Together with the OECD, employers and thought leaders, we explored how we can maximise the benefits of multi-generational workforces as the economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. Find out more: https://www.ageing-better.org.uk/events/age-inclusive-workforces-webinar

1. Centre for Ageing Better
ageing-better.org.uk
Age inclusive workforces:
the business case and
putting it into practice
Join the Centre for Ageing Better, the OECD, employers
and thought leaders to explore how we can maximise the
benefits of multi-generational workforces as the economy
recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

2. Stefano Scarpetta
Director of Employment, Labour
and Social Affairs. OECD
PROMOTING AN AGE-INCLUSIVE
WORKFORCE
Shruti Singh, Centre for Ageing Better ,
22 April 2021
2

3. Gains in life expectancy are largely in good health
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Gains in health-adjusted life expectancy Additional gains in life expectancy
Years Years
Source: OECD (2020), Promoting Age-inclusive Workforces, Paris, OECD Publishing.

4. A great mix of workers at all ages
The share of the population aged 50 and over
Source: OECD Database on Population Projections.
4
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
2020 2050

5. The economic burden on workers will rise substantially
if no action is taken
5
Number of people older than 64 years per 100 people aged 20-64
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
2020 2050
Source: OECD (2020), Promoting Age-inclusive Workforces, Paris, OECD Publishing.

6. Talents of older workers remain underutilised and overlooked
Employment rates by skill level for persons aged 55-64, 2019
Source: OECD (2020), Promoting Age-inclusive Workforces, Paris, OECD Publishing.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
%
%
Low skilled Middle skilled High skilled

7. 7
Longer working lives would boost living standards substantially
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
%
%
Catching up with the Joneses at ages 50+ Rising female participation (50% of gap to men closes)
Working longer (25% decline in non-employment at ages 50+)
Change in real GDP per capita in 2050 from increased labour market participation among older workers
Source: OECD (2020), Promoting Age-inclusive Workforces, Paris, OECD Publishing.

8. Age Diversity: Good for business
Source: OECD (2020), Promoting Age-inclusive Workforces, Paris, OECD Publishing.
8
Older workers can boost
productivity
Positive spill over effects

9. 9
Key areas for action

10. Attitudes and motivations towards work vary little by age
Percentage saying the feature is very important/important
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Job
security
An interesting
job
Useful for
society
High
income
To help
other
people
Personal
contact
to others
To work
independently
Opportunity
for
advancement
Flexible work
times
or days
%
%
50-64 35-49 15-34 65+
Source: OECD (2020), Promoting Age-inclusive Workforces, Paris, OECD Publishing.

11. OECD action plan for making the most of the multigenerational workforce
11

12. 12
Age is the most common reason for work-related discrimination
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Age Sex Race, ethnicity Disability,
mental/physical
illness
Political
beliefs
Family
responsibilities
Nationality Religion
%
%
50-64 15-34 35-49 65+
Source: OECD (2020), Promoting Age-inclusive Workforces, Paris, OECD Publishing.

13. More can be done to address workers preferences
Retention policies can be true cost-saver Flexible retirement options increase retention
Source: OECD (2020), Promoting Age-inclusive Workforces, Paris, OECD Publishing.

14. Job strain affects four out of ten workers across the world
Incidence of job strain, OECD average, 2015
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Men Women 15 to 29 30 to 49 50 to 64 Low-skilled Medium-skilled High-skilled
Gender Age Education
%
%
Source: OECD (2020), Promoting Age-inclusive Workforces, Paris, OECD Publishing.

15. Tackling chronic illnesses will be critical as the workforce ages
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
%
%
55+ 15-34 35-54
Source: OECD (2020), Promoting Age-inclusive Workforces, Paris, OECD Publishing.

16. Large inequalities in access to formal and informal training
Share of young adults and older adults in job-related training, 2011/12 or 2014/15
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
%
%
Older adults (55-64) participation Young adults (25-34) participation
Source: OECD (2020), Promoting Age-inclusive Workforces, Paris, OECD Publishing.

17. Attracting and retaining workers of all ages
Ensuring a good working environment and a healthy working life
for all
Develop and maintain skills throughout careers
Complementary public policies and effective social dialogue
Key Conclusions
17

18. Thank you
Shruti Singh (+33 1 45 24 87 94; shruti.singh@oecd.org)
Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs
http://www.oecd.org/employment/ageingandemploymentpolicies.htm
18

20. Living, Learning,
and Earning Longer
AARP, OECD, the World Economic Forum, and partner organizations
agree to share existing resources and, where knowledge gaps exist,
collaborate on new research to help employers build, support, and
sustain multigenerational workforces.
This initiative seeks to engage more than 50 global employers in a
learning collaborative to identify and share multigenerational, inclusive
workforce practices.

21. Insights to Action
Research: Determine which promising strategies yield strong results
and can be implemented to foster a more age-inclusive workplace.
Accelerate Change: Persuade businesses that support a
multigenerational workforce to include age in their diversity, equity and
inclusion (DEI) policy.
Leverage Opportunities: Work with both the public and private sector
to develop the right ecosystem where both employers and employees
can all prosper.

23. Age-diverse
workforce means…
MORE
PRODUCTIVITY
MORE
RETENTION
MORE
PERFORMANCE
MORE
SHARING
Productivity in both
younger and older
workers is higher than in
companies without
mixed-aged teams.
In age-inclusive
organizations, turnover
goes down for younger
and older workers.
Mixed-aged teams
outperform similar-aged
teams in creative tasks and
decision-making.
Older workers tend to share
their knowledge with
younger workers, helping
their colleagues develop and
better engage.

24. 24
Collaborative Members
53
global employers
2 million
employees impacted
$1 trillion
in revenue
12+
industries

25. Digital Learning Platform & OECD Report

26. Call to Action
1. Join the Collaborative
• Opportunity to share insights and resources
• Forum for honest dialogue
• No financial obligation
• Opportunity for executive positioning
2. Engage your networks
• Share key insights from the Collaborative and Growing with Age
• Surface promising practices and research

27. For questions and follow up
Melissa Grober-Morrow
Director, Thought Leadership
Financial Resilience
Jeffrey Gullo
Senior Advisor, International
mgrobermorrow@aarp.org jgullo@aarp.org
www.aarp.org/growingwithage

28. Age-inclusive workforces
Implications for employers & policy-makers
22 April 2021
Stephen Bevan
Institute for Employment Studies

29.  Pleased to contribute to the OECD project (skills chapter,
‘action planning’ & job quality/health)
 IES work with Ageing Better has looked at several related
themes in the UK context:
• Fulfilling Work – are there intergenerational differences?
• Age-bias in recruitment
• Working with a chronic illness during COVID-19
 Several other studies plus our association with the Centre for
MSK & Work & the HEAF study
The View from IES

30. Challenges for employers & policy-makers
Most economies need
to increase age-
inclusivity yet too
many employers have
age-biased practices
Investment in skills is
a key dimension of
productivity growth
yet many older
workers feel excluded
If flexible & ‘hybrid’
working are to be more
widely embraced, how
can older workers
benefit too?
Living with a chronic
condition as you age
need not be a barrier
to productive &
fulfilling work
Recovering jobs
markets often feature
more ‘precarious’
work – both young &
old at greatest risk
Firms have missed
out on the intangible
productivity generated
by social mixing &
transfer of know-how

31. Further information
www.employment-studies.co.uk
Stephen.bevan@Employment-studies.co.uk
@StephenBevan

32. ageing-better.org.uk
Age-inclusive workforces:
Impact and implications for
employers
Patrick Thomson
Senior Programme Manager
22nd April 2021

33. Centre for Ageing Better
Why this matters

34. Centre for Ageing Better
This matters to the economy
• 1 in 3 workers are aged 50+
• 4m more workers aged 50+ than
there were in 2000, compared to
1.5m more aged 25-49
• By the time they are 65, under half
of men, and less than a third of
women, are still in employment

35. One in four workers in the UK think that they wouldn’t be
able to do their job (or a similar one) by the time they’re 60.
Source: European Working Conditions Survey, 2015
This matters to people

36. 36
Age-diversity brings huge opportunities:
• Employers value a mixed-age workforce
• Older workers transfer vital knowledge
and skills
• Bringing together a mix of ideas, skills,
experiences
• Better match profile of customers and
services
This matters to employers

37. Centre for Ageing Better
How to take action as an
age-friendly employer

38. 38

39. 39

40. 0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
Being offered
part-time
working
Chance to
work flexibly
Taking on
less
demanding
role
Chance to
train younger
people on
part-time
basis
Long break
and chance to
return to my
job
Chance to
retrain for
new role
Longer
holidays
Course to
update skills
Being able to
start own
business
Don't know
Would any of these have encouraged you to work for longer? – retirees aged 50+
Flexibility makes work more sustainable
Attitudes of over 50s to Fuller Working Lives (DWP, 2015)

41. Who is accessing flexible working currently?

42. Flexible working toolkit

43. 43

44. 44
Recruitment isn’t working for many older applicants
Demos survey of 1,539 people ‘Too Much Experience’ (2020)

45. 45
Sticks and stones…
Online experiment: 5,000 people from younger
and older age groups were asked questions
about different job adverts and whether they were
likely to apply for each role.

46. 46
1. Changing individual words won’t be a silver bullet
2. Words and phrases can make older workers feel like a job or employer isn’t for them
3. Younger-age stereotypical words are more commonly used in real job ads
4. Language that appeals to older candidates does not deter younger applicants
What does this mean for employers and recruiters?

47. Centre for Ageing Better
What next?

48. 48
Work with us
Doing something good that you want to share?
Interested in learning more about implementing age-inclusive practices?
Want to test innovative new approaches in practice?
Ready to take action and commit to being an age-friendly employer?
Email to register your interest and start the conversation:
employers@ageing-better.org.uk
Find out more:
www.ageing-better.org.uk/employment

49. Centre for Ageing Better
ageing-better.org.uk
Age inclusive workforces:
the business case and
putting it into practice
Join the Centre for Ageing Better, the OECD, employers
and thought leaders to explore how we can maximise the
benefits of multi-generational workforces as the economy
recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.