With the rise of the pension age, the age demographics of the modern workforce is no longer 16 to 60 for women and 65 for men and this changes the workplace more than ever before.

And with people at so many different stages of their life and career, employers may be wondering how to manage this new dynamic but handled well, age diversity can lead them to having a very successful workforce where staff are happier, healthier and higher skilled than ever before.

There are lots of reasons to have an age diverse workforce where there is a mix of maturity, experience, enthusiasm and freshness.

Businesses have found it:

  • encourages creativity and innovation
  • provides a greater understanding of their customer base
  • improves the reputation of the brand (whether that’s regional, national or global)
  • provides an opportunity for mentoring to support colleagues’ personal and professional development
  • meets the needs of a digital and tech-savvy business world
  • promotes a positive and happy company culture

Create an environment where are all staff are valued and have the same opportunities for training, progression and development to improve their skills, regardless of their age and experience.

All in all, an inclusive work environment makes for a happy workforce, a happy workforce becomes a noticeably healthy workforce (sickness absence notably goes down when staff are happy) and together, a happy and healthy workforce is more engaged and productive, helping their business to flourish and thrive.

Jill Cowles / Partnership Manager / The Age Diversity Forum

 

Also, see and hear our Happier and Healthier, Higher Skilled Employees video (below) from our ‘Postcard’ series.

Champion Age Diversity