For employers of older workers |
Age discrimination, unintentional or not, is rife in the UK workplace yet employers risk missing out on huge benefits by failing to take advantage of the numerous opportunities inherent in managing, retaining and developing their mature, older workers.
Prejudice, stereotypes and contradictions abound, including these:
- Employers are facing increasing skills shortages - yet over 1 million older workers would like to return to work.
- Employers experience problems retaining their best mature people yet the majority say they would be interested in working past retirement age if flexible working options were available.
- Studies show that learning and performance per se generally do not decline with age until well past age 70, yet stereotypes still exist about 'slow' older workers.
- Managers fear addressing the performance of older workers, yet often this is reflective of the weakness of performance management systems in general and has nothing to do with workers' age.
- Employers strive to be 'caring', yet employees of all ages, including those coming up to retirement, have been shown to be woefully lacking in knowledge and awareness of the real issues concerning pensions provision and financial planning.
As an employer, what should you do?
Click here to read about our range of specialist services for employers. |
Planning Retirement
in a
Modern Environment
Retirement planning (often known as pre-retirement counselling) in organisations is nothing new - but the nature of retirement itself is changing fast! And with these changes come challenges, both for employers and older workers themselves.
People are living longer and the traditional time horizon set aside for ‘retirement’ is extending rapidly.
Retirement no longer consists of a few twilight years but now represents a significant part of a person’s life. So significant, in fact, that it is not just one time period at all, but two.
First there are the transition years, and only then, the years of growing old gracefully.
Accordingly, individuals need sufficient financial resources to sustain themselves, they need to be in good physical and mental health, they need interests and they need to be leading useful, meaningful, productive lives. more>>> |
For marketers in the mature market |
The over 50s market is recognised as one of the most lucrative of all markets with statistics suggesting that some 80% of the wealth in the UK is held by the 50+ population. Yet for many organisations the mature market remains one of the most difficult to crack. Separating in my primers from their cash is not as easy as many companies, advertising agencies and marketing consultancies would wish with many having found, to their cost, that older consumers are looking for more than fine words and fancy packaging when it comes to making a buying decision.
Debates rage about the brand loyalty of older customers, their willingness to experiment, their perception of ‘value’, their ability to use new technology, and their orientation towards new trends, products, services and ‘fashion’. As with any other age group this can vary significantly according to gender, socio-economic position and level of aspiration. The only variable this segment can be said to have in common is age – and that is where many marketers make their most fundamental mistake.
Today, as is clear from many of the messages elsewhere on this site, 50 is the new 40 (or 30?). What it isn’t is 70 or 80 or 90. Many of us in the 50 to 70 age group still have parents and other relatives from that age group above us– those who might genuinely be categorised as ‘senior’ or ‘elderly’. What appeals to an active, aspirational 50 or 60 something, will not have the same appeal to someone from that older generation who is slowing down. With the average life expectancy now 81 for women and 76 for men and the number of people now living beyond 100 increasing apace everyone ‘over 50’ simply cannot be lumped together into one category.
It is hardly more relevant and useful to consider those between 50 and 100 as one homogenous grouping than it is to do so for those from 0 to 50. Furthermore, it is essential to have an empathy with their wishes, their viewpoints and their concerns.
Here at in my prime we can help you understand and differentiate the needs and identifiers of the various ‘over 50s’ market segments. We have many years of marketing experience ourselves and work with a wide range of public and private sector organisations, charities, advertising and PR agencies and media companies who wish to better focus their messages. We scour the world’s press and publications on a constant basis to track and analyse the phenomena which are taking place globally in this arena. The services we can provide range from ongoing consultancy advice to short talks, presentations, or training sessions to, for example, sales and front line service staff. Contact us for further information and an informal chat.
For more see: Marketers must help stamp out ageism - our article in The Marketer
If you belong to any sort of association, institute, club, society or related organisation with a good proportion of in my primers amongst your members, then we would welcome the opportunity to come and talk to you. Presentations vary from 45 minute ‘tasters’ to half-day workshops depending on meeting times and formats and your particular area/s of interest. We work nationally and offer a wide variety of topic areas of interest to both men and women – from financial planning to motivation – contact us to find out more.
“An extremely comprehensive, motivational and balanced talk about starting your own business – I was most impressed.” - Organiser, Women’s networking group.
“Your session on Motivation was very well received, it was pitched appropriately, very interesting and the delegates left enthused and full of ideas. The feedback from the group was excellent.” – Conference organiser, Local government networking group
“In such a short time you touched a few raw nerves and got a lot of us nodding in agreement with your assessment of how we are feeling. Many thanks for inspiring us all - even the happy ones!” – Chair, Professional Association
In
the future we are planning to run workshops
on topics of interest to in my
primers at locations around the
UK on topics relating to financial planning, self-employment and personal development.
Please contact
us – if you would like
to receive further details as they become
available, or if you have any suggestions
for workshop topics related to in
my prime issues that you would
like to see.
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