Happy New Year! As many of us set resolutions to improve our well-being, lifestyle and motivations, it is also important for those with businesses to consider which direction they want the business to go. Diversity and Inclusion have recently become increasingly important for businesses, however, much of the focus within that is on characteristics like Gender, Race and LGBTQIA+. We at the Age Diversity Forum aim to spread the Age Agenda and bring more awareness to age discrimination. So, here are 5 core reasons why you should consider age diversity within your DE&I plan in 2024!
One benefit in terms of the business case is improved efficiency and productivity. This does come from the sharing of knowledge and learning aspects of a multigenerational team; however, motivation also plays its part. Diversity can often lead to higher motivation as workers feel more included and seen. There is also an increased camaraderie among workers as not everyone comes from the same background leading to potentially more interesting discussions. From the age perspective, this can be through workers discussing different ages and comparing their lives at various significant events. According to a 2015 McKinsey report, diverse teams outperform monoculture teams by 35% because of the different perspectives and deeper discussions that occur.
The potential for employees to learn from each other in the form of internal training is also a strong benefit. This is something we have discussed in a previous editorial because the differences in knowledge between different generations are such an asset to a business. In having multigenerational teams for projects or partnering up workers in a sort of “buddy system”, employees will naturally share their skills and wisdom among themselves. Older generations will be able to share their expertise from working in the industry thus providing younger generations with key insights and a better understanding of the firsthand reality of the workplace. Meanwhile, younger generations (particularly graduates) will be able to share skills and ideas that they may have gained through their recent education or their understanding of the modern world such as technological skills.
Continuing from this, the broader scope of knowledge with a multigenerational team, not only helps the workers but can also help the business itself. With such a diverse range of understanding and ideas, this can increase innovation within the business making it more competitive and help it stay ahead of the curve and its competitors. Multigenerational workforces will also have a better understanding of consumers as the different age groups will be able to relate much more easily. This can help widen a target market for a business and help them target their audience much more effectively, leading to a potential increase in income.
Another key reason why age diversity is so important to consider is increased staff retention and lower staff turnover. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, workers often feel more included and seen within diverse teams. Older workers who aren’t alone in predominately younger teams may feel more comfortable and thus more willing to stay. It could also go the other way, younger workers who may have developed a mentorship with an older worker could also feel more comfortable. There is also the argument that older workers are more loyal because they are often not at the beginning of their careers so are less likely to leave for other opportunities but also it is important to consider that keeping older workers on reduces costs. With redundancy costs and recruitment costs when finding suitable replacements can stack up against a business so it is important to maximise staff retention. By being more age-diverse you can with the added benefit of more experience and knowledge. This is particularly important in areas like the grocery industry where turnover is so high.
Finally, a topic we have discussed before but seems to never particularly be at the forefront of the age discussion is legislation. Obviously, not discriminating against age is the morally right thing to do – much like it is the morally right thing to do to not discriminate against other characteristics. That being said, the legislation also plays a huge factor. Age is also one of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010 so discrimination against it would be breaking the law and could lead to a serious outpayment if found guilty. We have seen this more and more recently as workers feel more confident to speak up about their experiences. We have discussed some in previous editorials such as Superdry, PetroTrace and Eli Lilly. These all resulted in huge payments to the claimant and with the increasing discussion around these cases, there is also more reputational risk which can damage the brand image.
To conclude, age diversity is definitely something businesses should be doing in this new year. With so many benefits and so many consequences of discrimination, we hope that we see more discussion around the Age Agenda and more focus on including older workers in the workplace. At the Age Diversity Forum, we provide training to help managers understand the importance of age diversity and help bring the right mindsets and procedures into the workplace. You can find these on our website, or you can become a Champion Partner – receiving exclusive courses and a logo so you can show that you are a leader in the push for increased inclusion.
Sonya Knight | ADF Comms Team
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Find and download the 5 Core for 24 infographic here