A new beginning for older workers

So, at long last, the Default Retirement Age (DRA) is to be scrapped. The decision has been a long time coming but, for all that, it is very welcome and a great step forward. It must be especially pleasing for the various campaigning groups which have been tirelessly working for its abolition.

However, the real winners will be those employees who wish to work past 65 plus the economy in general and we will now see objective evaluation of the vast skill pool of older workers, hitherto consigned to the scrap heap because employers found it convenient and an easy form of “management”.

Nevertheless, as with all decisions, this marks not the end but the start of the real process of change. There is much for legislators to clarify and there is much for employers to tackle. For many it will mean a whole culture change and the application of proper, objective performance management systems instead of a shrug of the shoulders and a “you know it’s not down to me” attitude.

But the real overall winner is age neutrality in the workplace. The implied, associated rigorous and defensible measurements of performance are not confined to older workers – they should be taking place at all ages – and continued employment should be properly earned and justified by employer and employee alike.

It is also not just a question of dealing with those approaching 65. The tendencies to allow people to stagnate, to coast or to “bat out time” through the latter parts of their careers must be fundamentally re-examined for the benefit of all concerned. New ways of managing and engaging staff, flexible working possibilities – all very exciting.

Watch this space!

Taking control of living longer

A team of Boston scientists appears to have cracked the key to longevity. Through development of a mathematical model based on genetic information taken from 1,000 centenarians they have identified 150 genetic signposts pointing to the likelihood of living beyond 100.

Although this model is still in the early stages of development and currently has an accuracy rate of only 77%, it is a remarkable and thought-provoking breakthrough.  If it is found to be a robust predictor of individual longevity it raises myriad questions about society’s right to act upon this knowledge and our own ability to cope with it.

News reports mention that the predictor soon may be made widely available, potentially making it attractive to pensions and insurance providers.  Individuals themselves also could make decisions based on the information. But as we know already from situations such as cancer prognosis, people differ in their desire to want to know outcomes and in the actions they take. As one of the scientists working on the project, Dr Thomas Perls, said, “What do you do when you are told you absolutely don’t have an exceptional signature for longevity?  Do you go and do a lot of risk taking behaviours… or does it give you impetus to take all the better care of you?”

 Currently, although one in 15 people has the genetic makeup to live to over 100, only one in 600 does – due largely to lifestyle factors.  And, as the 23% error rate in the test is attributed to people having different backgrounds and lifestyles, issues around individual and social responsibility for successful ageing become highly pertinent. The part played by lifestyle was accentuated further last week by National Audit Office research showing that the gap in life expectancy between an average person and someone from the poorest sectors of society has widened significantly in recent years due in part to factors such as poor diet and smoking.

 The assumption underpinning these reports appears to be that living longer is a “good thing” even though for many it means living longer in poor health. But – even for those who due to their genetic disposition, economic and social background, and lifestyle are likely to live longer in good health – this development must raise the question of whether some would want to.  If people are able to plan their life based on a very reasonable certainty of how long it will last, surely there will be those who will also want to plan when it should end? Also this week, Ludwig Minelli, the head of Dignitas (the assisted suicide organisation) gave a major interview in which he maintained that the end of life decision should also apply to healthy people without mental illness – certainly a point worthy of debate in this context?

 Undoubtedly thus far the Boston research raises more questions than it answers. Perhaps its greatest contribution is that it moves us closer to a situation where, as Professor Perls said, “Exceptional longevity is not this vacuous entity that no one can figure out”.

For further information see:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/science_and_environment/10475018.stm

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1291242/That-genetic-test-predicts-live-100-Scientists-pinpoint-19-markers-long-life.html

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/10490927.stm

Towards a better pensions and retirement framework

Last Thursday I was very pleased to attend the first seminar of the recently formed Centre for Retirement Reform (CRR) at The Institute of Directors in London.

“The CRR is a new think tank and lobbying body set up to help bring about the reform necessary to produce better retirement outcomes for the people of Britain. Although the pensions arena continues to go through change and restructuring, to date this has fallen well short of the root and branch reform required to address the biggest issues affecting retirement now and into the future.

The CRR believes three fundamental changes are necessary:

1. State retirement age needs to be raised to 70 as soon as practicable; sensible transitional arrangements are perfectly possible.
2. The existing state pension benefits system should be replaced with a simple, universal state pension at or above the current means tested level – a change that can be self-funding.
3. A new long term savings product structure must be developed to replace the current private pension model as it is no longer fit for purpose.”

The seminar was very well attended and the speakers were excellent. I, personally, was particularly impressed by the words, insights and passion of Alan Pickering discussing the need for a decent, universal State Pension.

Trying to grapple with the plate of spaghetti that now constitutes the UK’s pension and retirement system and, furthermore, to simplify it and structure it in a way that is understandable and acceptable to the majority is a task indeed!

The initiative is timely and we wish them every success.

For more, visit the CRR website at http://retirementreform.org.uk/index.php

Box clever – internet usage and the over 50s

Recent reports reveal that an extra million people over 50 went online for the first time in the past year, increasing the number of internet users from 36.9million to 38.8million. People over 50 accounted for 53% of the increase with men in this age bracket accounting for 38 per cent of growth (722,000).

A spokesperson from Nielsen, who conducted the research, maintained that this increase was because people were now more confident about security aspects of using the internet, and more sites now target the over 50s. Certainly the first point is likely to be accurate, but questions must be raised about the second when older internet users almost certainly spend the majority of their time online accessing the same sites as everyone else (banks, retailers, travel, entertainment). Plenty of evidence exists (including regular updates from mature marketing specialist Dick Stroud (http://20plus30.blogspot.com/) to show that the over 50s in general are not highly attracted to “older” websites. The “Saga” generation is less the over 50s and more the over 70s.

Our belief is that what has probably happened is that older men – who have been less likely to use computers and keyboards through work than older women – are now (no doubt influenced by the women in their lives!) realising the advantages and catching up. This reflects the classic marketing growth curve of new product development which proposes a pattern of early adopters, to mass market, late adopters and then the laggards. The truly elderly now represent the laggards with Age UK estimating that 70 per cent of those over the age of 65 have still to use the internet. 

The reasons for this appear to represent a mix of lack of ability, opportunity, confidence and support. Overcoming these will not be easy, particularly in these economic times when this may not be seen as a financial priority by public service providers. One potentially highly useful way forward was brought to my attention earlier this week at an academic conference on research methods.

Marcel Das from Tilburg University in the Netherlands was reporting on his use of the CentERpanel, an Internet-based research panel representative of the Dutch population aged 16 and over, administered by CentERdata at Tilburg University. He said, “Because not everyone owns a personal computer or has access to Internet, CentERdata provides a set-top box for people who do not have a computer, enabling them to complete the questionnaires online.” Apparently the set top box is the equivalent of a very simple computer enabling people to have internet access and to send emails. It is installed and supported by personnel from the CentERdata team who spend a considerable amount of time teaching people – particularly the more senior respondents – how to use the equipment.

This seems an excellent way forward as a means of increasing internet usage amongst a proportion of those – particularly the elderly – who currently are not web-enabled. The project is financed by a large European grant and the benefit to the overall community – through access to a large amount of panel data – is huge.

Time for the UK to think outside the box also?

http://arno.uvt.nl/show.cgi?fid=63036

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1290755/One-internet-users-50.html

 

Why employers should hang on to older workers

New research shows that employers are likely to benefit if they encourage older adults who want to work to keep their jobs.

Psychologists Dr Darren Van Laar at the University of Portsmouth and Simon Easton, consultant psychologist at QoWL Ltd., a university spin-out company, used the Work Related Quality of Life Scale (WRQoL) to gauge thousands of people’s experience of work.

Their research showed that quality of working life tended to be higher in the under 25s and the 60 or over age groups, with the 25 to 59 year olds reporting the lowest quality of working life.  It also indicates that men experience a gradual increase in their levels of engagement and commitment to their work and employers throughout their working lives as well as an increase in quality of working life just before retirement. Women also tend to experience a slight increase in their levels of engagement just before they retire.

Of course it would be interesting to know why quality of working life improves at this stage – the general view seems to be that it is because older workers become more relaxed the closer they are to retirement – but it does seem to indicate that employers may be missing a trick by overlooking the value of people at this age.

If – as appears evident – older workers show increasing levels of employee engagement whilst enjoying their work, it provides compelling evidence as to why employers should put a greater focus on keeping people at this age. At present they are overlooking the potential of  a highly motivated and committed group of workers…who probably are rather well experienced too.

Click here for further information http://www.qowl.co.uk/qowl_press_engagement_bounce.html?pid=59327