Support for organisations

Why take action?

It seems obvious that different age groups might require different things from work, bring different things to it, and have different experiences within it.

Yet age as a protected characteristic often gets overlooked in organisational strategy, planning and activity around Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and around staff development and wellbeing, despite its significance both in its own right and in its intersectionality with other protected characteristics.

Targeted, well-informed, well-designed interventions can improve understanding and support both for employees and for the organisation and offer multiple mutual benefits.

By better understanding issues around work and careers at 50+ and offering targeted and tailored provision to your employees, you have the potential to derive such benefits as:

• retention of employees, their knowledge, experience and skills

• employees positively engaging with their work to support organisational objectives

• retaining the benefits of an age-balanced workforce by ensuring that the experience of older staff is recognised and utilised

• getting the best from employees through mutual understanding of wants and needs

• boosting recruitment of staff at 50+ by demonstrating how the organisation supports their needs and values their contribution

• translating the EDI agenda (and others) into meaningful interventions, provision and support

• (where appropriate) supporting individuals to leave the organisation in a positive way that sets them up for whatever comes next

• providing clarity around the organisation’s stance on age and ageism, and transparency about its policies and their implications.

Conversely, the dangers of not acting can include:

• assumptions and conventions around age and ageism remaining unrecognised or unchallenged by staff, managers and senior leaders, with negative impacts on how all parties behave

• employees disengaging when they feel there is no place or voice for them

• employees treading water while counting down the clock to retirement

• younger staff looking at current practice and questioning their future in the organisation

• unlooked-for attrition, creating staffing, knowledge and skills gaps

• ill-informed succession planning

Read more about what I can offer your organisation below …

Do you understand the needs of your employees at 50+? Do they feel seen, heard, understood, valued and supported? Do you recognise their distinctiveness?

Do you want to attract and retain members of the 50+ workforce and harness the essential value they bring?

If you think you have work to do in this area, I can help you do it through targeted services to senior leaders, managers, HR professionals and individual employees. See below for further details or get in touch to talk through your requirements.

If you’re not sure if you’ve got work to do in this area, I can help you to find out. Just get in touch to start the conversation.