Uniting generations: supporting and strengthening an age-diverse workforce

Published: 8 Feb 2024

Our webinar on how to support and strengthen an age-diverse workforce was a fascinating watch (see below). The brilliant panel consisted of Devi Virdi from Centrica, Mary Bright from Phoenix Group and Nina Doran from the National Crime Agency, who brought with them insights on ensuring every age group has what they need to thrive in the workplace. Here are some key takeaways from the session:

The landscape is changing

What with an aging population and the chance of younger generations living longer, we are looking at careers that could last 50 years. Careers are no longer linear, and many people want to switch it up mid-career. Apprenticeships, graduate training and other opportunities should be open to any age, and Centrica’s apprentice who’s in their fifties proves there’s an appetite for new starts later in life.

More that unites us than divides us

When Phoenix collected information about what different age groups valued, they found that they had more in common than in contrast. Working with purpose, opportunities to upskill and progress, and being able to balance work with what they value were priorities for all age groups.

Flex appeal is ageless

Whatever your age or stage in life, flexible working is an important tool in helping you achieve the life you want. The need for flexibility when you have caring responsibilities is understood, but flexible working at the tail ends of your careers when you’re building up skills and opportunities, or winding down, is equally important. Phoenix now has more men over 50 working flexibly than any other group.

Flex is the ‘big front door to inclusion’

As well as enabling those with caring responsibilities and disabilities to progess in careers, it’s also good for closing the gender gap. Phoenix have found that executives taking sabbaticals enables women to step up into positions of leadership.

Job design

When creating or advertising roles, think about how to incorporate flex into roles to broaden the pool of potential candidates. Even though working from home may not be possible with every role, there may be an alternative flex, just as Centrica are considering with term-time only roles for their engineering teams.

Mid-career MOT

Giving people an opportunity during their career to pause and reflect is incredibly powerful for both motivation and engagement. A tool which focuses thinking around work, wealth and wellbeing can help employees think about next steps, be that training, promotion or better work-life balance. Free digital versions are available on the Government and Open University websites.

The power of storytelling

Sharing lived experience is a sure-fire way to resonate with others. Showcase success stories through lunch and learn sessions or webinars that discuss the different ways people can work.

Roadmap policies

Policies for different areas and stages of life helps guide line managers and provides consistency across an organisation. As well as robust maternity, paternity and shared parental leave policies, consider how can policies can support those experiencing menopause, on a pathway to parenthood and employees who are also unpaid carers. Having an Equality Impact Assessment process assesses all new policies or policy changes to ensure they’re inclusive.

Caring for carers

With the numbers of people acting as carers set to rise, it’s crucial to have support in place. Carers passports are helpful as they let carers identify their needs, and paid carers leave ensures carers don’t use their annual leave when carrying out their caring responsibilities.

A network of support

Colleague networks are incredibly useful for coming together, sharing and learning. They can help people navigate the support available to them and signpost to appropriate help. Bringing people together from different networks is a way to foster understanding. For example, Phoenix Group brought together the Age and LGBTQ+ networks to look at the inclusion journey the UK has been on through the lens of ‘past, present, and future’.

Don’t let knowledge go to waste

Older employees have a wealth of skills and knowledge that can be retained through flexible working. Consider a Talent Bench, where retired people return on short-term contracts, for example to work on a specific project. It helps the employee to stay engaged and earn extra income and the business can utilise their expertise.

No ‘one way’ to flex

Beyond remote and hybrid working, there are many ways to work flexibly. Job shares are a great way to enable women to progress in careers and a way to ensure staff and skill retention. The National Crime Agency has set up an internal job share network that has seen a greater uptake amongst men who want job share roles. They also found that promoting job shares through lunch and learns that addresses the challenges also helps with take up.

Squiggly careers

We’re all expected to have numerous careers over our lifetime, so normalise and encourage career change. Career speed dating can help people to see alternatives and how to get there, as well as enabling conversations and fostering connections. Removing upper age limits for graduate and apprenticeship schemes endorses the idea of career change at any age and helps generate a talent pipeline.

Reverse mentoring

Being mentored by more junior employees is a wonderfully helpful tool for many reasons. It can help upskill senior colleagues, as well as help them understand the challenges and barriers faced by others at a different stage of their careers. And for more junior employees, it can help promotion through support. By matching different ages, geographies, and ethnicities it also encourages empathy by giving the opportunity to walk in someone else’s shoes.

Opportunities to learn

A Shadow Board acts just as a board, but is made up of junior employees and is representative of different demographics. It’s an opportunity to feed insights and perspectives back up to the C-suite.

Be purposeful

Where possible, purposefully create teams that are multi-generational so that you can benefit from the diversity of skills, perspective and experience.