Posts Tagged “olderworkers”

A new study reveals the next generation of bosses will be different to the last.

baby boomer bosses

Baby boomer bosses are very traditional.

Think the boss of the future is going to be made in the model of the traditional and decisive baby boomer?

Think again.

While baby boomers have honed their skills in long-term thinking and motivating staff, Gen X and Y are doing things differently, a new report reveals.

A new report called The Great Generational Shift by recruitment firm Hudson analysed the leadership traits of 28,000 professionals globally, finding significant generational differences.

• Why Gen Y ‘slackers’ make good employees
• It’s over! Here’s how to break up with your boss
• Why coding is the new literacy

This comes as Generation Z enters the workplace, baby boomers begin to retire, and Gen X and Y step up.

The report paints a not-entirely favourable picture of some boomer bosses. While the benefits of greater experience cannot be understated, it says some boomer leaders have lower technical ability and fewer creative skills compared to the younger generations. Nearing the end of their career, they can also be less ambitious.

Hudson’s Regional Assessment Solutions Manager Dr Crissa Sumner says the new generations of leaders have a greater focus on the short-term, and are likely to lead by example. Both X and Y have strong people skills more likely to explain and relate than to persuade staff.

“We’ll see their strengths in conceptual and abstract thinking; their ability to connect the dots for others in the workplace and provide those meaningful insights for team members,” Dr Sumner says.

Developing in the fast moving digital age, Gen Y skills in particular are “potentially more relevant” for today’s business environment.


colleagues fighting

Defining a leader by generation

Baby boomer: Traditional leaders, decisive, motivating, persuasive and strategic
Generation X: Socially progressive, change-oriented and culturally sensitive
Generation Y: Abstract thinkers, meticulous, ambitious, socially confident


Dr Sumner says the research has dispelled many of the popular cliches around this generation of workers who rather than being lazy or self-centered and ambitious and people-oriented.

“What an organisation can expect is that Gen Y are likely to be leaders who are more visionary ‘thought’ leaders and role models,” she says.

“I think you can see the data links to what we are seeing in changes in the external environment, nowadays leaders don’t have to influence by information and facts, employees can get all that at their fingertips, they need someone to help them understand that data.”

In practice this means they are less hands-on and unlikely to micro-manage.

“We are seeing that Gen Y are less strategic,” Dr Sumner says.

“They are likely to keep the short-term and immediate needs as well as longer-term goals and that’s probably appropriate for today’s environment.”

But that doesn’t mean the baby boomers should be pushed out the door.

Dr Sumner says their traditional skills are going to continue to be essential for businesses.

Both Gen X and Y were lacking in these, with boomers continuing to have more power and influence over others.

Shutterstock

“I think organisations are going to have to pair up boomers and Gen Y before those skills are lost,” Dr Sumner says.

Stuck in the middle, Gen X is the most socially progressive generation. Dr Sumner says it is the one who can smooth over relationships between the ambitious Gen Ys and the traditional boomers.

This is the most altruistic generation of leaders which the report describes as natural diplomats who are “wired, self-reliant” and “autonomous” leaders.

Generation clash: how to cope

Clashes between generations are not new. Boomers are found to be judgemental of younger generations, particularly around their work ethics, while Gen Y can be critical of out-of touch older workers.

The report says boomers will need to adjust expectations, Generation X will have to step up and use their diplomatic powers, and Generation Y will learn from the established skills of older workers.

“More than ever before, it is imperative that organisations understand the profound psychological differences in how the various generations think, act and lead,” says Simon Moylan, Hudson Executive General Manager of Talent Management – Asia-Pacific.

“Organisations need to understand what it is that motivates their employees and connect the dots between the motivational drivers of those in different ages and stages.”

Mr Moylan warns companies will also need to work out which are the best leaders, and skills, to take them into the future.

How to approach a boss from generation…

Baby boomer: recognise they are going to be more strategic, so you might need to talk longer-term as they may not pay as much attention to the short-term.

Gen X: this generation has a more flexible profile, so be open.

Gen Y: they have a preference for conceptual thinking, so talk big picture, don’t get down to the nitty gritty because you’ll lose them.

Gen Z: we don’t know anything about this generation yet, so be open-minded and don’t make assumptions.

 

Source:  The New Daily

Political Correspondent
Canberra
http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/external?url=http://content6.video.news.com.au/Q4MzV3cDpw7WBKfchAKYSPeHl02Wzmlb/promo236831354&width=650&api_key=kq7wnrk4eun47vz9c5xuj3mc

A MASSIVE spending burden threatens to tip the nation into decades of deficits, according to new government findings that will be released early next year to jolt parliament — and the public — into accepting another wave of budget reform.

Setting a new strategy in the political fight over difficult ­savings, Joe Hockey has decided to hold back the official analysis to maximise its impact on national debate when parliament sits in February.

The findings will set off a debate over the nation’s long-term challenges by feeding into the tax reform white paper, which will consider the GST, and influencing the federation white paper on key issues such as the mounting cost of healthcare.

Mr Hockey considered publishing the long-range Intergenerational Report this year but rejected the option in favour of timing the new Treasury analysis to prepare the ground for further savings in the May budget.

The Treasurer, who is in New York and Washington this week for a series of meetings with business leaders and fellow finance ministers, warned of a “massive growth” in costs to be revealed in the IGR as the population ages and the commonwealth struggles to keep paying for the services Australians have come to expect.

“The IGR will come out early next year — not late this year but early next year,” Mr Hockey told The Australian. “That will create a framework that will help define the destiny of the federation white paper, the tax white paper and the budget next year.

“So it is a document that will begin the national discussion about where our economy must go — which is to focus on growth and jobs, and to reduce the complexity and red tape of government.”

Highlighting the cost of inaction on major savings, the report is likely to contrast the long-term improvements from the Coal­ition’s budget measures with the steady increase in government spending if Labor, the Greens and others succeed in permanently scuttling the reforms.

Bill Shorten has vowed to destroy the government’s budget reforms in the parliament and at the ballot box, branding the savings unfair because those on low incomes feel the biggest cuts as a proportion of their income.

“Why is it that this is a government who always asks the most vulnerable to do the hardest and heaviest lifting?” the Opposition Leader said in parliament last week.

The government appears set to use the IGR to shift focus away from the immediate losers from each measure and pay more attention to the risks to future generations from continuing deficits.

The new document is expected to influence some of the government’s most fundamental tasks in the rest of this parliamentary term, including the federation white paper, as it examines the long-term savings from cutting duplication between commonwealth and state spending in areas such as health and education.

It will also have a direct impact on the tax white paper, which will examine incendiary ideas such as an increase in the rate and base of the GST, as well as the wider search for new savings for the May budget next year.

Mandated under federal law to show the nation’s fortunes over 40 years, the IGR was last issued in January 2010 and sparked a furious debate about an estimate that the population would rise to 36 million by 2040.

Labor initially aimed to produce another report three years later but chose not to as the 2013 election loomed, leading Mr Hockey to consider releasing the sensitive forecasts sometime this year. But a Senate blockade has contributed to another delay as the government tries to secure some of its budget savings in the upper house against the objections of Labor, the Greens, the Palmer United Party and others. The savings being stymied are worth about $30 billion over four years but would have a far greater impact on the long-term projections by cutting outlays on Medicare benefits, universities, family tax benefits and pensions.

Mr Hockey said he would not speculate on whether the next report would show any improvement in the deep deficits projected in the last report, which warned of a “fiscal gap” from the strain of paying for services as the population ages.

The January 2010 report found that federal government spending would exceed revenue by 2.75 per cent of GDP in 2040 on existing trends, as relatively fewer taxpayers had to carry the burden for a growing number of pensioners. Labor acted on the problem by legislating a future increase in the pension age to 67 and applying stricter tests on family tax benefits, but those reforms are not enough to fix the gap. “What the IGR will do is illustrate that the massive growth in costs associated with an ageing population have simply become more urgent for Australia to address,” Mr Hockey said.

The Coalition is seeking to extend some of the Labor reforms by making further cuts to family tax benefits — saving $7.4bn over four years from benefits worth $70bn over the same period — and trying to increase the pension age to 70.

While the pension age reform delivers no saving in the budget forward estimates, it starts to take effect from 2034 and would make a significant difference to the IGR projections. Mr Hockey confirmed to The Australian that the government was thinking of using contrasting projections in the next IGR to show the impact of its budget reforms when compared with “business as usual” if the Senate continues to stymie the changes.

“That’s certainly under consideration,” he said in an interview ahead of his visit to the US this week.

“There are some people who need to be reminded how important the structural reforms in the last budget were, and how essential they are for Australia to be able to live within its means in the future.”

A spending gap of 2.75 per cent of GDP would produce a deficit of about $50bn a year in today’s dollars. Last year’s deficit was 2.8 per cent of GDP but the government wants to cut this to 1.6 per cent in 2014-15.

Age Discrimination Starts Early!

These Strategies Can Help.

numbersWhile finishing her MBA at a top tier university, Sarah was enthusiastically recruited by a large company. She accepted their offer to join the marketing department. Once there, she connected with a powerful mentor who helped her snag plum assignments. For several years Sarah was the most junior professional in her group, and she enjoyed being treated like a young star.

After a few years, the growing company made a wave of new hires and Sarah began to feel neglected. She said she was stuck with routine workwhile the interesting new projects went to her younger colleagues.

Sarah was asked to supervise the internship program, but didn’t enjoy the work. She said the interns didn’t have the right work ethic and were obsessed by technology. One day as she entered the kitchen, she heard them making fun of her for being clueless about the power of social media.

When Sarah came to me for coaching, she complained that she was past her career peak. She felt like she was cut off from the company’s high potential challenges and might be too old to compete for another good job elsewhere. Sarah was 34 at the time.

Sarah felt she was the victim of age discrimination and to some degree her concerns were well founded. Ageism is rampant in the workplace and can be hard to fight. And even 30-something careerists like Sarah can find themselves sidelined by employers seeking fresh talent.

Sarah found ways to demonstrate her energy, talent and enthusiasm, and soon worked her way out of her slump. One thing that helped her was finding examples of older professionals whose age did need not seem to limit their success. She noticed that while some in her circle were dissed for being out of date, others seemed timeless despite their years.

If you’re facing a subtle age bias, a starting point for getting past it is to understand the negative stereotypes on which it’s based. Then make it clear that the stereotypes don’t fit you. Consider these strategies for minimizing the burden of ageism:

  •  Be tech-savvy. You don’t have to enjoy Skyping, sharing on Instagram or building a Twitter community. But if those are the ways that your colleagues or customers communicate, you absolutely must know how to join in. If you want to stay in the game, keep up with the technology. Take classes or find help, buy the devices, and do whatever it takes to keep your skills current.   And when you don’t understand the latest developments, avoid the temptation to indulge in a Luddite rant. Express an interest, ask for assistance and get on board.
  • Look and act fit. Some employers and younger workers believe that their older colleagues may have physical limitations that will prevent them from performing their fair share of the work. And your boss or clients won’t offer you new challenges if they think you are about to have a heart attack. If you want to maximize your career options, it is vital not only that you stay healthy but also that you look healthy and you exude energy.
  • Talk healthy. Most of us have health issues from time to time, but we can manage the way they impact us in the workplace. Beware of sabotaging yourself by talking too much about your symptoms or crises. If you endlessly discuss your health challenges, not only will you be boring, but people may start to think of you as frail and over the hill. Talk about the great hike you took last weekend, instead of how sore you felt on Monday morning.
  • Be stylish. Looking shabby may seem cool when you’re 27. But the older you get, the more important it is to look polished and up to date. If your clothes, hairdo or glasses seem out of style, you may seem like you are past your prime. That doesn’t mean you should dress like a kid, but you should aim for a look that feels current.
  • Don’t bring up your age. If you are older – or younger – than the people you work with, it is very tempting to keep mentioning that fact.   But if you can refrain from alluding to the age difference, there is a good chance that other people will forget about it.
  • Build a varied network. If you are accustomed to hanging out with friends of all ages, you are more likely to blend easily into a group of younger or older people. If you don’t allow age to be a barrier in your social life, you will be more comfortable talking and keeping up with different age groups at work.
  • Listen to your colleagues. A great starting point for building strong relationships at work is to genuinely listen to what other people have to say. If you’re part of the older set, show an interest in what younger folks say and learn from their perspective.

If you put aside your own prejudices about age and look for opportunities to work on projects with people of all generations, you’ll become more skillful at avoiding the burden of age bias.

More incentives for first movers on higher rehiring age

THE Government has accepted the recommendations of the Tripartite Committee on Employability of Older Workers to raise the age ceiling for the re-employment of older workers to 67 from 65. This will be done through promotional means supported by incentives.

The idea is to give companies more time to prepare for this before legislation kicks in. The legislation will be introduced at an “appropriate time”.

The PAP Seniors’ Group (PAP.SG) welcomes this move, which is a progressive step and will help to boost the employment prospects of our older workers.

The Government has moved to bolster the position of our seniors in health care and housing through its recent policy changes, and it makes great sense now to focus on employment. This is an important way of ensuring that our seniors remain independent and can continue to live with dignity. To be able to work for as long as they wish to and earn a steady stream of income is greatly empowering for our seniors.

Raising the rehiring age to 67 is not just good for the individual. It also makes great economic sense. It is projected that by 2030, there will be 900,000 people aged 65 years and above. If our total fertility rate remains at 1.2 and we have no immigration, there will be only 2.1 working age citizens for every citizen above the age of 65 in 2030. If we do not extend the productive working age of our older workers, our growth will be affected.

Companies, too, benefit, and much has been said about the value of older workers. In a survey conducted last year by the Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices, the majority of the companies which responded agreed that mature workers benefited them through lower turnover rates and reduced absenteeism.

While promotional means is a practical solution to give employers more time to adjust, I do hope that the Government will not take too long to legislate the extension.

I have no doubt that the unions will be able to push through the extension among unionised companies, but the worry will be the non-unionised companies, where this may not be a priority. To some extent, the proposed incentives may help and are a good move, as most employers have cited costs as a concern, but the question is whether this will provide enough push for companies to voluntarily raise the ceiling.

I also hope that incentives will not have the unintended consequence of devaluing the contribution of older workers, particularly for those who would be re-employed in any case because their services are needed.

Nevertheless, to really ensure that the incentives have an impact, the Government could consider introducing a sliding scale of benefits, whereby those who come on board earlier are given more incentives compared to those who respond later. In this way, hopefully, most companies would be encouraged to raise the rehiring age ceiling faster.

According to employers, they need more time to redesign jobs and work processes and to retrain older workers. I find this surprising as such measures should already have been put in place when the rehiring age ceiling was raised to 65. There cannot be that many major changes that have to be made for the working age to be increased by just an additional two years.

Also, employers’ concern about medical costs should, to a large extent, be addressed by MediShield Life that comes into effect next year, as a larger portion of hospitalisation charges will be covered. Hence, prudent employers may want to rationalise their own medical benefits scheme with MediShield Life, to address this concern.

The training of older workers is another major area in ensuring that their skills remain relevant and useful to companies’ needs. There are now already available training grants and programmes that companies can tap to prepare their older workers, so that lack of skills should not be an excuse. The tripartite partners could also do a lot more to highlight positive examples of enlightened companies that have voluntarily raised the rehiring ceiling, even without any incentives.

One example is Prima. A few years ago, I officiated at an event where the company gave out long service awards to its employees. There were employees who had served the company for more than 40 years and were in their 70s. It felt really good to see a company that values its workers so much.

In August last year, Prima signed a collective agreement with the Food, Drinks and Allied Workers’ Union to offer 65-year-old workers, with satisfactory performance and good health, employment contracts until age 68.

I urge more companies to emulate Prima’s example and waste no time in raising the rehiring age ceiling of their older workers. I am heartened, too, by the public sector’s positive response to the recommendation, as its hiring practices have a deep impact on the private sector.

Finally, we need to address the concerns of older workers who have lost their jobs and are trying to get back into the workforce, which the recommendation will not cover. Among their biggest hurdles in seeking employment are hiring practices that are still biased against them. Employers should be prepared to give them a chance, rather than turn them away just because of their age.

I would like to suggest that companies hiring unemployed older workers be given incentives too, and not only those who raise the rehiring age ceiling of existing workers. It would also be useful to conduct a study on the hiring practices of companies to ascertain whether this bias really exists or whether there are other valid factors involved that affect the hiring of older workers. In this way, more effective strategies could be developed to boost older workers’ chances of securing a job.

The tripartite partners have made a good move. The challenge now is to make sure that the recommendation works.

The writer is the Speaker of Parliament and chairman of the PAP Seniors’ Group.

stopinion@sph.com.sg

– See more at: http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/more-incentives-first-movers-higher-rehiring-age#sthash.MULRiXJp.dpuf

A new generation of retirees is heading back to work. Here’s some advice on how to snag one of those encore jobs

Encore! Encore! One more time.

That’s what many retired Canadians want to do: Go back to work, try something new, perhaps with fewer hours and less pay, but find a way to keep active, stay engaged and get paid for it.

Longevity is rising, we’re healthier and so the traditional notion of retirement has faded. Some want to work because they have to and others because they want to.

But if our needs are changing, our employers aren’t keeping up with the times, says Adina Lebo, chair of the downtown Toronto chapter of the Canadian Association of Retired People (CARP). Attitudes in the workplace are geared to forcing older workers out of full-time work and few employers have mechanisms to offer a transition to part-time work.

“The workforce is built to push people out at 65,” says Lebo, who joined CARP four years ago after a 30-year career in the film and TV industry. “While people are looking for a continuation of their career, or a way to apply their skills in a new area, the doors are often closed.”

CARP sponsored a job fair in Toronto last year to link employers with 50+ candidates. There was plenty of interest from companies with franchising and sales opportunities. The former requires an investment on your part and the latter uses your networks to sell products or services.

“There’s no ageism in sales,” says Lebo. “It’s on commission, so there’s no risk to the employer. They use you and your community to sell, so that was wide open.”

There are jobs out there for older works, but competition is stiff. For many, the first step is dusting off their resumes and polishing rusty interview skills.

Marie Bountrogianni, a former Ontario cabinet minister and currently Dean of the G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education at Ryerson University, has some advice. Here are her five top job hunting tips for older workers.

Three things to avoid in an interview:

Talking about your age: “This is always tricky,” says Bountrogianni, who has a Ph.D. in education and was chief psychologist for the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board before entering politics.

“Employers are not allowed to ask about your age, but they often hint at it. Talk around your age in constructive ways. [For example,] you can indicate that because you no longer have little children you have a lot of flexibility around scheduling.

Tipping your tech hand: “Be careful. Don’t just say you use Facebook and Twitter. Show how you have used social media to increase sales, or promote an event, so they won’t think you are on it all the time.”

Don’t say, I’m ready for a change: “While it may be very true, it sounds like you are bored, and have grown stale in your current job,” Bountrogiann says.

Two ways to spruce up your resume:

Age proof it: Don’t go back to the beginning of your career. Choose the experiences that relate to the job you are applying for. Do not put in specific dates for jobs or schooling.

Show what you have done: Use a functional, rather than chronological resume, so that you can bundle your experiences without dating them and relate skills to the job advertised.

Bountrogianni says employers want to know you’re not planning to coast at their expense.

They also want to know you are still current, so she advises taking courses in your field of interest and keeping up to date. Always have questions in an interview, because employers want you to be interested in them and about their job.

Bountrogianni is Ontario’s representative on Skills Connect Inc., a national non-profit organization founded by the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce in 2010. It receives government funding and owns ThirdQuarter, a national employment recruiter for people aged 45 and over. More agencies are working with older adults, including The Challenge Factory, which has offices in Toronto, Calgary and Ottawa.

The Chang School offers programs of interest to 50+ workers. Wednesday, Bountrogianni is hosting a free breakfast between 8:30 and 10:30 as part of a panel discussion on aging in the workforce. It is being held at Heaslip House, 7th Floor, 297 Victoria Street.

Toronto Star

Companies adopt practices to cater to older workers

Absolute Kinetics Consultancy, which provides safety training services, has about 130 workers, five of whom are above the age of 60. To cater to their needs, the company gives them screen filters for their computers to protect their eyes from the glare. They also get free yearly health screenings, which are extended to their spouses and parents.

Absolute Kinetics Consultancy’s executive chairman, Mr Fang Koh Look, said these practices have not been developed overnight. Since 2008, he has sought feedback from his employees, sometimes over coffee.

“You talk to them and ask them, ‘What can I do as an employer to make you feel more equipped, to make you feel more supported?'” Mr Fang elaborated.

Supermarket chain Giant also places importance on older workers. One hundred and forty-four of its 240 workers are above the age of 60. The company allows them to change job scopes to maximise their strengths.

The supermarket uses rolled cages to move products around the store. These can be heavy so a smaller version of the cage, which is much lighter, is available for older workers to use.

“Age is just a number. What we have to do as a worker is to have a positive mind. We must be able to think positively, do things positively, then I think we will succeed. And we will be able to share our experiences with the younger workers, and mentor them at the same time,” said Mr Arumugam Haridass, department manager of Giant.

On Monday (Sep 29), the Government announced that companies which voluntarily re-employ workers up to the age of 67 will receive incentives. Details will be announced at a later date.

Source:  Channel News Asia (Singapore)

Living Well Navigator ambassador and respected Australian media personality Deborah Hutton talks about the positives of getting older and celebrating her 50th birthday – naked on the cover of a magazine.

Since I so unashamedly celebrated my 50th birthday naked on the cover of The Australian Women’s Weekly, I’ve somehow become the poster girl for the 50-plus set… and that’s a very happy and empowering place for me to be.

Personally I like to think that by the time you reach your fifties you’re in a great place. You’ve gathered a wealth of knowledge, a lifetime of experience, hopefully you’re stronger, smarter and more active than you’ve ever been, you have an enormous amount to contribute and you’ve fine-tuned a decent sense of humour because you’ll need it!

We all appreciate getting older does have its challenges, but for me it’s about making positive choices around my future and importantly, my own happiness. When I was approached to join with NRMA as an ambassador of Living Well Navigator, I immediately connected with how necessary and comprehensive a tool this is, and how it offers clear direction around mature-age concerns with real answers and real services.

I want to congratulate NRMA, not only for this brilliant initiative, but for their foresight in calling it Living Well Navigator, because the words LIVING WELL are what it’s all about for me.

I’m very fortunate in my work that I come across some extraordinary people from very different walks of life, and I am in the position where I get to sit down, have a chat on camera and discover what makes them tick. I am continually inspired by age and wisdom.

Only this week I had a very funny, candid and inspiring chat with our own living legend Dawn Fraser, who continues to be as active and valued in the community as ever. She was telling a wonderful story about how an 83-year-old woman from the Sunshine Coast wanted Dawn to teach her how to swim 50 metres. And sure enough, with Dawn’s help, she reached her goal in only a few weeks – 83… bless her!

I was in the Barossa Valley recently filming an interview with the one and only Maggie Beer for my websiteBalance by Debora Hutton. I have been very lucky to have crossed paths with Maggie over the years through my work with Qantas and Channel 9, and I always come away amazed by her level of energy, commitment and good humour.

She was awarded Senior Australian of the Year in 2010 and has used that platform to create the Maggie Beer Foundation, which focuses on supporting the wellbeing of people in aged care facilities by providing them with food that looks appetising, and is full of flavour and nutrients. It’s a major passion for her and we love her for it.

I look at Ita Buttrose who I met many moons ago when I was modelling in the early 80s and she was the queen of the Packer publishing empire. She’s lived a full life of being a mum, wife and businesswoman. She’s now busy hosting a morning show on Channel 10, still sitting on numerous boards, and spending her time speaking and mentoring others. Ita is in her early 70s with no signs she’s about to slow down.

And it’s not just the women who stop me in my tracks. Did you see Clint Eastwood’s latest movie, Jersey Boys? Clint is 84 and still producing exceptional movies that make big dollars for the box office.

My point is, let’s not hold back as we get older but utilise all the wisdom and knowledge we’ve gathered over the years and put it to good use.
What will you regret later if you don’t do something about it today? You don’t have to be an award-winning actor or Olympian to recognise this – it’s about playing to your strengths and never giving in.

I like to think about getting older not as a number that comes round every year but how I actually feel in myself. I don’t like to put limitations on myself. I know that I always want to be fit and flexible enough to move freely and play golf. I want to be doing something valuable, giving back to the community in some way and feeling connected with people. I want to be travelling like my mum in her late 70s and booking cruises overseas. I don’t want my health issues to become a daily conversation. I want to continue to be kind and considerate and hope that if I step out of line, one of my best pals will tell me to pull my head in!

Whatever it is you want, you have to acknowledge it as a priority. It might be as simple as choosing to get a little fitter and starting with a daily walk. Whatever it is, commit to it and make the most of every day. It’s a gift.

Have you recently achieved a personal goal? Do you have any tips to share? Please comment below or start a conversation over on the Living Well Navigator forums.

 

 

It hasn’t been an easy couple of months for Susan Ryan at the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), but she seems to be bearing up well, with pointed humour and a certain wry optimism. In her role as the  commission’s age discrimination commissioner, Ryan gave a speech to the National Press Club this week, warning of a “national crisis” if society doesn’t do more to keep older people in the workplace. But that’s not a problem for Ryan who, at 71, now has two full-time jobs. From July, she also took on responsibilities of the outgoing disability discrimination commissioner, Graeme Innes – and she does not see the two roles as complementary.

“To me, the two areas of discrimination and social policy are quite different,” she says. “A lot of issues with disabled people are about people who were disabled from birth or when they were young, who have to be supported through education, who hope to get a job and live independently. Age discrimination, as it hits the workforce, is mainly about employers thinking that they’re back in the 19th century and you can’t employ anyone over 55. It’s the cultural prejudice.”

But the commission comes under the portfolio of Attorney-General George Brandis, and “George Brandis decided he wanted to lose a commissioner,” says Ryan. “So Graeme Innes was the first commissioner to finish his term, but they didn’t replace him. Brandis decided another commissioner could take the load, and I was the person he would appoint to do that. I could’ve said no, I suppose, but I didn’t think that would solve any problems.”

We’re sitting in the courtyard of the Hyde Park Barracks Cafe on Macquarie Street in the city, enclosed by sandstone walls. It’s a business lunch and Ryan is brisk with the menu. She orders the duck salad, on the waiter’s recommendation. “I’m not a picky eater,” she says. “I like to eat, but I’m not a foodie. I don’t fuss around saying, ‘I can’t have this leaf”, or ‘I have to have that leaf’.”

She tells me she only accepted her expanded role on the condition that the other commissioners pitched in. She mentions Mick Gooda, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner and Children’s commissioner Megan Mitchell.  However Ryan doesn’t mention the recently appointed human-rights commissioner Tim Wilson – cryptically dubbed a “freedom commissioner”  who joined directly from his post as policy director at the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), a free-market think tank which calls for the commission to be abolished.

“If you look at the public comments of George Brandis, he is not an admirer of the commission’s work. However, I live in hope,” says Ryan.

Our lunch arrives within five minutes of our order. I’ve chosen the lamb ragout, and I wonder if it’s come out of a microwave. But it tastes fine, so maybe there’s a big pot of stew, bubbling on the stove in the kitchen.

I notice Ryan is wearing purple zippered suede boots, and a flash of the same colour in her scarf.

Is that a grow-older-wear-purple thing?

“Well, no, it’s feminist purple, Mark. Purple is the feminist colour.”

Some of her lipstick has come off on the duck. Was the lipstick feminist purple too?
“No,” she says, infinitely patient. “Purple wouldn’t be a good choice for a 71-year-old lady.”

I’ve heard Ryan doesn’t employ any older people in her office. Is she a hypocrite?

“No, I’m not,” she says. “All the staff are appointed under the Commonwealth Public Service guidelines by the commission. So, although I take part in who should be employed, I don’t actually employ anyone. But old? Well, I’ve got a few, I’d say…”

Pigeons peck for scraps among the pebbles on the courtyard floor.

“We don’t ask their age,” she says, “but there’re people who’ve done work for me, and will be doing more work for me, who’re in their fifties. Does that count?”

I’m 50. It doesn’t feel old.

“Look, really, um … I’m 71,” says Ryan. “I’m the oldest person at the commission. Generally, the commission staff are a younger age group because they jump out of university desperate to get into the commission.”

Ryan was born in Maroubra in 1942, the third of four children. Her father worked at the Department of Railways. She was educated by Brigidine nuns at the local parish school.

“It was what we’d call a poor school these days. There was no proper library. We had no science whatsoever. We had French taught to us by a nun who’d grown up in Cowra. But my strengths were English and history, and they were really quite well taught. I was a good student. I wasn’t a pet of the nuns, because I was quite naughty and opinionated, but I was good at speaking, so they picked me to do things. When Cardinal Gilroy visited, I was the one picked to say, ‘Your eminence, welcome to our school.’

“I was away from school a lot because I was a sickly child. I had pink disease. I don’t think anyone gets it anymore, but during the war a lot of babies did and most of them died. But not Susan Marie Ryan.”

Ryan won a teachers’ scholarship and became the first person from her family or her school to go to university. Her mother, she says, was “very down on the idea”.

“She thought I should work, then marry a nice Catholic boy at about 20 … As it turned out, I did get married at 20, but that was a different set up.”

She went to Sydney University and loved it, but wed fellow student Richard Butler just after their BA exams. “I’d wanted to go on and do a Masters,” she says, “but I lost my teachers’ college scholarship – because girls weren’t allowed to get married – however, I subsequently did a Masters at ANU.”

She couldn’t finish her teacher training, so she worked as an untrained teacher in a Catholic school.

“I only taught there for one year,” she says, “because, despite the reliability of the Catholic form of contraception – the rhythm method – I did very quickly become pregnant with Justine.”

They moved to Canberra when her husband got a job at the Department of Foreign Affairs. When Justine turned one year old, they decided to have another child. “I thought we’d better hurry up,” she says, “so we’d have it here before Richard got an overseas post. So I conceived Benedict, but he got an overseas post much sooner, so Benedict was born in Vienna.”

They lived for three years in Austria – “which was extremely fascinating and informative for someone who’d grown up in Maroubra” – came home, then Butler was posted to New York.

“During the course of that posting we fell out,” she says. “I came back with the children to Canberra. The divorce was in 1972.”

I thought Catholics couldn’t get divorced.

“Round about that time,” she says, “I was losing faith. I mean, I have a lot of respect for some people in the church blah blah blah blah. One of my own sisters is a nun. One of my best friends is a priest. But I lost faith. So, although being divorced was an unusual thing back then…”

She pauses to face a realisation.

“In the eyes of the Catholic church,” she says, “I’m still married to Richard Butler. My God.”

She had joined Gough Whitlam’s Labor Party at the end of 1971, the year before the ALP finally won government after 23 years in opposition. She was an energetic party activist and high-profile feminist, who helped set up the Women’s Electoral Lobby, and in 1975 – just months before Whitlam’s dismissal – she won the rank-and-file pre-selection for a newly created Senate seat in the ACT.

She took her seat but, she says, “I came into this caucus of what seemed to be – and were, in many cases – old men that were heartbroken, who’d been in Parliament for the 23 years, tried and tried and tried to get government, they’d got government with Gough, they were doing all these things, and then they were kicked out. And I, of course, was a great Whitlam fan, and thought I was signing up for the fabulous reforming Whitlam government, and then suddenly were this very unhappy little caucus of disappointed people.”

But, overall, she enjoyed being in government. She liked the range of tasks, the feeling of being at the centre of national life, and learning how Australian society really worked.

When the Hawke government was elected in 1983, she became Labor’s first female cabinet minister, responsible for education and assisting the prime minister on the status of women. She is especially proud of her role in helping pass the landmark Sex Discrimination Act 1984.

But after the 1987 election, she was moved from the education portfolio and subsequently left parliament, “tired of being in the eye of the storm and pretty well fed up”. She turned her back on government but not politics, working in the superannuation industry while campaigning for a Human Rights Act. But she’d given up full-time employment by the time she was headhunted by the AHRC for the age-discrimination commissioner’s job in 2011.

Once she has cleaned her lunch plate, she confesses, “I’m not actually a big fan of duck. I agreed because I thought, ‘Hurry up. We’re here to work.’ But, in fact, it was very delicious.”

She orders a skinny flat white. The barista draws a leaf on the surface of the coffee. I wonder why they do that.

“Well,” says Ryan, “our logo at the commission for the age-discrimination work is a tree. I’d be delighted to think that they’d researched that themselves and specially made a tree on my coffee. But probably not.”

Ryan lives in Coogee with former ABC journalist and manager Rory Sutton.

How long have they been together?

Ryan sighs like a coffee machine.

“In one sense or another, for a couple of decades,” she says. “But we weren’t always … how should I put it? The relationship changed over the years. But in recent years, we’ve kind of … settled down.”

I suspect Ryan would be grateful if her working life would settle down too, but there doesn’t seem to be much chance of that.

LIFE AND TIMES

1942: Born in  Maroubra, NSW

1963: Graduates from Sydney University, marries future senior diplomat Richard Butler

1964: Daughter Justine born

1966: Son Ben born, during Butler’s first diplomatic posting in Vienna, Austria

1971: Splits up with Butler, returns to Australia from Butler’s posting in New York, joins the ALP.

1972: Divorces Butler

1975 -1988: Senator for the ACT

1983: Minister for education and youth, and minister assisting the prime minister on the status of women

1993: CEO of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia

2005: Chair of the Australian Human Rights Act Campaign

2011: Commissioner for age discrimination at the Human Rights Commission

Source: SMH.com.au

The Australian economy continues to be underpinned by strong population growth, but the data also highlights the increasing divergence between the Australian states.

Population growth remains weak in both South Australia and Tasmania, with both states struggling to attract immigration and capital investment.

The Australian population rose by 1.7 per cent over the year to the March quarter – reflecting strong growth on the east coast – and will continue to underpin real GDP growth for the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, population growth has begun to slow over the past few quarters.

New South Wales and Victoria continue to lead the way, with their populations rising by 1.6 per cent and 1.9 per cent, respectively, over the past year. The population in NSW sits at 7.5 million, and in Victoria at 5.8 million.

But the strongest growth remains in Western Australia. The mining boom might be over, and former mining towns have now become ghost towns, but their populations continues to rise at a rapid pace.

 

 

The population in WA rose by 2.5 per cent over the year to the March quarter. This is well down on its peak during the mining boom – 3.7 per cent growth over the year to September 2012 – but it remains rapid in every sense of the word.
Graph for How an ageing population will stunt our growth

Population growth reflects a number of factors. Economic opportunity can explain a great deal of WA’s growth; the mining boom made the state a particularly attractive destination for not only immigrants but those living interstate.

For NSW and Victoria it is a combination of the nation’s pursuit of high immigration combined with the appeal of big city living. Queensland, to a lesser extent, benefits from this but also from the mining boom and intangibles such as their tropical climate.

At the other end of the spectrum we have states where opportunities have been poor. Population growth in South Australia and Tasmania have been remarkably soft given Australia’s high immigration intake.

I’ve been critical of our federal government’s preference for a ‘Big Australia’ because it has been pursued with little regard for our existing infrastructure and natural resources (The Big Australia illusion; April 22). But low population growth poses its own set of problems.

Why would businesses invest in SA or Tasmania when their market would grow more quickly elsewhere? They might be beautiful states but there’s little room for sentimentality in business.

Attracting capital investment has been difficult in these states – so difficult that it encouraged the Tasmanian government to sponsor an AFL team to increase tourism and offer the most generous first-home builder grants in the country. Tasmania has to be creative to keep its economy chugging along.

The other trend worth keeping an eye on is Australia’s ageing population. This has been well documented on a national level, but each state will be affected differently.

Over the past few decades Australia and each of the states has experienced favourable demographics that have helped boost real GDP growth. From 1980, the share of the population aged between 25 and 54 years of age increased sharply in each state and territory. Workers are traditionally most productive within this age group.
Graph for How an ageing population will stunt our growth

That created the sweet spot for economic growth and, combined with rising labour force participation among women, created the perfect environment for strong growth. But those favourable demographics are at an end, with the share of the population between 25 and 54 years old now on the decline.

The effect has been felt most in Tasmania and SA, where the populations are oldest. But each of our six states is generally quite old, and growth will continue to be hamstrung by an ageing population.

The Australian economy continues to be underpinned by strong population growth but it has been concentrated on the east coast and in WA. Despite a strong immigration intake, our demographics continue to turn unfavourably and that will weigh on growth over the foreseeable future.

Date   chael Emerson

Jobs are growing at a faster rate for baby boomers, and Australians in their twilight years, than for youth and young adults.

These surprising statistics are revealed in a study conducted for Fairfax Media.

Since the global financial crisis of 2008, Australian jobs have grown steadily, with 870,000 jobs added to the economy. However, the growth among lifestage segments has been varied. This has led to significant attitudinal changes among workers to employment, especially among the younger Gen Z (teens) and Gen Y (young adults) segments. 

As the chart shows, among full time jobs, Gen Z and Gen Y, have lost employment since 2008Gen Z has lost 48,000 jobs whereas for Gen Y the market has shrunk by 54,000 jobs, according to labour force data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, modelled by EMDA, a business solution company, for Fairfax Media.

So what’s happened?

In any economic downturn, the young and least experienced suffer the most. Before the global crisis, Gen Z and Gen Y were known to be demanding. They were used to jobs being plentiful and so could pick and choose. Loyalty to an employer was an old-fashioned idea to them.

In the more difficult job market since 2008, there have been profound changes in attitudes, such as  delivering value to employers and concerns over the security of employment have become more prominent.

Unemployment among the younger segments is also the highest in the workforce. Among Gen Z it’s three times the average than for the rest of the workforce.

Among Gen Z there are sub-segments, which signal extremely concerning employment outcomes. Among indigenous Gen Z, unemployment rates are just over 30 per cent and among Gen Z new arrivals to Australia the rate is 42 per cent, according to census data.

Lack of education and work-related skills are major barriers to employment for these segments, and if unemployed for six months or more, it’s hard to get them into the workforce. Consequently, entrenched unemployment with its social and financial problems for the individual and society become the norm.

Education remains a key for a successful entry to the workforce.

For baby boomers, the job market has continued to be one of steady growth, with 240,000 full-time jobs added for this segment since 2008. Their experience and skills have kept them in good stead.

The real surprise is the growth in twilight careers (workers aged 63 or more). Although the smallest segment of the workforce, there are now 580,000 twilight workers employed, which is only slightly less than Gen Z (681,000). For this segment, 79,000 full-time jobs have been created since 2008. Their lifetime of work skills, their loyalty and reliability is increasingly appreciated by employers.

There is still some resistance to employing older workers, although this attitude is gradually changing.  This is good for twilight workers and the economy overall, but the downside could be there are fewer older Australians available to provide care for their grandkids. The numbers are significant: according to the census about 350,000 Australians over the age of 63 cared for other children, so more twilight workers in the paid workforce means less time available for child care duties. For Generation X parents, this can be a significant issue as one important factor which contributes to labour market participation among parents in the Gen X lifestage is access to child care.

Michael Emerson, is an economist and director of Economic and Market Development Advisors, EMDA. emda.com.au.

Source:  The Age