Aug 13, 2014 (Morning Edition)Posts Tagged “olderworkers”
Professor Henry Brodaty at Tuesday’s RightsTalk.
Photo: Australian Human Rights Commission
A leading researcher on ageing and dementia has called for better recognition of the contribution that older Australians make to society and more opportunities for intergenerational collaboration to help combat ageism.
In a talk to the Australian Human Rights Commission on Tuesday, Professor Henry Brodaty, co-director of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing at the University of New South Wales, said the positive contribution of older people to society often remained invisible.
The internationally recognised researcher also called for a rethink on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a measure of Australia’s economic health because it failed to capture the positive impact of population ageing on the national economy. He said as a metric, GDP was ageist because it excluded the value of volunteering and household-provided care and services, of which older Australians were big contributors.
“The common stereotype is that older people are decrepit, they are not functional, they are a drain on our society and they go into nursing homes but the facts are actually quite different,” he told the Sydney audience.
He said the overwhelming majority of older people lived in private dwellings in the community and a significant number of people over 65 were still in paid employment.
“Older Australians are active contributors. Almost half of 65-74-year-olds provide unpaid assistance to someone outside the house. One third are volunteering through organisations, two-thirds are in social or support groups, and one quarter, despite having relatively low incomes, are financially supporting somebody outside their house either a child or a younger relative.”
Older people were contributing “big time to our society,” he said.
Intergenerational connections
Professor Brodaty said Australia also needed to replace the idea of an intergenerational competition for resources with “cross-generational” resource allocation and greater opportunities for collaboration. He pointed to intergenerational education and community programs that supported a more integrated society as key examples.
Professor Brodaty has visited one of the world’s first intergenerational schools in Cleveland, Ohio, which has purposefully included older adults into the design of the school’s teaching and learning model to promote the sharing of skills and knowledge between generations. Other innovative programs have connected aged care residents with local preschools for mutual benefit.
Intergenerational competition for resources such as healthcare and jobs was also a false dichotomy and investments were required at both ends of the life spectrum, he said. “We need cross-generation resources to advance the welfare of all of us.”
Turning to the attitudes of the medical profession, Professor Brodaty said ageist views in the health system also should be stamped out, especially in the area of mental health where depression can be seen as a natural part of ageing.
He said older people were not a burden on health resources but “core business for health” and the health system could become more efficient by eliminating waste such as unnecessary treatments.
Many at the forum also expressed deep concern over recent media reports that the ABC was looking to cut back on TV and radio programs aimed at older viewers and called for lobbying efforts to begin to prevent a change to programming.
Older workers
Elsewhere this week the Australian Human Rights Commission launched a new video awareness campaign aimed at highlighting the value of older workers. ‘The power of oldness” campaign was launched by Age Discrimination Commissioner Susan Ryan and Minister for Employment Senator Eric Abetz on Monday to address age discrimination in the workplace
Source: Australian Human Rights Commission
Watford, Dorset and the Shetland Islands are leading the charge against ‘outdated’ older worker stereotypes, a Government report revealed today.
According the figures released by the Department for Work and Pensions, Watford has the highest rate of employment among older workers, with nine out of 10 people aged 50-64 in work.
In the Shetlands this rate is 88 per cent while in north Dorset it’s 87 per cent, closely followed by Stroud in Gloucestershire and Horsham in Sussex.
DWP minister Steve Webb said: ‘The business case for ignoring outdated and inaccurate stereotypes and giving older workers a chance to thrive is absolutely compelling, and these figures
show that in some parts of the country that message is being received loud and clear.
‘What we must do now is extend the positive record we’re seeing in counties like Hertfordshire across the whole of the UK.’
But the report also highlighted a number of employment blackspots for older workers.
Almost half of people aged 50-64 were unemployed in Hyndburn and Rossendale in Lancashire, 50 per cent in London’s Tower Hamlets, and 51 per cent in Barrow-in-Furness.
‘JOB PROSPECTS FOR YOUNG ARE IMPROVING’
Two-thirds of employers have hired a young person in the past year, according to a survey of 600 employers.
The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) said this positive outlook is set to continue for the rest of the year, with employers focussing more on candidate’s attitude rather than exam results.
Rec chief executive Kevin Green said: ‘It’s the best time in six years to be a young person coming into the jobs market.’
This resonates with data released by the Office for National Statistics last week suggesting that ageism in the workplace is still rife.
Unemployment as a whole fell to 6.4 per cent last quarter and the number of unemployed people aged 16-49 fell 18.8 per cent since May 2010, compared to just 5.3 per cent for those aged 50-64.
Dr Ros Altmann, the former director general of Saga, who was appointed last month as the Government’s Business Champion for Older Workers, said more needed to be done to help people in this age group, such as offering apprentice schemes.
‘It does seem there remains latent ageism in the labour market,’ she said. ‘Not enough is being done to help these people back to work and overcome ageist attitudes.’
And with retirement at the age of 65 looking increasingly unfeasible for most workers, employment equality is essential if they’re to top up their dwindling pension pot.
Steve Webb added: ‘Another crucial point is that a person dropping out of the workforce early can have a devastating effect on their retirement income. We owe it to people to do everything possible toensure they can benefit from a full working life.’
Source:This is Money UK
Saturday Aug 16, 2014
Brian Gaynor on business Business Economy… Employment Opinion
Only Chile, Iceland, Mexico and Korea have a higher percentage of the 65-plus age group in the workforce than New Zealand, where increasingly more young adults are extending their education.
Only Chile, Iceland, Mexico and Korea have a higher percentage of the 65-plus age group in the workforce than New Zealand, where increasingly more young adults are extending their education.
The New Zealand workforce has changed dramatically over the past 24 years.
In mid-1990 our workforce was young and energetic with 338,500, or 22 per cent, of all employed workers in the 15 to 24 age bracket. By mid-2014 the total number of 15 to 24 year old workers had declined to 325,700 or just 14 per cent of the workforce.
This development has been mainly due to a dramatic increase in the number of 15 to 24-year-olds undertaking additional, post-secondary school education.
Meanwhile, the number of workers aged 65 and over has soared from 23,900 in 1990 to 127,500 in mid-2014. In other words individuals aged 65 and over now represent 5.5 per cent of the workforce compared with just 1.6 per cent 24 years ago.
Energetic grey-haired men and women have replaced young employees in shops, offices, medical centres and other areas of employment.
Based on current trends there is a strong possibility that by 2054 there will be more individuals from the 65- plus age group in full or part time employment than 15 to 24-year- olds.
This has major implications for our economy, NZ Superannuation and KiwiSaver.
The accompanying table shows how employment trends have changed since mid-1990, particularly as far as the 15 to 24 and the 65 and over age groups are concerned.
The first point to note is that the unemployment rate is the number of individuals who are actively looking for a job but cannot find one.
The second point is the participation rate, which is the percentage of an age group in the workforce, both employed and unemployed.
The participation rate for the 65 and over age group has soared from just 6.9 per cent in 1990 to 20.6 per cent in the June 2014 Household Labour Force Survey. The 65 years- plus male participation rate has risen from 10.6 per cent to 26.5 per cent while the female rate has increased from 4 per cent to 15.3 per cent over this 24-year period.
There are more elderly New Zealanders in the workforce than in most other countries. For example, our 65-plus participation rate is 20.6 per cent compared with 18.7 per cent in United States, 12.1 per cent in Australia and just 9.8 per cent in the United Kingdom. Europeans retire much earlier, with France, Germany, Italy and Spain having 65 years of age-plus workplace participation rates of 2.3 per cent, 5.5 per cent, 3.5 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively.
Only Chile, Iceland, Mexico and Korea have a higher percentage of the 65-plus age group in the workforce than New Zealand.
There are a number of reasons why more and more of the 65-plus age group are remaining in the workforce.
These include:
• Health – individuals are healthier and living longer.
• Education – highly educated people work longer and our workforce is far better qualified than it was in 1990.
• Occupations – there are more and more clerical, non-manual jobs, that suit older workers.
• Financial – New Zealanders are concerned about their low level of savings and rising health costs, particularly health insurance.
• Rules and regulations – the removal of the mandatory retirement age in 1999 and the introduction of anti-discrimination rules as far as older workers are concerned.
• Family dynamics – a high percentage of women stay in the workforce until their husbands retire as do individuals, particularly women over 65, after a marriage breakup.
• Employer preferences – employers seem to have a liking for 65-plus-year-olds because this age group has a 1.6 per cent unemployment rate compared with 14 per cent for the 15 to 24 age group and 5.4 per cent for the total workforce.
But New Zealand Superannuation is one of the main reasons why such a high percentage of the population stay in the workforce after they reach 65 years of age.
NZ Super is relatively unique because it applies to everyone once they reach 65 years of age, is not subject to any income test or means test and is not contingent on retirement.
Thus, there is a strong incentive for individuals to stay in the workforce until they reach 65.
However, lowly paid workers are effectively incentivised to retire when they start receiving NZ Super because this represents a high percentage of their preretirement income.
Conversely, highly paid individuals have a strong incentive to stay in the workforce because NZ Super is neither income tested nor means tested and represents a much smaller per cent of their employment income.
In other words, NZ Super is an extremely effective culling system because it encourages unskilled workers to leave the workforce while enticing the highly skilled to stay.
In addition, most New Zealanders have the majority of their wealth tied up in residential property, which doesn’t generate income if it is the family home. Thus, they are incentivised to continue working because of the low level of income generated from their property-dominated investment portfolio.
What will be the long-term impact of KiwiSaver on the country’s workforce, particularly the number of 65-year-olds and over that will want to remain working?
Overseas studies show that individuals in a defined contribution superannuation scheme (a scheme where the outcome is unknown and is determined by investment returns) usually work longer than individuals who are in a defined benefit superannuation scheme (they received a fixed income every week or month regardless of investment returns).
As KiwiSaver is a defined contribution scheme it should not have a major impact on the willingness of our over 65s to continue working.
However, there is a strong argument that compulsory superannuation in Australia, which is also a defined contribution scheme, is encouraging our transtasman cousins to retire earlier because of the huge lump sums they have built up.
However, if employers here are willing to make a voluntary contribution to KiwiSaver schemes after their employees reach 65, it would be a huge incentive for New Zealanders to remain in the workforce.
Recent studies, particularly an AMP survey, indicate that a large percentage of KiwiSaver members want to use KiwiSaver to repay their mortgage and other borrowings. This suggests that KiwiSaver is not going to discourage the 65 years and over age group from remaining in the workforce.
There is no doubt that a greying workforce is a positive development for the New Zealand economy. This is because it helps retain our more highly skilled workers, it enables younger people to obtain additional education and it keeps the pressure off wage increases, inflation and interest rates.
However, one of the country’s main challenges is to raise our overall skills level, particularly in information technology where older workers have limited abilities.
It is depressing to note that 371,500 individuals, representing 16 per cent of the total workforce, have absolutely no formal qualifications, either school or post-school.
These individuals will find it increasingly difficult to find gainful employment in the modern economy.
Conversely, this gives the highly skilled 65-plus age group more and more opportunities to remain in the workforce.
Source: New Zealand Herald
Should turning 30 induce a panic attack over your employment prospects?
01 JUL 2014
By MELINDA HAM
Silicon Valley, the globally recognised pinnacle of technological innovation, is one of the most ageist places in the US, according to a recent article in the New Republic.
It claimed that an increasing number of 20-something tech workers in the Bay area of San Francisco are considering getting hair transplants, plastic surgery and Botox, so they don’t appear “old” to younger colleagues, prospective employers and venture capitalists obsessed with youth.
According to the US magazine, venture capitalists consider older entrepreneurs much less attractive, instead supporting their younger counterparts with millions on the chance their next big idea gives rise to a start-up that exceeds beyond expectations.
Keeping them happy are workplaces such as Dropbox, where workers scoot around the San Francisco headquarters on skateboards, play ping-pong into the night, and behave more like carefree college students than responsible, paid employees.
It’s a culture that’s at odds with the reality. In truth, more Americans over 55 are starting successful businesses than those in the 20-to-30-year age bracket, according to research from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
The age debate rages in Australia as well.
The federal Budget handed down in May proposed increasing the age at which you could access the age pension in Australia to 70 (currently it’s 65, rising to 67 in 2023). This is in contrast to the most recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which shows people who retired in the past five years quit work at an average age of 61.5.
Convincing companies to hire and retain older workers is a big challenge, which is why the recent Budget proposed an A$10,000 phased bonus for those who take on a 50+ worker.
So is the hard truth that, despite the best-intentioned efforts, when it comes to the workplace, youth still rules? Or is it just the digerati who are riding the youth wave?
Steve Crowe had more than a three-decade media career behind him when he attended a job interview at a publishing company.
“I thought the Italian suit was a good idea at the time,” the grey-haired 60-year-old says, “but when I walked in and saw these two guys in their 20s in ripped jeans and T-shirts, the uniform of the creative industry, I knew it was all over.”
The pair gave his CV a rudimentary glance and the whole interview lasted about three minutes. He didn’t get the job.
“Ageism is alive and well and it permeates beyond IT because of people’s subconscious biases against older people,” argues Associate Professor Julie Cogin, the deputy dean of the Australian School of Business at the University of New South Wales (UNSW).
In a common recruitment scenario – as in Crowe’s case – an older applicant is often passed over for a younger person going for the same position, because the HR manager believes that individual will not learn or adapt as quickly, they have a fixed mindset, they would not report happily to a younger boss and would take off more sick days.
“The point is these are prejudices and haven’t been validated by fact,” Cogin says.
Ageism is alive and well and it permeates beyond IT because of people’s subconscious biases against older people.
– Professor Julie Cogin, UNSW
“In some cases, research has confirmed the opposite.”
Last year a study of workers by Essex Business School in the UK challenged these perceptions, finding that age didn’t determine a person’s commitment and productivity levels at work. This research reinforced findings from two earlier studies of German car manufacturers; at one BMW factory an assembly line solely of workers over 50, for example, was 7 per cent more productive than one of younger workers.
Despite age discrimination being illegal in Australia, international recruitment company Hays still often receives requests from HR managers for “a young worker to fit into a team of 20-somethings”, says Kathy Kostyrko, one of the company’s directors based in Canberra.
“We give them a shortlist of diverse candidates, but then because of their bias, the mature age workers may not even be considered for an interview,” she says.
However, elsewhere attitudes are slowly changing, Kostyrko adds, and many employers are happy to offer jobs to older workers.
“Thankfully, for executive positions and senior roles, a bit of grey hair is seen as an advantage and evidence that you have the skills and knowledge required,” she says.
“Really an employee’s attitude is everything. You could have an enthusiastic 70-year-old, willing to be engaged in the company, or a 30-year-old who is sitting back and complaining.”
Kostyrko says there is cause for hope as the community sector and specific employers such as Bunnings and Westpac are forging ahead against ageism.
Jane Counsel, head of diversity at Westpac, says that because one in five of their employees is over 50, the bank has progressively become more conscious of these “prime of life” workers’ needs and the importance of mapping their futures.
“We want to look at their careers, assist them with financial planning and transition to retirement,” she says.
These employees are in a mixture of roles ranging from head office, to frontline sales, commercial and retail banking, and reflect Westpac’s ageing client base.
And contrary to the New Republic report, Silicon Valley does show support for its relative elders, insists Melbourne-born Ned Dwyer, 31, founder of web design start-up Elto.
He recently moved to San Francisco and reckons the emphasis on youth is largely a media beat-up – and an exception, not the rule.
“Really, once you turn 30 it doesn’t mean you’ve passed your use-by date,” says Dwyer who appeared on the 2014 INTHEBLACK Young Business Leaders list.
He adds that companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and VSCO Cam (a camera app similar to Instagram) are businesses that hire more mature employees and have facilities to cater for their needs.
“Some start-ups who are at the early stage of development may still have that ‘beer-pong’ fraternity feel about them, but many more established tech companies have a family-friendly culture with daycare centres, family days out in the park and are happy to be super-flexible,” Dwyer says.
So cancel that nip ’n’ tuck.
Grey power
Attitudes towards mature workers vary across the world, says Dr Keri Spooner, a senior lecturer in the School of Management at the University of Technology, Sydney.
“Older people are venerated for their knowledge in Asian cultures,” she says.
“In countries such as China or Thailand, with compulsory retirement ages, most workers look forward to retirement as an entitlement.”
In Germany, with a low birth rate and an impending skills shortage, companies are taking measures such as offering longer holidays and more flexible work arrangements in a bid to dissuade older skilled workers from retiring.
Finland, with Europe’s most rapidly ageing population, is a trailblazer. Its national “active ageing” policy to ensure people stay in the workforce longer has given rise to flexible working arrangements, healthy workplaces, lifelong learning, well-developed care systems (for children, grandchildren and aged care) and retirement saving schemes.
Age against the machine
Companies such as Google Australia – despite its youthful image – hire people of diverse ages to assist their wide range of customers.
“Age does not matter at Google. Ideas and energy do, and of course age can influence both of those,” says Raul Vera, a senior engineer at the company.
Julie Cogin of the Australian School of Business says that the best employers celebrate multi-generational workforces.
“In many cases we are now seeing as many as four generations in a workplace and they can all learn from each other,” she says.
“It’s interesting because often the needs of the 55+-year-olds are similar to those in their early 20s. They aren’t driven by financial rewards, they have other motivations.”
Many older workers want flexibility, so they can support their children, assist in the care of their grandchildren or their own parents. Many are also happy to step out of the day-to-day operations of the business a bit more and act as a coach or mentor, to pass on some of their company knowledge, experience and wisdom.
This article is from the July 2014 issue of INTHEBLACK
As populations age, it’s not only old dogs who will learn new tricks
14 AUG 2014
By JACQUIELINE BLONDELL
It’s time to look at the opportunities to be gained when society and business focus on Gen Wise as well as Gen Y
It’s time to look at the opportunities to be gained when society and business focus on Gen Wise as well as Gen Y
In deepest Bavaria a very different production line is showing how the future may pan out for factory workers everywhere. Every employee is age 50 or above and, while that’s hardly ancient, their employer has put in place measures to make their work more effective.
Recently the powers-that-be at BMW worked out that within five years every worker on their production lines would be aged over 45 and it was likely this would slow production.
The carmaker went into overdrive implementing simple low-cost changes, such as workplace physiotherapists, Pilates classes, rest rooms and ergonomic chairs so workers could sit rather than stand. Productivity rates were raised and absentee numbers fell to the existing company average – at times it was even lower.
It’s no secret that populations in developed countries are getting older at an unprecedented scale. In Australia alone, 1.8 million people will be aged over 85 in 2050. One in four people will be aged over 65 by 2056.
While quintessential Baby Boomer rock star Mick Jagger sang “what a drag it is getting old”, it doesn’t have to be if society, governments and businesses everywhere respond in a timely manner.
“[Population ageing] is the demographic climate change of our time,” says Emily Millane, the sprightly 31-year-old principal research fellow at think tank Per Capita’s longevity and positive ageing project.
Still Kicking – its first report of three – looks at the many opportunities arising out of this demographic shift, from increasing our health and wellbeing as we age, strategies for lifelong education and training, and the world of work and retirement.
People have to get off their backsides and want to get out and do something about it.
–Everald Compton CPA
“The [Australian] Human Rights Commission released a report last year around age-based stereotypes and they found that 92 per cent of businesses and employees reported that the most likely place for age discrimination to happen was in the workplace,” says Millane.
“On the flip side, they commissioned some research by Deloitte that found an increase of 5 per cent of paid employment by people over the age of 55 would result in a A$44 billion impact on the economy every year.
“So there’s a real incentive to have older people in work.”
CPA Australia chief executive Alex Malley also sees major upsides.
“This is the new frontier, and given all the fear mongering about the problems of coping with an ageing population, we haven’t yet recognised the true battlefront of how we can make Australia’s demographic future work for both the national as well as the individual good,” he says.
The Australian Government is proposing to offer businesses a A$10,000 incentive if they employ a worker over the age of 50 who has been on government benefits for more than six months. But Per Capita’s Millane is a little sceptical about its efficacy.
“The government is thinking in the right way in terms of encouraging employers to keep older workers on, but I would like to see something a bit more strategic than one-off payments, which can be seen as a reward for having an ‘oldie’ on board,” she says.
Millane sees the need for a major cultural shift in attitudes to ageing.
“As this bulge of the Baby Boomers moves into old age there may come a tipping point where businesses realise that they are going to have to deal with this. As with all cultural shifts, it’s so systemic and it takes time, but I do think having big companies on board will help with the shift.”
Per Capita has partnered with the Panel for Positive Ageing, which lost its funding when the new Australian Government came to power in November. With National Seniors joining the fray, and crowd-funding, individual and corporate donations, the panel has been able to keep working and will release its Blueprint for an Ageing Australia in September.
“It’s about how we can turn ageing into an asset and this blueprint gets down to the mechanics of the policies that have to happen,” says Everald Compton CPA, the panel’s 82-year-old chair.
Compton is keeping the Blueprint’s final policy suggestions close to his chest but says there are very specific recommendations in health and wellbeing, work, retirement incomes, technology and business opportunities in an ageing market.
“We are going to email it to members of every Australian parliament, every mayor in the country, as well as all the ASX companies, major not-for-profits and healthcare companies,” he declares.
“We will also run a campaign to encourage people and businesses to do something about it.” Beyond government, “people have to get off their backsides and want to get out and do something about it,” Compton says.
A decade ago Singapore-based advertising marketer Kim Walker had an epiphany on his 50th birthday. When he did some soul-searching he realised the ad industry had effectively ignored mid-lifers.
“I thought here’s an opportunity: I can be the one-eyed man in the land of the blind,” he reflects.
Walker created the Silver Group, a consultancy focused on the over-50s market. Recent clients include a global hotel chain that’s looking to become more age-friendly and a caustic chemicals and explosives company with many machine operators who will soon be in their 60s. He has conceived age-audit tools for clients and is set to launch an age-friendly app on the iTunes store.
That’s where most companies get it wrong: they think if it’s for old people they have to make it look like it’s for old people.
– Kim Walker, Silver Group
Walker has also co-authored the book Marketing to the Ageing Consumer (Palgrave Macmillan) with UK-based age marketing specialist Dick Stroud. They argue that, just as with any other age segment, “you can’t apply broad brush statements”. But what unites all older people globally is changing physiology.
The pair has isolated 25 physical changes that influence how people behave as they get older.
“They are not only the things that companies need to understand to accommodate and adapt to those changes, but each presents massive business opportunities,” notes Walker.
There’s a fine line between appealing to an ageing market and blatantly selling products for old people.
“That’s where most companies get it wrong: they think if it’s for old people they have to make it look like it’s for old people. I’m going to be 60 next year and if anyone thinks of me as an older person I walk away,” comments Walker.
“Most of us will. We know how old we are, but we don’t want it rubbed in our faces.”
Is this why Baby Boomers, the “older young”, prefer hiking poles to walking sticks and Nikes to orthopedic shoes?
“Everyone knows they are not about to run the 100 metres,” quips Walker.
He observes that financial companies are leading the field in providing the right service and message, understanding that older customers prefer to deal with people their own age. Marketing messages need to be uplifting, he believes, because Boomers across all cultures tend towards optimism.
Agile tech behemoth Apple is also ahead of the game, offering the best all-round “age-friendly” service, according to Walker. In its advertising, Apple tends to feature people in an intergenerational setting. Its website is clear of pesky flash and animation clutter. Products in stores are at waist height. There’s somewhere to sit, and staff on the shop floor and in after-sales service are helpful.
And let’s not forget Apple’s intuitive products.
“The iPad has been used in the last two US presidential elections in retirement homes to allow people, who have no experience of computers, to register a vote,” says Walker.
Boomers, Gen X and their juniors have grown up in a world where design matters to consumers. A standout in this area is US kitchen gadget company OXO. Started by 66-year-old Sam Farber, whose wife loved cooking but had arthritic hands, Oxo’s range of kitchen implements are loved by chefs and home cooks of all ages.
BMW
BMW’s Dingolfing, Bavaria plant has been optimised for older workers
“Now I’ve spoken to people who say, ‘Oh I’ve got them in my kitchen. If I knew they were for older people I wouldn’t have bought them’,” reports Walker.
“Farber’s age-friendly gadgets understand the challenges of an older physiology but are beneficial to everyone. Today Oxo is a massive business globally and a beautiful example of how design will influence change.”
Attitudes to ageing
Have you heard the one about the man in China who took his 74-year-old mother on holiday by pushing her wheelchair for 93 days to a tropical tourist destination in the Yunnan Province?
This is not a joke. It was hailed in China as the best example of filial piety in years. On the flip side, there’s the 77-year-old who sued her daughter and son-in-law for neglect. A Chinese court ruled the couple had to visit her regularly and pay her compensation.
Respect for the elderly has been integral to Asian societies, particularly in cultures where the Confucian ethic of filial piety underpins much of family life. But this is changing, particularly in China, with the population shift from the countryside to the cities.
“The older folks have been left in the countryside, while the kids have moved to the cities and have got on with their lives free from the yoke of family,” says Kim Walker of the Silver Group.
Last year, the Chinese Government passed a law, the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Elderly People, requiring children to visit elderly parents once a year. Its nine clauses lay out the duties of children and their obligation to tend to the “spiritual needs” of ageing parents.
It’s been estimated that by 2030 China will have more people aged over 50 than the entire population of the US. Even now its cohort of over-60s make up 44 per cent of the population.
“China is going to get old before it gets rich,” notes Walker.
“Unfortunately there are a lot of older people in China who are desperately poor. Most grew up at the time of the Cultural Revolution and they have not accumulated wealth, whereas the 40-plus are the ones that have caught this latest economic wave.”
There are now incentives, via a government investment fund, to encourage foreign aged care groups to move into China to open retirement homes.
Efforts are underway throughout Asia to provide programs to care for the elderly and frail, and initiatives to encourage everyone to stay fit and healthy into old age.
This focus on the self might be key, particularly in more sophisticated markets. Walker’s research into retirement attitudes in the region shows that among older people in Taiwan and China, the focus is firmly on helping the next generation, while Singapore and Hong Kong are more akin to the West, where Walker says, “the attitude to retirement is, ‘This is my time.’”
Bodies of evidence
Medical research and pharmaceuticals are fields where ageing presents wide open opportunities.
Dr David Sinclair first rose to global recognition with his research on resveratrol, a compound that impedes the ageing process. In laboratories at the University of New South Wales and Harvard University, Sinclair’s research is leading to drugs that look set to combat the ageing process and could be widely available in 10 years.
“The principle behind it is that we can activate everybody’s natural defences against diseases,” Sinclair explains.
“Ten years ago we discovered seven genes in yeast cells that extended the life of the cells by about 30 per cent.” He says the drugs aren’t only for the elderly.
“I suspect they will be used in the young and middle-aged to treat diseases that they have, and prevent others from developing as people grow older.”
In the laboratories six-month-old mice (their equivalent human age is 30) have been benefiting from treatment.
“The mice can run twice as far on a treadmill and they are immune from the effects of obesity so they don’t suffer from the effects of heart disease or diabetes or even cancer until much, much later,” says Sinclair.
Accounting for aged care
Accountants can play a vital role in advising on the new complex web of aged care options introduced in Australia on July 1.
“It’s a complicated sector with a lot of noughts,” says Dr Henry Cutler, director of health economics at KPMG.
The average accommodation bond per individual is about A$250,000 and the first A$154,000 of the family home’s value is now included in the assets test for determining how much a resident pays for their care. The distinction between high care and low care has been eliminated and now all individuals can choose to pay for accommodation through a refundable accommodation deposit, daily accommodation payment, or a mix of both.
Although there will be increasing transparency, non-supported residents and their families will still face a complex choice when determining their accommodation payment type, given potential impacts on the pension, co-contribution to care, investment income and taxation, says Dr Cutler.
Assyat David, director of Aged Care Steps, a consultancy that advises the advisers on this sector, says: “Aged care has always been considered a health issue, not a financial one, and it’s actually both.”
The finance professionals’ target client is more likely to be the children of an aged person requiring care.
“With the over-85s, their biggest asset is their home and it’s really making decisions on whether to keep the home or sell it, and if you sell it, then a decision needs to be made as to how much to put towards repayment of care,” says David.
Decisions will impact on the aged pension and have implications on facility fees to be paid and any future income the individual may receive. There are also implications for estate planning.
Advisers should help clients to understand how different options stack up, says David. But it’s important for advisers to remember that they are generally dealing with families going through grief, which makes emotional intelligence a vital part of their skill set.
Further reading
Access the following CPA Library items online at www.cpaaustralia.com.au/ageworkguide
“Old is Gold”, The Business Times (Singapore), 17 Mar 2014
“Bringing Balance Back” by Tonya Turner, The Courier-Mail, 24 Nov 2007
“Improving with Age” by Amanda Griffiths, The Safety & Health Practitioner, 2007
Contact CPA Library on 1300 737 373 or email cpalibrary@cpaaustralia.com.au
This article is from the August 2014 issue of INTHEBLACK.
Posted by Judy Higgins on 2 July 2014
When it comes to CVs, less is more says Judy Higgins, co-founder of website Older Workers.
Applying for a job, if done properly, is a time consuming task. And, sending out generic applications en masse will risk your brand, your reputation and the likelihood that you’ll be seriously considered for a job.
Employers and HR staff can pick a generic application and cover letter very quickly and will disregard it just as quickly. Our employers tell us if the applicant hasn’t got the right attitude with their application, and is not prepared to put in an effort, then that will likely carry through to their work. On that basis they won’t consider that applicant.
The message from employers and HR staff is clear: take the time to tailor your CV and cover letter for the particular job you are applying for; and address the specifics in the job advert in terms of must have’ skills and experience. Also, if there is a name and contact number, give the person a call and talk to them about the job, so that you are very sure about the needs of the company and how you can show you are the best applicant.
I understand if you are with Centrelink there is a requirement to apply for a minimum number of jobs within a certain period of time, and in some instances this could lead to quantity over quality. But if you are serious about applying for specific jobs, then you must put in the time and effort to ensure you give yourself every opportunity to sell your skills. More is not better when it comes to applications, particularly in a buyer’s market which it is at the moment.
The importance of a tailored CV should never be underestimated. Jobseekers need to quickly realise their CV is the tool that will, or won’t, give them the opportunity to get face-to-face with the employer. Quality wins over quantity every time when it comes to job applications.
Aug 13, 2014 (Morning Edition)Germany recently lowered its retirement age from 65 to 63 for longtime workers, a move Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government says is aimed at easing the burden on older Germans in the workforce.
But the decision is not popular with German businesses or with governments in struggling eurozone countries, which accuse German officials of hypocrisy. They say it’s wrong for Germany to demand sweeping cuts in their countries while Merkel’s government beefs up benefits at home.
And that’s in contrast to the U.S., too, where benefits for early retirement at age 62 have steadily decreased and the retirement age has been steadily increasing from 65 to 67.
So far, more than 50,000 German workers have applied for the new chance to retire two years early. Among them is Robert Buerger from Stuttgart.
The one-time auto body assembler at Daimler-Benz who now heads his union shop says he will have worked 48 years when he turns 63, and that he’s earned the right to start a new chapter in his life.
“I love to travel, especially in a motor home. And naturally I’m looking forward to having the freedom to decide how I spend my time,” he says.
The German government estimates some 240,000 people are eligible for early retirement under the new law.
Labor Minister Andrea Nahles called it a matter of justice for people who’ve worked nonstop since their late teens and paid into the state pension system for at least 45 years.
Like Buerger, most of those eligible to retire early have demanding physical jobs.
But the new retirement package their government is rewarding them with isn’t cheap. German officials estimate it will cost $6 billion this year, a figure that will jump to $15 billion per year by 2030.
And it’s not just the German taxpayer who will feel the pinch. Businesses will also suffer, says Judith Roeder. She is deputy managing director of the Middle Class Federation, which represents some 230,000 medium-sized businesses, one-quarter of which expect to lose workers because of the new law.
Roeder says besides increasing what employers and employees pay into the pension system, the new law makes a growing shortage of experienced workers in Germany much worse.
That’s because the population of Germany is rapidly aging, and there simply aren’t enough young people to replace retirees.
Critics accuse the government of playing politics. They point out that Merkel has pushed for an increase in the overall retirement age. But in this case, her government agreed to lower it for one class of workers at the request of the Social Democrats who joined her government and are seeking to reward their voter base.
Early retirement will not even benefit disabled and impoverished older workers who need it most, Roeder explains. They haven’t worked enough years to qualify and can’t afford to quit because early retirement would reduce their pensions, she adds.
Supporters of early retirement, like Hans-Juergen Urban, an executive board member of Germany’s Industrial Union of Metal Workers, says younger workers are also criticizing the new law.
Urban says that’s because the government has signaled that it plans to gradually raise the overall retirement age to 67. When that happens, they say, the new early retirement age of 63 will inevitably be increased to 65.
Back in Stuttgart, Buerger waves off concerns about the early retirement law driving a wedge between the generations.
He says he’s talked about it with younger workers at his plant — including one of his sons — and that they support the new law.
Buerger says younger employees are hungry for the chance to move up the career ladder as more seasoned workers like him leave.
Source NPR News 13 August 2014
Source: Business Spectator
Author: Susan Ryan
Susan Ryan, Age Discrimination Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission, calls on insurers to design new, accessible and affordable products tailored to older Australians.
Whether they’re contributing to the workforce, volunteering their time, or travelling the world, older Australians are an active bunch and increasingly so. Yet all these activities may involve risk, and with risk comes the potential need for insurance.
In my role as Age Discrimination Commissioner, I hear many stories from older Australians who have had trouble securing affordable insurance or finding any suitable insurance product at all. A lack of insurance has limiting and negative effects for older Australians.
Income protection insurance often cuts out at age 65, yet many older Australians are capable and want to work well beyond that age.
It was announced in the recent budget that by 2035, Australians will not be eligible for the age pension until they turn 70, so working to that age will become the reality for many. Also, organisations that rely on volunteers buy group insurance, but it may not cover older volunteers. Travel insurance premiums increase with age, but it’s important that they are not so prohibitively high that older Australians would be tempted to travel uninsured.
Failing to provide insurance to older people or charging higher premiums is not necessarily unlawful discrimination. The Age Discrimination Act, which is the general protection that all people have against discrimination on the basis of age, has an exception for insurance. Insurers can discriminate based on age as long as the difference in treatment is based on actuarial or statistical data, or is otherwise reasonable.
Despite this exception, I have been making the case to the insurance industry that better, more accessible information about available insurance products should be provided. In addition, I can see a strong business case to be made to insurers to design new products that are tailored to seniors, and are accessible and affordable.
While the industry is considering these messages, the voice of older Australians who themselves are seeking a good deal on insurance products add to my advocacy. Older Australians can shop around for insurance and find the best product available to them.
Finally, if you think you have been discriminated against by an insurer, you are still able to make a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission, who can investigate and attempt to resolve your complaint.
You can get further information by calling 1300 656 419 or visit the Australian Human Rights Commission website.
- Australian workers are getting older, but a lot of bosses aren’t on board
- Employers are less ageist but ‘inexplicable’ discrimination against older workers persists
- Bunnings sees benefits of valuing older workers
- What to do when you face ageism in the workplace
- Albanese government pushes through 60,000 permanent visa applications to tackle labour shortages
This week’s unemployment data caused quite a stir, with some observers making a hasty link between the number of Australians joining the jobless queues, and the number of migrants still pouring into the country.
Monash demographer Bob Birrell led the charge, arguing in the Fairfax press that “… the number of overseas-born persons aged 15 plus in Australia, who arrived since the beginning of 2011, was around 709,000. Most of these people are job hungry.
“According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Labour Force Survey, 380,000 of these recent arrivals were employed as of May 2014. Over the same three years, the net growth in jobs in Australia is estimated by the ABS to have been only 400,000.
“This means that these recent overseas-born arrivals have taken almost all of the net growth in jobs over this period. They are doing so at the expense of Australian-born and overseas-born residents who arrived in Australia before 2011.”
Yikes. Pull up the drawbridge. Sound the alarms.
Well not quite. Drawing a direct link between migration and jobless numbers is far more problematic than that.
The motivation for Birrell’s line of attack is clear, and quite worthy – namely that we have a youth unemployment crisis, and an under-employment crisis more generally, with welfare benefits putting an increasing burden on the federal budget.
All quite true. All very alarming.
However the matching up of the jobless numbers with the immigration numbers paints a false picture.
More importantly, this kind of assertion can easily be mis-used by populist political forces to stir unrest in the community and unfairly paint migrants as a burden on the economy when they are nothing of the kind.
The logical disconnect is found when one considers what kinds of job openings exist, where they are located and the willingness of ‘pre-2011’ Australians (to use Birrell’s distinction) to take them.
The two charts below reveal a lot about the distribution of work around the country, and the trends in the amount of work available overall since the beginning of phase one of the GFC in late 2007. (Note that the final two quarters of the second chart rely on population estimates, as the ABS has not yet published March and June 2014 figures).
The first chart shows only how the gross number of hours worked in each state has grown in the past seven years. WA seems to be romping along, just ahead of the NT, with both being well ahead of the clustered Queensland, Victoria and NSW.
However, this picture is misleading, as it does not capture population movements. WA’s population, for instance. has grown an astonishing 21 per cent in seven years, which means its nation-beating growth in hours worked is spread across a population that is 445,000 people larger.
The second chart, therefore, shows how the number of hours of work available averages out over a state’s population. Tasmania, as will surprise few, has a far lower number of hours worked per resident each month (60 hours) compared with WA (82 hours).
That’s not surprising as WA is still enjoying the jobs created by the construction phase of the resources boom (though that will moderate in the months and years ahead).
Most interesting, however, is what Tasmania was doing just three years ago when its average hours worked per resident was continuing to slide – from about 65 hours at the start of the GFC to 62.5 hours in April 2011.
Even without taking population movements into account, the total monthly hours-worked figure (see first chart) showed no increase through the four years of GFC.
So what was the Tasmanian government doing at that time? It was, in fact, running roadshows around recession-ravaged Ireland, hoping to recruit a range of skilled workers to start a new life in the Apple Isle.
As Business Spectator reported at the time, Tasmania was looking for workers in “medical and allied health, engineering, hospitality, urban and regional planning, agricultural science and metal fabrication and trades such as automotive mechanics, plumbing and electrical”.
Were they mad? Surely they could have recruited thousands of such workers from Melbourne, Sydney or Perth?
Actually, no.
Angela Chan, national president of the Migration Institute of Australia says that’s just not true. Employers in regional and remote Australia find it extremely difficult to fill positions with workers who have families, homes and lives in our capital cities – cities that house the unusually high figure of 85 per cent of our population.
MIA is the umbrella group for migration agents in Australia, so there is an element of “they would say that wouldn’t they” – especially as Scott Morrison begins investigations into how migration visas have been misused or rorted in the past few years.
However, the explanation Chan gives gels exactly with stories many regionally-based MPs have told this columnist over the years – it is sometimes easier to employ Korean workers or recently arrived refugees in Alice Springs hospitality jobs than Australians. Or to employ Iraqis to pick fruit in Shepparton, for instance.
The allure of such roles for established Australians is just not there – as evidenced by the Gillard government’s rather fruitless attempts to coax youngsters out of capital cities with bonuses and relocation payments.
What makes a direct link of migration and jobless numbers most worrying, according to Chan, is that towns that don’t have medical staff, accountants, engineers or other skilled workers are hobbled economically – the businesses that would otherwise employ the low-skilled, or even many other classes of skilled workers, don’t get going.
Viewed in this context, it can be argued both that we have a huge unemployment problem to solve, and that it will only be made worse by choking off skilled migrants who are just as prepared to set up house in Bendigo or Mount Gambier as Melbourne or Adelaide.
That is not to argue the all skilled migrants are wanted or needed – just that there are good reasons to keep the flow higher than many would assume in hard times (An awkward time to mention migration, July 8).
The government will have a hard time explaining that to voters, however, as the body set up to advise on such subtleties, the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency, was one of the first agencies it scrapped on coming to power.
But there is a lot more to the migration-jobs nexus than meets the eye.