners yet to clear their mortgage debts who are approaching retirement. Within 5 years the number of pensioners with mortgages is projected to increase to 1 million. This suggests that more and more older workers are likely to need to continue to work rather than retire. The removal of the deferred retirement age next year will at least make it easier for them to do so. These figures add further weight to the argument that employers should ensure that they have effective employment practices in place, particularly the need to update the skills of their older workers who may be employed for longer.

Change at any age

2010-11-22T08:07:00.000-08:00

The Employer Forum on Age (EFA) and Cranfield School of Management have recently published research about career transitions. A key finding is the importance of the line manager in this process. The line manager has an " important role to play in ensuring that individuals received the right support and development in order to progress in their careers". The report goes on to say that " Employers may therefore consider providing training to line managers to ensure they are able to manage their subordinates' careers and support them in making career transitions".

This means that the line manager has an important part to play in the final transition IE out of work into retirement or part-retirement and the real question is how well equipped line managers currently feel about doing this?
The research showed that the decision of whether to retire or not was most likely influenced by an individual's financial situation, health and family and just over a third would consider working beyond 65.

The report also stated that "pre-retirement planning at a much earlier age than is generally the norm (if offered at all by employers) may be useful.

Employers concerned about workforce and succession planning issues, when the default retirement age is removed next year, might therefore like to consider the role and training needs of the line manager and the extra support that retirement workshops can provide to all parties as part of aiding future planning for the organisation and for the individual.

Company pension schemes and auto-enrolment

2010-10-28T01:48:00.000-07:00

The Government announced yesterday that auto-enrolment into a company pension scheme will apply to all companies, whatever their size. This will obviously create more issues for smaller companies where the cost of implementation is disproportionate. But it does mean that future generations of older people, when all this becomes just normal business practice,are likely to have better incomes in retirement. That's the theory anyway. The changes come in from October 2012 for larger companies through to September 2016 for smaller ones.

We'll also be hearing a lot more about NEST (the National Employment Savings Trust) in the next few years. This has been set up by the Government for those organisations who do not have their own pension schemes.

With the default retirement age going in 2011 presenting many firms with an older workforce with some difficulties,followed by these new rules on pensions, employers are really going to have to concentrate some time on older workers. If they need help, they know where I am!

The future of retirement for couples

2010-10-21T01:02:00.001-07:00

The biggest argument against increasing the state pension age has been because it impacts the poorest most IE those whose only source of income when they give up work is from the state. This is further exacerbated by the fact that these very same groups are less likely to experience as great an improvement in life expectancy as the rest of the population. Traditionally women have retired at 60 and men at 65 which means couples are able to enjoy retirement together from as young as 65. In the future,with the equalisation of state pension age at 66, this will mean for many couples, where the women are often younger, it might be 69 or 70 before they retire together as a couple.

This provides opportunities for services targeting the men who may be at home for several years while their wife works ie a reversal of the current position. It also suggests that employers need to consider providng sabbaticals/gap years/flexible options/ R and R, for people so that they can refresh and enjoy time off together long before they're both in their 70s.

2020: retirement age increased to 66 for all

2010-10-20T11:18:00.000-07:00

So, the good news (?) from the Chancellor's Spending Review is that while extending the state pension age has been brought forward to April 2020, it hasn't been brought forward to 2016 as was originally rumoured! The pension age will be equalised at 65 for men and women in November 2018 meaning that women have a particularly raw deal as their pensions age is extended by 5 years from 2010-2018.

Trying to look at the positive side of this, we are living longer generally so a delay in retirement age should mean that we still have a good many years to enjoy in retirement. And, bearing in mind that as we get older society tends to write us off until the oldest generations become effectively invisible, maybe being "economically active" for longer will help to increase our visibility and value.

Strategies for older workers

2010-10-13T02:41:00.000-07:00

The forthcoming abolition of the default retirement age has real implications for employers, particularly those with an older age profile of workers. There needs to be 3 clear strategies to deal with workers 1.staying beyond state pension age, 2.leaving and 3.incoming. All will be needed to ensure that employers maximise the performance of the talent available.

For those staying, employers will need to ensure that they have an effective performance management process in place, that their learning and development encourages on-going learning for all workers to update their skills and that inter-generational working and communication is maximised.All greatly benefiting all parties.

For those leaving, putting in place an employer supported retirement readiness programme will help workers to plan for a fulfilling older age encouraging them to think more positively about leaving, helping with workforce planning issues.

And the area which is often forgotten,making sure that the potential for older to come into the organisation is not ignored as many will the right skills and experience to improve the organisation's competitive position.

Countdown to retirement

2010-10-04T02:26:00.000-07:00

You might be interested in my piece published in the Mature Times today about results from research about "retirement readiness" which I conducted recently. It showed that 50% of respondents, who indicated they were within 5 years of retiring, had not even started thinking or planning seriously about their older years. One respondent said about the questionnaire, "I just found this worrying. I suppose if I'm positive then it was thought provoking...but since I am so unready I found it depressing".

Employers need to really get their act together to provide their employees with support services to help them with their new life after full time work ends, so that they are more ready, and better equipped, to get the most out of this important time. This will become increasingly important to employers when a formal retirement age is phased out next year. See more at wwww.maturetimes.co.uk/node/11257

Equalities Act

2010-09-28T03:13:00.000-07:00

The Equalities Act comes into force today. It's designed to draw together all the anti-discrimination laws with a view to simplifying and standardising the law and making them all easier to understand, that's the theory.

The Act continues to allow employers to have a default retirement age of 65 until April 2011 and then it will be phased out by October 2011. This means that employers really need to gear up their performance management processes and think long and hard about supporting older workers in making life:work decisions in their older years. This will be particularly important for organisations with an older age profile as it could help them with workforce planning.

The reality is most people will make decisions on when their pension is available, if they are lucky to have one. This may mean many will want to keep some form of work until annuity rates improve.

Another interesting aspect of the Equalities Act which could help older workers is that it is now unlawful to face invasive questioning about health and disability before a job offer stage in recruitment (unless intrinsically necessary for the role), IE effectively the end of the pre-employment health questionnaires.

Also, in terms of the provision of goods and services, the new Act protects consumers from age discrimination by making it unlawful to offer less favourable treatment on grounds of age without justification. Lots of exceptions too.

There's some pretty straight forward information summarising this all from the ACAS website

Bridging the World

2010-09-24T01:23:00.000-07:00

The growing 50+ market is huge and still hugely under served. It is therefore interesting to note that STA, the Student Travel Agency, has recognised this is a potentially lucrative market segment and has launched a new travel agency called Bridge The World (see www.bridgetheworld.com). The spokesmen state that these are the people who are likely to have the time to travel because they are fully or partially retired. Another critical factor to their success has to be the fact that the 50+ are also more likely to have the money to enjoy long haul travel as the initial focus is on Australia, New Zealand, Asia and South Pacific.

It will be interesting to see how this business progresses. An initial observation is that the travel insurance only covers individuals up to the age of 70, which seems quite young and limiting. The other key aspect is what impact concerns about the environment will have on potential customers.

At least it is an example of a Business finally taking the older market more seriously.

Good news for Grey Hair

2010-09-16T11:10:00.000-07:00

In the book called "Fooled by Randomness" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (page 63) he states, and I quote:
" I was amused to discover an evolutionary argument in mate selection that considers that women prefer (on balance) to mate with healthy older men over healthy younger ones, everything else being equal, as the former provide some evidence of better genes. Gray hair signals an enhanced ability to survive- conditional on having reached the gray hair stage, a man is likely to be more resistant to the vagaries of life. Curiously life insurers in renaissance Italy reached the same conclusion by charging the same insurance for a man in his twenties as they did for a man in his fifties...once a man crossed the forty five year old mark, he had shown very few ailments could harm him".

Maybe this could present a new marketing opportunity for manufacturers of grey hair dyes to expand their market to younger men!

Climate Change and Older People

2010-08-26T07:33:00.000-07:00

A new piece of research has been published today by the Stockholm Environment Institute entitled "Older People and Climate Change- the Case for Better Engagement". As part of the report it categorises older people into the 3 Cs, Contributors, Campaigners and Casualities of climate change.

I haven't gone into the research in great detail but the report states that the baby boomer generations, as the first real consumer generation, have the highest carbon footprint. The current oldest generation have lower carbon footprint and when they die off (literally) they will be replaced by what the report calls the " replacement effect" ie the highest carbon footprint contributors will move into the oldest age.

While I can see that this would be a problem and a cause for concern the thing that struck me most about the report was the fact that the "culprits" had been segmented based on their age. My question is that surely it is chosen (or enforced) lifestyle that determines the carbon footprint? All age groups can be divided into the 3 Cs and that the approach taken is too simplistic and too general. The key aspect is to target and change behaviour of those whose life styles do the most damage to the environment, whatever their age.

I do believe that engagement is a key component of change, as the report suggests, and that effective social marketing is required to change behaviours but this requires a more sophisticated segmentation approach. I don't think the focus on age will prove effective in triggering the change required.

If we are going to categorise this by age then key factors often associated with getting older people engaged involve finding meaning, leaving a meaningful legacy and involvement with younger generations. A positive approach could be to engender inter-generational perspective and pressure. Younger people are very effective in teaching their grandparents, for example, how to use new technologies, maybe they can help with the environment too?

Olderpreneurs

2010-08-24T06:27:00.000-07:00

23% of people starting a business are over the age of 55 and the term "olderpreneur" has been coined to describe them. Many are being forced into this option due to redundancy however there are some positive benefits of this key life change, not least the liberation of being able to make your own decisions.Luke Johnson, Chairman of the Royal College of Arts said last year that "Sustainable self employment can offer financial and social fulfilment. Not only can working for yourself bring material rewards, it is a great way to meet people and stay in touch with people from all generations- as customers, partners, suppliers or perhaps staff".

The case for older people continuing work in some form or other is also backed up by PRIME's Chief Executive Laurie South who states that "research shows that cross-generational companies seem to do better".

Working is not just about generating income but about social connectedness with other generations. Maybe if more and more people of us have to continue working as we get older we will have the added benefit of lower levels of social isolation and better inter-generational understanding.

End to legalised age discrimination

2010-07-28T23:02:00.001-07:00

Today the Government announces that it will be scrapping the default retirement age of 65 from October 2011. This effectively means it ends from April 2011 due to the required 6 month notification process. This is a great step towards ensuring that employers manage the performance of all their workforce effectively and will provide the business benefits of helping them to retain relevant experience, skills and the talent needed in their organisations. It also means that the employee has a real choice in deciding what is best for them based on their individual circumstances.

In reality, most people will continue to think about retirement in terms of when their pension becomes available, if they are lucky enough to have one,so there won't be a lot of change.

The key thing is that this announcement will start to help us rethink how we plan for our older lives and help us to see that as we get older we can still have a very valid contribution to make to the younger generations,society and the economy.

Thank you for taking carers seriously

2010-07-27T02:25:00.000-07:00

"Thank you for taking carers seriously" is how HRH Princess Anne ended her speech at the 5th International Care Conference held in Leeds in July 2010. 22 countries were represented at the conference and Princess Anne saw the conference as a real "boost" for carers. She was preceded by the Rt Hon Andrew Lansley talking about care reform with an emphasis on Prevention, Protection, Partnership and Personalisation. He stated that the new Government's vision for the future of adult care is to be announced in the Autumn.

However, the real visionaries, providing hope for the future,came from inspirational speakers representing the conference sponsor Intel with a video from Eric Dishman and in-the-flesh anthropologist Simon Roberts. While both represented this large commercial company which is investing heaviliy in research and development to gain long term benefits from this massively profitable market, what was striking was that, as individuals, they seemed genuinely (refreshingly) passionate and committed to changing the face of care.The key to this seemed to be a big emphasis on understanding, and not forgetting, that technology was there to help,support and enhance the lives of individuals recognising all their foibles, imperfections and what makes us human.

Simon talked about the "magic of ethnography" and the thousands of hours of videos that were used to discuss with engineers who looked painstakingly for patterns of behaviours and ideas so that they could test and then iteratively improve products.He talked about creating products that people "could fondle" and wanted. He talked about being able to "reimagine" solutions and the need to build tools that connect and drive a "careforce".

Princess Anne had recognised earlier that "no-one expects to be a carer" (and everyone hopes they will not need care)but the positive outcome of commercial companies like Intel getting involved in this area is that in the future if, and when, we do become carers or indeed need care, we are less likely to be stigmatised and excluded from society because we have a range of desirable, motivational and life enhancing products and services to look forward to.

29 Hour Days

2010-07-02T00:45:00.000-07:00

On the news today, the good news of life expectancy increasing coupled with the more disturbing news that the life expectancy gap between the poor and the better off is widening. Smoking was trotted out as the single, biggest contributory factor to this difference.

I attended a conference on health and age a couple of years ago and they talked about the increase in life expectancy in terms of us all gaining 5 hours a day, which seems particularly significant to me. But then this was even better expressed as a 29 hour day with how you live your 24 hours today, impacting on the quality of the extra 5 hours you will gain in the future.I like this concept as it is very simple. We need to live well today to ensure we live well in the future.

Vision of the future workforce

2010-06-07T01:23:00.000-07:00

Friends Provident and the Future Foundation have recently released their "Visions of Britain- The Workforce 2020" report. In it, it states there are currently 5.14m "older workers" (defined as aged 55-70). This will increase to 7.16m in 2020, a pretty significant increase.

It has concerned me for some time that when older workers retire,and their will be significant numbers doing this over the next 15 years, that companies lose both tacit knowledge and corporate memory, both areas you can't easily document in a procedural manual for future workers. I was therefore very interested to read that the "recent recession has made business leaders appreciate the merits of retaining experience, placing older workers in a more powerful position than ever before". This has been partly triggered by the fact that most/ a lot of today's key managers have never had to deal with a recession before and the ones who have the experience are either no longer in the workforce or have been marginalised.

The other key point from the report was that older workers' contribution to productivity for example cannot be easily measured and that the "value of experience needs to be calibrated on a separate scale".

I hope this report helps us to focus more on the need to retain older workers in the workforce both for the mutual benefit of the employer and the individual employee.Both parties can win.

The future's bright?

2010-03-26T02:53:00.000-07:00

There was a really interesting feature in the Guardian about solving Japan's ageing problem. (It is a country ageing faster than any other). It's an interesting case study because in the UK we could be faced with similar issues when the baby boomers start to need additional support in older age. Japan is addressing many of its issues through technology (helped in a big way by the motivations of the private sector who see massive market opportunities, particularly in relation to pharmaceuticals, nursing care and medical care.

So our futures could include:
"intelligent toilets" where our waste is automatically analysed and results sent to the GP for action.
Cars which monitor brain activity in older people so that anything out of the ordinary is spotted before an accident happens.
Medical care delivered in the home but remotely, a version of tele-medicine and tele-care.
Easy to swallow food.

I guess if these developments are aimed at keeping people independent in their homes they can be seen as positive, and even hopeful, improvements but only if they also involve lots of human contact too, even if this is via video link, so that we can all be socially included as we get older.

Right to request a second life

2010-03-04T08:50:00.000-08:00

The Government will be introducing its next employment legislation in April with its latest employee “right to request” initiative. This time the right is to request training and it follows the now familiar employment process used in its right to request flexible working and right to work beyond retirement age. It is something that for older people could be wrapped up neatly with the impending review of the default retirement age (currently 65) as a right to request a “second life”. A second life as mentioned in a Harvard Business Review (HBR) article:

“Organisations need to take radical steps to help their executives understand that given current life expectancy, everybody in the company will leave at some point and begin a second life. The only question is at what age”. But there are other questions. How do we shape our second lives? What role does the employer play in the transition, if any? How well-equipped are we to deal with, and finance, a life where employment no longer dominates?

Older workers have a further 30 years of influencing and buying and how they are treated on leaving employment and how they view an organisation in the future is a much neglected aspect of managing the “employer brand”.

Employers might like to consider the business benefits of having an ongoing programme of development for older workers to help with their second lives. The approach could also help the employer to address and engage their:
• corporate social responsibilities
• future brand stakeholders and
• potential brand advocates.

Health at Midlife

2010-02-26T01:00:00.000-08:00

The Department of Health has recently launched a website to measure and improve your health at mid-life. See www.midlifecheck.co.uk It is designed for people over the age of 40 so that seems to be when "mid-life" starts for the DoH. (Research I've conducted over recent years suggest that most middle-aged people don't regard themselves as middle-aged so possibly an issue on the self-identity subject).

However, I've just keyed in my answers and have been reasonably impressed with the process. It provides really useful and probably uncomfortable information about alcoholic units as well as realistic suggestions about how to increase physical activity which are probably quite easy to do if we are prepared to make changes.

It enables you to save your plan and to check progress over time and I shall be forwarding it to some of my friends as it's quite fun to do.

I'm not that keen on the Doctor who kept on appearing and talking to me, not sure if that is supposed to give me the personal touch but I couldn't quite find how to turn her off (you can have a male Doctor if you prefer!).

Life time design

2010-02-18T01:56:00.000-08:00

Following yesterday's blog about "self-identity".The research in the report helps to explain why people, as they get older, are often in denial about needing walking sticks, hearing aids etc because they don't identify with the types of people they perceive as needing them. While a walking stick will actually help to prevent a fall it is quite often only after the event that the need is realised and begrudgingly accepted by the fall victim.

This reality poses a great challenge (how to support people better when they don't feel they need the support) but it also means there are great opportunities for creative solutions. The Royal College for Art for example has for many years been promoting design for life ie everyday items which just grow as you get older without it being a specific "old" product. An example of better design is when B and Q started to target older people designing lighter weight drills, improving colour and choice etc. This helped to open up the market to a much wider customer base such as women. Design for life therefore makes good business sense, it also addresses the issues of ageism and the fact that unplanned for life events can change our ability to function well at any age, and provides flexibility and choice.Maybe if we all started to focus on the customer's lifetime, rather than a simple short term product focus,we could all be much better supported in our older years.

Can do attitude and healthy denial

2010-02-17T02:40:00.000-08:00

Another great report and research to share, this time Intel's "Global Ageing Experience" and I'm going to quote from it.

" People want to focus on what they CAN do, not what they CAN'T do. As one woman told us, succinctly and unambiguously: "you are sick when you are lying in bed". That is why so few people self-identify as either ill or old. Many people chose not to use canes, assistive devices in the home etc. This is not just because these devices are socially stigmatising in appearance, but because these devices reinforce a personal identity as someone who is "sick". Many people sought out challenges as ways of keeping themselves sharp -in fact it seemed that it was people's energy level, will to pursue such challenges that most correlated with self-identification as ill or old".

This suggests that denial is a natural part, and possibly healthy response to keeping going when getting older. The issue and challenge for those who provide health, care and support is how to address the need for support,which will increase with age, while understanding and respecting the overall context of self-identity.

More on this tomorrow.

Future of ageing

2010-02-15T07:58:00.000-08:00

I've just been reading a really interesting report published by the ILC entitled "Fiction, Facts and Future of Older People and Technology".

It makes a number of really good points, such as, "words do more than describe the world, they create it", which is an interesting comment on the terminology we use to refer to older people and the danger of creating a world that we are trying to avoid by careless attention to detail.

It then mentions the contemporary gerontologist's view of ageing "we should understand ageing not in terms of disability, dependency and disadvantage but as a project of identity, experience and meaning".

I think we'd all find this a more motivating and acceptable approach to ageing and if we can keep on reinforcing these kinds of positive words in relation to getting older then hopefully the creation of this world will follow.

2010: AGE OK

2010-02-03T01:09:00.000-08:00

2010 is an interesting year for ageing issues. The Government has brought forward its review of the default retirement age and no doubt the lobbyists are actively presenting their points of view.

To me it is a no-brainer. We should all be able to work for as long as we are able to perform well, whatever our age. This may mean having to change our jobs to enable us to do this and we need to be more realistic about our expectations and employers more prepared to look at flexible options. There needs to be more of a focus on planning for our "second life" of older age where work may feature as part of a portfolio of fulfilling activities. However, most people will still consider retirement at the age their pension kicks in, if they are lucky enough to have one that is.

The second big development this year is the Equality Bill which will ban age discrimination against people over the age of 18 outside of the workplace where good and services are bought. There are going to be lots of exceptions to this so time will tell what kind of an impact this will have.

Age Concern and Help the Aged agreed on their new name last year with the rather uninspiring, but safe, brand name of Age UK. I think they should have called it AGE OK. Two simple words conveying masses of meaning.

Tipping point?

2009-11-10T07:24:00.000-08:00

Walmart are now starting to sell coffins on-line at prices under cutting many funeral homes in the US. The prices are around $895 for a "Dad Remembered" steel model. Asda in the UK is starting to sell walking sticks and mobility aids in some stores. Does this mean that after so many years we're nearly at the "tipping point" where relevant new products and services targeting the needs of older people will become mainstream? I hope so, it's been a long time coming....

Potential breakthrough

2009-10-27T08:47:00.000-07:00

The word "presbyopia" sums up what many people in their mid-life experience, the need to wear reading glasses, and it is usually accompanied by a growing frustration that many things are written in font too small ie restaurant menus. Today it is reported that a Yorkshire based company, Ultralase, has made a breakthrough in treatment for this eye condition. The treatment corrects the problem within 15-20 seconds and will be available in the UK for the first time soon.

It is also clear that the company recognises this is likely to be a very big market due to the growth in the ageing population and the fact that their research shows that many people feel self conscious wearing glasses. Will this be the death knell for Spec Savers et all?

A pensioner's life

2009-10-23T01:46:00.001-07:00

I read in the Yorkshire Post this week that the insurance company AXA are asking a handful of people aged 25-40 to live off the state pension for a week i.e. less than £95. It seems to be part of a campaign to get this age group to think more seriously about putting money aside for the future. I thought it was quite an innovative way to get over the message by using peer group case studies and it will be interesting to see the results.

The lady who was featured had to seriously adjust her current life style and expenditure to be able to live off this amount of money involving shopping at Lidl and taking the bus and it was all seen as a bit grim. However, I was wondering if it would also help to show that our current life is just all too fast and the stresses we create in many respects unnecessary and that maybe, just maybe, slowing down and having the time to travel in a more leisurely fashion, looking around at nature, cooking from basic ingredients etc may show a life much more appealing.We have two key resources, time and money, and possibly we have lost sight of how precious time is.There again it would be good to have the money to enjoy our precious time without worrying and there are so many in our society unable to do this. I hope the AXA pilot helps in some way to address this.

Equality Bill

2009-10-21T00:16:00.001-07:00

It was good to see Harriet Harman and Trevor Phillips talking about the impact of the forthcoming Equality Bill but Phillips also warned there was a lot of ageism in the City, saying: "The financial services industry has a very particular age structure; it hires and promotes preferentially between 25 and 39, and that in itself immediately poses a disadvantage to women," he said. "The culture of the industry effectively says that, after 40, you haven't got anything to contribute." This kind of ageism is also prevalent in other industries particularity advertising for example where the bulk of employees,95%, are under the age of 50.

Bearing in mind that the older generations have often been called "the invisibles" it's a bit scary if you start to be invisible from the age of 40. However, hopefully the increase in the number of older people who are healthier, better educated and more demanding than previous older generations and who are keen to vote will help to ensure that in time this kind of ageism will die out. It would be good if the Equality Bill could in some way accelerate this change.

Role models for the future

2009-10-12T21:55:00.000-07:00

Soon the second war generations of the "Dunkirk spirit" and "make do and mend" mentality will be passing on the baton, making the "baby boomer" generations the elders of our society. This gives us a tremendous responsibility and also a great opportunity to be role models for future older people. We can start to change attitudes towards getting old. We can show that by staying fit and healthy, having a wide range of stimulating interests, sharing our experiences and supporting others and engaging in meaningful activities can make a difference to our older years and how we are viewed.There again,this applies to all generations.

New approaches to traditional values

2009-10-09T00:42:00.000-07:00

"Tradition" and traditional values are commonly associated with older people and new, modern aspects of life are usually (and stereotypically) associated with the "young". But as usual, life is not so clear cut.

In York, a new branch of the Women's Institute is being founded by women in their 20s although their is no age barrier. They are interested in the old, traditional values of baking and jam making etc and this is seen as a new urban development bringing people together for social contact (and I suspect comfort in these difficult time).

What is great about this is is that they are also adding a fresh touch of technology to the successful WI recipe with social networking, Twitter and Facebook added to the formula. What a great blend and a way to keep the best of "old" fashioned values alive.

Rethink "older worker"

2009-10-08T00:39:00.000-07:00

I came across the Age and Generations Study conducted by the Sloan Centre at Boston College yesterday. It states that "several major changes have occurred in recent years that make chronological age an unreliable indicator of individuals' experiences with regards to work and life". It asks the very valid question "why, when examining our workforce, would we compare groups of employees based on chronological age alone?"

It suggests examining employees' perceptions of employment experiences through "multiple age-related lenses" including for example:
-chronological age and generations
-life course eg life events and transitions
-career stage eg if someone has made a career change or taken time out of work they may actually feel they are in an earlier career-stage
-tenure ie the number of years an employee has been with an employer which is a measure of the relationship with the employer.

The Employers Forum on Age a number of years ago did research which focused on employees' attitudes, rather than their age, in terms of their likely performance at work.

This all strikes me as a much more positive approach to accessing the workforce although it is undoubtedly more complex for the employer.I suggest that if employers get a richer understanding of the individuals within their workforce using feedback from managers and the teams they lead, and take effective action,they can engender a more motivated workforce. We are also more likely to move away from the meaningless default retirement age of 65, which focuses on age alone and not attitude, ability, need, expereince etc etc .

Oxford Internet Institute Research

2009-10-07T00:25:00.000-07:00

The Oxford Internet Institute has recently published the Oxford Internet Survey and the results show that only 50% of the 50+ age group has access to the internet. Not surprisingly this declines with age as you would expect ( for example 73% of 50-54s have access but only 20% of 75+).

Many of the areas being developed today use technology to help older people maintain their independence as they age,(partly because it is a much cheaper option). These developments will be able to provide communication links, help with day-to-day activities, health and care monitoring and hopefully much, much more and may be all well and good as part of a future strategy for dealing with our older folk but for the oldest age groups now, the solution has to be earlier intervention and prevention and more direct people-care.

Welcome

2009-10-07T00:12:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about blogging for awhile and this is my first attempt. I feel I have something to say, a view, an opinion and no real outlet so I'm going to see how this progresses.I have a passion for improving our older years and hope that this in some way can help

I wanted a positive title and many of the ones I liked have already been taken so I've gone with AgeBounce, partly inspired by an old friend of mine. Whenever you ask him how he is, he will reply "bouncing" and I've always felt envious that someone could always feel that good. So I just want to put a spring in the step of getting older.

In my first blog,I featured an extract from an article I wrote for the publication the Mature Times. This is the biggest campaiging newspaper for the 50+ with 500,000 readers and 100,000 accessing through the internet.Apart from the fact that they are good enough to publish some of my material, so I am obviously biased, they are really worth checking out if you want to keep up to date on some of the issues www.maturetimes.co.uk

Lily and Oscar: Mature Times article:

2009-10-06T05:47:00.000-07:00

A link between Lily Allens’ latest single “22” and Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (now out on film) may seem unlikely or even improbable, but both are essentially about the loss of youth and beauty (and implied worth) due to age. They are also both great reflections of their time- one published in 1890 and the other 119 years later. They essentially show that our attitude to ageing hasn’t changed one jot.

You’re not missing much musically if you haven’t heard Lily’s song but I was intrigued by the words which are, something along the lines “when she was 22 her future looked bright, but she’s nearly 30 now and she’s out every night… how did I get here and wondering why? It’s sad but it’s true.. How society says her life is already over”, you get the gist. Now I was tempted to use the good old Sex Pistols’ response “never mind the boll**ks Lily” but I’ve got to say it did get me thinking. Is there hidden behind these poetic words a more serious issue that individuals in every generation have a tendency to self-discriminate based on age? This means they miss out on key opportunities because of an in-built pre-programmed predisposition towards negativity i.e. getting old is just plain “bad” (not in the Michael Jackson sense). Life is written off at 30 with a future spanning 50 years or more of gradual decline leading to ultimate despair and then death.

See the full article at www.maturetimes.co.uk