Posts Tagged “mature age jobs”

Tasmanian workers told ‘you’re too old for the job’ by employment agencies, inquiry hears

A national inquiry into age and disability discrimination in the workforce has heard some Tasmanian workers are being told that they are too old for jobs they are applying for.

The Australian Human Rights Commission’s Willing to Work Inquiry has heard from about 60 older workers and employers and peak interest groups in Launceston and Hobart.

It examined practices, attitudes and laws that deny or reduce older people and people with a disability access to equal employment opportunities.

Age and Disability Discrimination Commissioner Susan Ryan said urgent reform was needed.

“We hear that sometimes [older workers] are told directly by employment agencies that they’re too old for the job they’re interested in,” she said.

“In other cases they’re not told that directly but they never get feedback as to why they’re unsuccessful in applying for a job for which they’re very qualified.

“We hear that older workers are asked to put their age on applications, when they should not have to do that.

“The purpose of that is to discriminate against them, there’s no other purpose in doing that.”

Older workers ‘angry and frustrated’

She said the ramifications of age discrimination were devastating on families.

“We hear that by and large older workers feel that they don’t have a fair chance to get a job when there’s one advertised,” she said.

“Of course for a person say in their 50s who still has a lot of household expenses, mortgage, kids and so forth this is absolutely devastating.”

Sue Leitch from the Tasmanian Council on the Ageing interviewed a handful of older Tasmanians before giving evidence in Hobart.

She said they were angry and frustrated.

“There is a high level of frustration that is being felt by people that are either looking for work or are in work places where there’s not necessarily good work culture towards older people,” she said.

“What we’re finding in some of the restructures that have been going on in organisations is that people in their early 50s are being earmarked for redundancies and virtually tapped on the shoulder.”

Commissioner Ryan said Tasmania was improving and she welcomed the development of a diversity and inclusion plan for the public service.

“Which will lead to those departments and agencies putting in place strategies to give mature workers and workers with disability more opportunities,” she said.

“So I think we’re going to see some improvements here in Hobart.”

A report will be prepared for the Commonwealth Government by June next year.

Topics: discrimination, community-and-society, work, tas

EXCLUSIVE: Govt plan for older workers falls short

MAX OPRAY

A federal government plan to boost mature-age employment has fallen spectacularly short of its target.

A government plan is offering older job-seekers little assistance. *Photo: Shutterstock*

The Restart scheme needs to be restarted. That’s the verdict of the Department of Employment, which is set to overhaul the wage subsidy program, designed to get older Australians back to work, from November 1.

Introduced in the 2014 federal budget, the $524.8 million Restart scheme offered up to $10,000 over two years to employers willing to take on workers aged over 50.

The original target was to secure work for 32,000 mature-age jobseekers every year, but enquiries made by The New Daily to the Department of Employment reveal that the scheme found jobs for just 2318 people during its first 15 months.

The employment situation only got worse for mature-age workers after the launch of the program – in the year to January 2015, there were 80,000 unemployed Australians aged 55 and over, an increase of 12 per cent over the year before.

The Human Rights Commission’s National Prevalence Survey of Age Discrimination in the workplace found 27 per cent of Australians aged 50-plus indicated they had experienced some form of age discrimination in the workplace in the past two years.

One such mature-age worker struggling to find a gig is 61-year-old Michael Oates, who worked in work health and safety for local government in Adelaide until he lost his job three years ago.

He was told by recruiters his 40 years of experience in the area was a disadvantage not an advantage, and after applying for dozens of jobs in his field of expertise without so much as an interview, he started to believe them.

Mr Oates then started applying outside his area for any kind of work at all, and didn’t even hear back from employers advertising casual low-skill roles.

“Because you don’t hear anything, you almost give up,” he said.

“You think – what’s the point?”

Mr Oates, who currently keeps himself busy by volunteering with DOME, a mature-age recruitment service, is in a particularly competitive environment: South Australia, where unemployment is easily the highest in the nation.

The latest unemployment figures show the state’s jobless rate hovering at 7.9 per cent.

South Australian Council of Social Service (SACOSS) executive director Ross Womersley told The New Daily the idea behind the government’s wage subsidy program seemed good, but he is concerned at how it has worked in practice.

“It is incredibly regrettable,” he said.

“On the back of the performance so far, I’d be tempted to call for a review [of Restart], some development of insight as to why it isn’t attracting the interest that it should.

“Is it simply employers don’t know about scheme, or that employers don’t rate it?

“Or is there something in the mechanisms of administration that make it difficult and cumbersome to deal with?”

He said wage subsidies gave mature-age workers a chance to prove themselves, but expressed concern that workers might be pushed out of their existing jobs if the money stopped coming in.

What’s on offer?

The Restart program was originally due to be reassessed in June 2016, but under former employment minister Eric Abetz it was announced in the 2015/16 budget that changes would be brought in well ahead of that date, aiming to increase take-up and reduce complexity for employers.

From this coming Sunday, employers will be able to access the subsidy of $10,000 over 12 months instead of two years.

Rather than waiting out a qualifying period, employers will be able to start receiving the subsidy from the moment the mature-age worker starts work, receiving up to $6500 over a 12-month period and a bonus of up to $3500 for employment which lasts the full 12 months.

There are also special provisions to be introduced for employers taking on 10 or more mature-aged workers to co-ordinate payment times with the costs of group training and induction programs.

The half-a-billion dollars in funding for the Restart scheme has been moved into a single wage subsidy pool of $1.2 billion over four years, shared with three other employment incentive schemes.

System vulnerable to exploitation

When the revamp was first announced COTA (formerly Council on the Ageing) chief executive Ian Yates expressed concern that the pooling of wage subsidiary budgets could see the money allocated for mature-age workers spent elsewhere.

He slammed the lack of other measures to address age discrimination, as well as the requirement that the funding only apply to mature-age workers who have been out of a job for at least six months, and the shortening of time over which employers could receive the full wage subsidy.

“We are concerned that this could lead to some employers churning older employees on short contracts so employers benefit from the incentive but the workers become unemployed again,” he said.

The wage subsidy program is not the only action being taken on mature-age workers, with the Attorney-General having ordered a national inquiry into discrimination against older and disabled workers.

The inquiry is currently undertaking a series of consultations and roundtables around Australia, with the next stop in unemployment hotspot Adelaide on November 2.

Source: The New Daily

Is your organisation mobilising its ‘grey army’?

Monday, September 21st, 2015 – Happening People

The number of Australians aged 65 and over is projected to more than double by 2055. As our population ages and workforce shrinks, there are increasingly calls for businesses to tap into its ‘grey army’ – the often under-utilised cohort of skilled Australians aged 50 and over.

Recently, a new report commissioned by the Australian Human Rights Commission show more than a quarter of Australians aged 50 and over reported experiencing some form of age discrimination in the workplace during the past two years. This figure increases for those aged 55 to 64. And when managers were asked if they factored age into their decision-making, a third responded they did.

As any successful business owner will tell you, the key to a well oiled and financially stable establishment lies in its greatest asset – its people.

The loss of knowledge as senior and experienced workers retires impacts organisations. When older workers are overlooked, it’s the employers who miss out. Business leaders and HR Directors need to understand the key to staying viable and successful is to develop workplace practices that will help you attract and retain older employees.

Here are just a few benefits that mature-age workers can bring to your organisation:

Knowledge: older workers have often accumulated a wealth of knowledge, experience and skills during their time in the workforce, which are valuable assets to business
Desirable traits: they are generally highly dependable and committed with more life experience and wisdom
Established networks and external experiences: assets which also add value to business
Workplace training and mentoring: mature-age workers’ wealth of knowledge and experience are valuable resources in workplace training and mentoring programs, helping businesses save costs on staff development and knowledge transfer
Matching profiles with customer base: as the population ages, mature age employees will increasingly reflect the profiles of your customer base, allowing them to better empathise with and meet the needs of customers.

There needs to be a shift in attitude and a push by business leaders and HR Directors to hire and retain older workers. Part two of this post will cover some strategies that businesses can employ to encourage workers over the age of 50 to work beyond the traditional age of retirement.

Recognising the value skilled workers aged 50 and over can bring is only the first step in creating a sustainable workforce. Business leaders and HR Directors also need to employ appropriate strategies and practices to help them attract and retain this cohort of older workers and encourage them to work beyond the traditional age of retirement. Here are some strategies below:

Ensure there are age-friendly policies and practices in place in your organisation to combat stereotyping and discrimination against older employees

Provide flexible work options. Unlike younger employees, many older workers are at a stage in their lives where they have commitments around extended family and caring for others. Catering to their changing lifestyle needs can encourage older workers to stay in the workforce longer.Flexible work arrangements can be offered in a variety of forms, some of which include: shifting to part-time position or job-sharing; flexible work hours adjusted to accommodate older workers’ family commitments; working from home; and working as consultant after retirement.
Work with your mature-age employees to establish a tailored phased-retirement plan and reduce their working time and workload in a staggered approach over an agreed period.
Offer your older employees tailored training and up-skilling to help them sustain workplace competencies to meet the requirements of the workplace and keep up with the pace of change.

Give your valued mature-age employees the option of transferring to a role with fewer responsibilities and reduced pay can help keep them in the workforce longer and retain vital corporate knowledge and skills.

As Australia’s labour pool shrinks, the importance of engaging and retaining older skilled workers becomes an increasingly pressing priority.

Business leaders need to recognise the value and potential its ‘grey army’ can offer and then put in place appropriate strategies to tap into this under-utilised resource. If not, our future productivity will likely suffer.

Source: Happening People

Why we need to rethink what ‘old’ looks like

Sep 2, 2015

Our population is getting older. Between 2012 and 2022, the number of people aged between 50 and State Pension age will rise by almost four million, while the numbers aged 16 to 49 will fall – and amazingly, one in three babies born today is expected to live to 100. It is, of course, good news that most people can expect to live much longer.

And the even better news is that most of the increasing numbers of older people will be fitter and healthier for longer too. This means we need to update our concept of what ‘old’ means and alter the stereotypes, particularly of older people in the workplace.

Change is already beginning as employers are starting to realise what they stand to lose if their older staff leave. Some firms are finding ways to retain their more mature workers, making it easier for them to keep on working in later life. I would urge all employers to take this issue seriously. If they don’t, they risk losing a large chunk of their workforce – and valuable skills in coming years.

Enabling those who want to work longer has the power to make British businesses more competitive and increase our country’s economic activity significantly.

Many older people want to keep working. Not only can this benefit their income and general wellbeing, it could also provide a significant boost to their pensions, as well as to the economy.

Since 2011, the Government has outlawed forced retirement at age 65. This has allowed record numbers to stay in work – more than 1million over 65s are now choosing to keep working.

Looking to the future

Since my report earlier this year ‘A New Vision for Older Workers: Retain, Retrain, Recruit’, when I was the Government’s Business Champion for Older Workers, progress has been made.

Numerous employers have written to tell me what they are doing to break the age barriers, including committing to mid-life career reviews for their workforce and providing advice to line-managers on how to support their female staff during the menopause. And there are many more areas that employers are exploring. For example, as they facilitate childcare needs for younger workers, they are considering how to support older employees who may have caring responsibilities.

In turn the Government is also increasing the support available to help older people return to work. Too many over 50s find it too difficult to re-join the labour market in later life, but desperately want to, so we have introduced ‘Older workers’ champions in Jobcentres around the country, as well as a number of pilots to support older people into work by helping them to build their confidence and skills.

Waking up to the benefits of older workers

One firm that has certainly recognised the benefits of older workers is Barclays. It has actively promoted an apprenticeship programme to encourage a range of people to apply – including the over 50s. You may have seen their adverts on TV this week.

The Head of Apprenticeships at Barclays, Mike Thompson, wants to recruit people of all ages and backgrounds. He finds the life experience and empathy that older workers bring, often helps when speaking to customers.

I absolutely agree with this. Having a diverse workforce – including an age diverse workforce – enables a business to reflect its customer base; to better understand and better serve its whole range of clients in an ageing population.

Angela is one of the Barclays scheme’s new recruits. She is 51 and has successfully secured an apprenticeship with the firm. Before joining, she cared for her father for a number of years, but was keen to re-join the workforce. She now has the opportunity to be supported in learning new skills and progressing with her career.

She feared employers would not be interested in her, but is really enjoying her new role and enjoys being part of, what she calls, the “hustle and bustle” of working life.

Still a long way to go

But of course some employers have yet to see the light. Overcoming ageism and other barriers to encourage fuller working lives remains a priority for me. I will continue to update you on our progress.

As we can look forward to living longer, we need to re-think what ‘old’ looks like and dispel any myths that over 50s or over 60s will all soon be ‘past it’ – most of them can benefit from learning new skills and taking on new challenges.

Nowadays, being over 50 does not necessarily mean you will soon stop work. Employers who harness the talent, dedication, loyalty and enthusiasm of the over 50s will reap significant benefits in future. Taking this issue seriously can help everyone – it is good for ourselves, our economy and our nation’s success.

The Age Paradox: Older workers can be a tool to business success

By Jackie Keast on August 7, 2015

"Mr. Fix It": Terry Cole, 63, loves to share his experience as former fitter and turner, electrician and electrical mechanic with his customers at Bunnings Castle Hill

In the second part of her series exploring the age discrimination facing mature-age job seekers, Jackie Keast looks at the advantages of hiring older workers.

Judy Higgins established a niche job board for mature workers, olderworkers.com.au, after her husband Shane spent over two years looking for work. Shane had left his former job at 58 as he was unhappy. He figured he would pick up work quickly. However, during his job search, he found his age was consistently brought up an issue.

“Two years. It was just horrific,” says Judy. “We thought there really had to be a job board for people over the age of 45 or 50, so they could apply for jobs knowing that their age wouldn’t be a disincentive.”

Prior to creating the job board, Judy worked for the Queensland Government on the Experience Pays Awareness Strategy, a program that worked with employers to promote the benefits of older workers.

“We had employers saying ‘well I’ll employ them, but I can’t find them, I don’t know where they are.’ So we thought let’s try to put them together, match them up. So that’s what we’re doing.” she says.

Judy, 63, operates the job board with help from Shane, 67, and their son, Matt. Since its launch just over five years ago, the website has become the fastest growing job board of its kind, with over 21,000 registered job seekers and over 1,500 registered employers. Jobs on the board cover a variety of trades and profession, both full and part-time.

Judy says employers have chosen to advertise with them as they recognise mature workers as loyal, reliable and experienced in dealing with difficult workplace situations.

“We had a large hospitality place ring us one day and say, ‘For goodness sake, can you find us someone who will turn up and won’t have a hangover on a Sunday morning?’,” she says.

After success in Australia, there are plans to launch a New Zealand version of the site later this year. However, despite the growth in business, Judy says there is no doubt age discrimination is alive and well. She says the job seekers who come to them often report frustration with recruitment agencies and young human resources staff.

”They’ve got all these negative thoughts about the skills and energy levels of older people,” she says. “They look across the table during the interview and think ‘well, you’re older than my mother or father, and in some cases, older than my grandparents’.”

Changing employers’ attitudes

Judy says she hasn’t seen an increase in clientele since the introduction of Restart, the Federal Government’s $10,000 wage subsidy for employers who hire workers over 50. She believes the cash is not incentive enough. Instead, she feels the government has to work to change employers’ psyche and allow them to recognise older people are capable and willing to work.

She believes training programs are critical for getting older workers back into the workforce and that the government needs to set up employment agencies that cater specifically for older workers’ needs.

“[Restart] is not going to change anybody’s mind if they aren’t already committed to older workers,” she says. “You could make the retirement age 90. You can pluck a figure out of the air. It won’t matter what age you make it, unless you’ve got employers who are prepared to employ older people.”

In order to help develop a commitment to older workers, Judy’s website has developed a pledge for employers to sign. The pledge states that employers’ will offer the same opportunities for older workers as all other workers through the recruitment, training and retention processes. Several large employers have signed, such as Woolworths, Telstra and BP.

A poster company for hiring over 50s

One major client of olderworkers.com.au is Bunnings, Australia’s largest household hardware chain, who are acknowledged by the Human Rights Commission and seniors’ advocacy groups like National Seniors Australia as a poster company for employers hiring over 50s in Australia.

In February this year, when Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey launched the National Seniors’ Age Management Toolkit, a guideline for hiring older workers, he did so at a Bunnings. Over a third of Bunnings’ workforce is over 50, with some employees even in their 80s.

“Last time I looked, the oldest worker was 83,” says Willem Pruys, Bunnings’ general manager of human resources. “In recent times, I awarded a 10 year service badge to someone who started with us when they were 68.”

Pruys says hiring older workers has been the company’s deliberate recruitment strategy for the last 15 years. “We had lots of training programs, as we still do, to help our team come up to speed with all the information you anticipate a customer might require, but there’s no substitute in terms of trust for someone who’s actually been on the tools and brings years of wisdom along with their knowledge,” he says.

Bunnings’ initial recruitment strategy targeted older tradespeople who still wanted to share their expertise but may have been struggling to keep up with the physical demands of their trade. From there, management soon realised older workers from all backgrounds brought a common sense and maturity to the business.

“We found to our absolute amazement – and to some degree, I’m still a little amazed by it – that we were the only people fishing in a very large pool of talent. For a lot of years, we’ve had it all to ourselves,” says Pruys.

“Having a mechanical knowledge, I can describe to people how to look after their equipment, so I enjoy that,” says Terry Cole, 63, who works in the power gardening section. Terry has been working part-time at Bunnings Castle Hill since February. Terry is a fitter and turner, electrician and electrical mechanic by trade and used to run his own company.

“I have three grandkids. They love coming to Bunnings and are proud that Pop’s working here. My grandson calls me Mr-Fix-It,” he says.

Terry says he was surprised and pleased to see Bunnings hired people of all ages, from uni students, apprentices and the semi-retired. “I’m a young person in some ways, there’s some people here in their 70s! It’s great to see, because out there generally, it can be hard,“ he says.

Daniela Macerola, 51, has also worked at Castle Hill Bunnings for the last three years. “I like the culture here,” she says. “There are a lot of us around the same age group; we get on really well. A lot of us are going through the same stage of life, with kids and everything, so you can relate to each other,” she says.

Prior to Bunnings, Daniela worked in various retail and customer service roles. Despite never working with tools before, she now works as a tool expert. “It’s amazing what you pick up. They say old people don’t pick up things, but that’s rubbish!”

Value of older workers

Pruys says an advantage of hiring experienced workers is that not only do they pass on their knowledge to the customers, but also to their fellow team members. “These people are natural teachers. We don’t have to run as much training, because it just happens informally,” he says.

He believes some other employers are scared to hire older workers due to health risks and higher rates of workplace injury. “We look at that and say, well, the return we get on that investment is so huge, it’s not an issue,” he says.

Bunnings is careful as to where it places older staff to avoid physical wear and tear. Flexible working arrangements also mean staff can work rosters to suit them, so that they can spend time with the grandkids or work other jobs. This flexibility means they often chose to retire later.

“We work fairly hard at encouraging them to stay with us and be flexible in accordance with where they’re at in life,” says Pruys. “A lot will choose to have some form of paid work as part of their lives for as long as they physically can.”

Pruys says that more and more employers will need to look to older workers as the population ages. “It’s going to be a real challenge for businesses to resource their ongoing growth,” he says. “Even though we’re actively involved now in employing the older worker, we’re going to have to get better at it.”

The Age Paradox is a series of articles by AAA journalist Jackie Keast

Discrimination Standing in the Way of Older Workers

Posted: Monday, August 3, 2015 – 10:30

Author: Xavier Smerdon

The most significant barrier facing older workers in Australia is age discrimination, according to Labor’s Shadow Minister for Ageing, Shayne Neumann.

Speaking at the Community Work 2015 conference in Melbourne last week, Neumann said older Australians were being held back from the workforce not due to a lack of want.

“The data shows that older people want to work, however the Australian Human Rights Commission research into age stereotypes found negative assumptions about ageing prevail,” Neumann said.

“These negative perceptions have real, pervasive and damaging consequences.

“As one of the largest growth sectors, social and community services need to see a massive increase in services, particularly for older Australians. And that workforce is going to need to be greyer.”

Neumann said that Labor supported Age Discrimination Commissioner Susan Ryan’s concept of jobs checkpoints.

He said jobs checkpoints would operate out of TAFE Colleges and provide support and assistance for people who need to look at their employment options.

“It is one thing to get older people into work, but we need to address two of the biggest barriers to mature age employment,” he said.

“The first is the absence of adequate workers compensation provision and income protection to cover older workers.

“I am pleased that this issue is the subject of a recent media focus and public debate.

“However, the most significant barrier to employment is age discrimination.

“Rather than punishing older people, [we need to look] creatively at how we can maximise the opportunities presented by the longevity revolution.

“With more people turning retirement age than working age, as a nation we have to address housing and public transport, work and productivity, taxation and revenue streams, age discrimination and much more.”

Neumann also used his speech to defend the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) and said that the social sector was still “misunderstood, undervalued and often dismissed”.

“While Tony Abbott’s Minister for Social Services, Scott Morrison has not been as zealous as his predecessor Kevin Andrews has in trying to remove the ACNC, the fact is that Bill remains on the Notice Paper,” he said.

“Labor continues to stand with the sector to support the ACNC, which is critical to a well-functioning not-for-profit sector.

“We recognise the vital work you perform. That is not the case with all sides of politics.

“I believe this sector is misunderstood, undervalued and often dismissed. Essentially it is a perception issue.

“You provide services as opposed to products. While services industries are the fastest growing sectors, I think there is a resistance to understanding how we trade and maximise services.

“Unlike a piece of coal you cannot weigh it, measure it or hold it in your hand.”

– See more at: http://www.probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2015/08/discrimination-standing-way-older-workers#sthash.KL3TgUec.dpuf

Source: Pro Bono Australia

Are workplaces ready for older workers?

It’s the latest thing in retirement: not retiring. More workers are planning to continue in the workforce past age 65, and some plan to never retire.

Nearly 60 percent of 50-plus workers plan to continue working past age 65, and 82 percent of workers age 60 and over have the same goal, according to a white paper published in June by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies.

Workers’ plans could represent a healthy trend in light of researchsuggesting that mental stimulation helps delay cognitive decline. But old workers will only be able to follow through on those plans if employers are in fact ramping up en masse to accommodate them in later life.

That is not the case, at least not yet. Just 4 percent of the employers responding to a 2014 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management reported that they have a formal strategy for recruiting or retaining older workers. And research by JP Morgan found that while 67 percent of all current workers expect to retire after age 65, in reality, just 23 percent do.

Labor force participation by older workers is increasing, but “workers’ expectations may exceed today’s labor force realities,” said Catherine Collinson, president of the Transamerica center.

The problem is particularly acute for women, since they tend to accumulate less in retirement savings and they have longer life expectancies. A new report from Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., found that the average income of women over age 65 is just 55 percent of men in the same age bracket.

“Women face systemic barriers that hinder their ability to access a secure retirement, barriers that begin long before they reach the retirement age,” wrote Sen. Murray to her colleagues on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

That’s not to say that all employers have their head in the sand. In fact, one major industry, health care, often dominates lists of the best employers for older workers. (In addition, women make up about 80 percent of the health-care workforce.)

Ann Doshi, a nurse educator at Morristown Medical Center in New Jersey, is still going full steam at “65-plus,” as she puts it, or just shy of 66. Doshi has been working in operating rooms for 40 years, first as a scrub technician, then as an operating room nurse, and now as an educator for other operating room nurses.

“To be in this kind of position, they prefer someone with experience,” she said. “It’s one thing to use theory, and another to have the hands-on experience.” But Doshi thinks the same may not hold true in other professions. “I think you find that in many fields, when people reach certain ages, the mentality is ‘maybe we can get someone in here who is fresh,’ ” she said.

Baby boomers represent about 40 percent of the Atlantic Health workforce, said Lesley Meyer, corporate manager of human resources.

Carol Indri, 50, an operating room nurse at Morristown and one of Doshi’s trainees, also finds the hospital and its parent company, Atlantic Health, very open to workers in the AARP years. But she said she knows people who have not been nearly so lucky. She pointed to a friend of hers whose husband left her when she was in her early 40s, who has been “barely able to keep a job” and is now “on the welfare side of life.”

Employers may soon be forced to make more provisions for older workers. People over age 65 accounted for 12.6 percent of the U.S. population in 1990, but their share is expected to increase to 16.8 percent by 2020 and 20.9 percent by 2050, according to Census Bureau calculations.

For now, though, older workers would do well to have a plan B for their so-called golden years.

Source: CNBC

New collaboration on mature age workforce participation

By Linda Belardi on July 10, 2015

The potential of intergenerational job sharing will be piloted as part of a push spearheaded by an aged care organisation to encourage employers to offer more flexible workplaces to mature age employees.

Under the model, older workers will be partnered with returning to work parents in job sharing roles and the positive effects on job satisfaction and wellbeing investigated.

Alison Errey, head of stakeholder engagement at IRT Group, said the opportunities for mentoring and skills sharing through job share were significant.

While traditional job sharing arrangements have frequently brought together workers at similar life stages, Ms Errey said there could be unexpected benefits from intergenerational partnerships.

“What we would like to test is why wouldn’t you match the 68-year-old who wants to decelerate their participation in the workforce with the mum returning post-maternity leave who wants to accelerate her transition back into the workforce. It’s a logical fit,” Ms Errey told Australian Ageing Agenda.

She said while governments have been proactive in developing flexible work practices for parents returning to work, flexible options for mature age workers were lagging. “We would like to see that same amount of flexibility offered to older workers,” Ms Errey said.

The IRT Foundation and the Australian Human Rights Commission announced on Wednesday a ‘statement of intent’ to collaborate on a range of pilot projects to boost mature age workforce participation.

Among the other ideas to be progressed are a mature workforce roundtable and the piloting of a skills checkpoint, an initiative strongly championed by Age Discrimination Commissioner Susan Ryan.

As with health checkups, a skills check would be preventative and help set a person up for the next 20 years of their working life.

Under Ms Ryan’s plan, anyone approaching 50 could attend a local TAFE to a get an analysis of their current skills and advice on local demand for jobs and the training and credentials required to transition careers.

“It is a fact that most people approaching 50 need to think about moving jobs, particularly people in declining sectors such as manufacturing or print journalism, and also those working in jobs that make heavy physical demands, such as building, trades or nursing,” Ms Ryan told the IRT event on Wednesday. “They will need to look for and retrain for jobs that build on their experience but do not make the physical demands they can no longer meet.”

A checkpoint service would support older workers to transition smoothly into training or further work, and help people plan for increased longevity.

The foundation is seeking to recruit a range of partners from diverse sectors to participate in the pilot programs and has already held talks with the ACT Government.

Ms Errey said the foundation would like to evaluate the effectiveness of the pilots to demonstrate to employers the value of these models, such as an intergenerational job share arrangement.

“We want to get some hard data around what are the benefits, what are the outcomes of these models which will provide a compelling argument to employers to have a look at these strategies.”

The IRT Foundation is a division of IRT Group, which funds research, community grants, education and advocacy to promote positive ageing and build age-friendly communities.

Australia ‘middle of the pack’ in handling ageing workforce

PwC launched the results of the Golden Age Index yesterday, an OECD ranking of nations by their employment of mature age workers.

Australia jumped five places to be ranked in 15^th place, which PwC global people business leader Jon Williams attributes to the Federal Government’s efforts to increase support of Australia’s ageing demographic.

Iceland, the occupier of the top spot, has retained the highest place since 2003.
The index is a weighted average of seven indicators that reflect the labour market impact of workers aged over 55:

Employment rate, 55-64
Employment rate, 65-69
Gender gap in employment 55-64
Incidence of part time work, 55-64
Full time earnings, 55-64, relative to 25-54
Average effective labour force exit age
Participation in training, 55-64

“While Australia is in the middle of the pack moving from 20th to 15^thplace among the 34 nations, New Zealand continues to excel, maintaining its second place behind Iceland,” Williams said at the launch.

He explained that the PwC modelling shows that If Australia’s employment rate for workers aged 55-69 grew to be equal to that of New Zealand’s by 2050, Australia could:

Increase GDP by 4.7% – $198 billion at today’s value
Improve the Commonwealth and state/territory budgets by 1.7%
Reduce net debt by 11% GDP by 2050

“Employing more mature workers doesn’t block the path for younger workers, it actually makes our nation stronger, as more workers generate more demand and therefore more jobs in the economy,” Williams continued. “However we need to change our social bias toward older workers to allow this to happen.”

Williams criticised the population’s mindset, which he suggested needs to be moved out of a rut.

“We are stuck in a cradle to grave model of career progression with a stigma towards changing careers and taking a step back,” he said. “Treasurer Joe Hockey’s appointment of Susan Ryan AO as the first Ambassador for Mature Age Employment is a great step forward. It’s pleasing to see the Federal Government’s commitment to a group of workers that are sometimes overlooked.”

This year’s Budgest Announcement included a pledge to improve career prospects for mature workers, with the Government reducing the payment period of the $10,000 ‘Restart Wage’ subsidy to 12 months.

“Businesses who make better use of the skills and experience of older workers gain a real competitive advantage at a time when their customer bases are also ageing,” Williams said.

Key initiatives

“From the perspective of an individual company at a point in time, it might seem that more older workers could just block progression and new job opportunities for younger workers,” the report’s authors said. “However, from a longer term macroeconomic perspective, as we are adopting in this study, this should not be the case.”

The report suggested that businesses could gain from job redesign and role shifts to enable longer careers and manage the health issues facing older workers.

“Training and development should not stop at 50,” the report states. “Family crisis leave, career breaks and alumni programmes could all help to utilise the skills of older workers at a time when customer bases are also ageing. Age should be included indiversity audits for companies.”

It was also suggested that companies should strive to “move away from linear seniority-based career paths”.

“This would allow older workers, where appropriate later in their careers, to shift down into part-time or advisory roles, avoiding any possible blockage to the career progression of younger workers,” the report reads.

Is Scandinavia’s approach the answer?

According to the index, Sweden has one of the OECD’s highest employment rates for older workers, particularly amongst women.

“This reflects a series of policy measures since the early 1990s to counteract early retirement and support older workers,” the report says. “A new state pension regime introduced in the 1990s provided incentives to keep working beyond 65, supported by tax incentives for both individuals and employers.”

“Policies to keep women in the workforce after maternity also seem to be reflected in longer working lives for women. This may also be influenced by evolving social norms.”

PwC’s rankings

The top 20 countries for employing mature workers are:

1. Iceland
2. New Zealand
3. Sweden
4. Israel
5. Norway
6. Chile
7. United States
8. Korea
9. Japan
10. Estonia
11. Switzerland
12. Denmark
13. Mexico
14. Canada
15. Australia
16. Finland
17. Portugal
18. Germany
19. United Kingdom
20. Netherlands

Source: HC Online

Over 50? 5 Smart Tips for Landing a New Job

By Chad Brooks, Business News Daily Senior Writer

For many people, finding a new job after the age of 50 becomes more difficult.

After losing a job, older job seekers, compared to younger counterparts, receive fewer job offers, search for weeks longer and are ultimately less likely to find re-employment, according to a new study recently published in the Psychological Bulletin.

Based on data from the U.S. government’s 2014 Displaced Worker Survey, researchers discovered that job seekers over age 50 are likely to be unemployed 5.8 weeks longer than someone between the ages of 30 and 49, and 10.6 weeks longer than workers in their 20s. Additionally, the odds of being re-employed decrease by 2.6 percent for each one year increase in age.

“There’s very robust evidence that as an individual moves beyond age 50, they experience a large penalty toward how quickly they will find a job,” Connie Wanberg, one of the study’s authors and a professor at the University of Minnesota,said in a statement.

There a variety of factors that contributing to these results.[Surprise! Older Workers Have Fewer Senior Moments ]

“The obstacles to re-employment success stem not just from employer views about older workers, but also from age-related differences in knowledge, skills and abilities and the kind of jobs people want,” said Ruth Kanfer, one of the study’s co-authors and a professor at Georgia Tech University. “As individuals age, their skills and abilities change and they may often seek a different type of job.”

Kanfer points to construction workers who carry heavy objects as an example.

“If they change occupations or move into a different field, that is likely going to slow their search,” she said.

Smaller social networks, marketplace needs, search strategies and what workers want out of a new job are among the other factors that are contributing to older workers’ lack of success in finding new jobs.

To help older job seekers increase their chances of finding work, Wanberg and Kanfer offer several tips:

Stay current: It’s critical that workers never stop trying to learn new skills. Even workers who are currently employed should look for ways to grow their skills and stay current with their industry.
Boost job search strategies: Older workers are often unfamiliar with the ways job searches are conducted today. It is important they comb a variety of job search websites and understand the applicant requirements and hiring trends for the type of job they’re looking for.
Know what you’re up against: Older workers should fully understand that it is possible to find a new job, it’s just likely it will take a little longer than expected. Knowing this going into the process will help them stay persistent in their search.
Define your goals: When looking for a new job, older workers need to think about which aspects of a new job are most important to them and set clear goals and priorities to guide their search.
Build social networks: When aging, there is a tendency to narrow social networks, which can impact how long it takes to get a new job. It’s critical to maintain and expand on social networks when getting older.

The researchers believe the study shows there is a clear need for a better understanding of how younger and older job seekers differ in their re-employment goals.

“Job loss is really difficult for older workers, many of whom have probably already been thinking about retiring or slowing down, but had not yet reached a level of financial security to permit retirement,” Kanfer said. “Losing your job at this point in life creates a real conundrum – should I put myself through the strain of a job search or just retire for now?”

The study was co-authored by Darla Hamann, a professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, and Zhen Zhang, a professor at Arizona State University.

Source: The New Daily