Survey Reports Generations in Workplace Respect Each Other

In advance of its September 28, 2012 symposium on “America’s Aging Workforce: A Fairfax County EDA Symposium,” the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority has release the results of a survey it commissioned, finding that, despite a demographic shift that is making the nation’s workforce older, working Americans from different generations--Baby Boomers and their Gen X and Millennial counterparts--value each other in the workplace to a surprisingly high degree. Specifically, "[m]ore than nine out of 10 of those surveyed agreed with the statement: 'the best workforce is one that has a good contingent of younger and older workers,' with 92 percent of employees aged 18-34 and 95 percent of employees aged 55+ concurring."

Of employees aged 18-34, 69% said that both older workers and younger workers were equally valuable in their own right, a sentiment echoed by 78% of employees aged 55+ and 77% or those aged 35-54. In addition, both workers and their managers agreed that no amount of enthusiasm can replace experience in the workplace.

While most of those surveyed believe that their company’s leadership is prepared for an aging workforce, with more managers (70%) than rank-and-file workers (59%) thinking that is the case, there was evidence that stereotypes persist: "Most managers and workers agree that, in general, older workers are more resistant to change in the workplace. Younger employees are much more likely (80 percent) to think so than their middle-aged (71 percent) and older (62 percent) colleagues."

Source: Fairfax County Economic Development Authority News Release (September 13, 2012)

United Kingdom: AgeUK Calls for Mandating Flexible Workplaces

AgeUk has issued a report calling for every worker to be able to do their job flexibly--including working from home, doing flexitime or different working hours, or simply being able to swap shifts--unless a business can justify otherwise. According to "", "an important way to unleash the full potential of Britain’s older workers, many of whom are unable to work conventional hours because of caring responsibilities and the need to balance other personal issues with work, is to change the UK’s traditional and more rigid approach to work."

Among the changes that AgeUK is calling for are for all new and prospective employees to automatically have the right to request flexible working, instead of having to wait until 26 weeks in the job before making a request. Currently, "far too many people aged 50 and over are locked out of the job market because they are unable to work conventional hours, often because they have to care for a relative or have health issues."

Among other findings published in the report:

• 38% of those in employment aged 50 plus worked flexibly in 2010, up from 30% in 2005, but the figures hide the lack of flexible working in various industries.
• Older workers in the public sector are most likely to work flexibly.
• People in lower supervisory and routine jobs are less likely to be granted flexible working than those in managerial or professional roles.
• Carers are less likely to be able to access flexible working options than other groups, for example those coming back from maternity leave.
• 25% of carers under the age of 70 report that caring responsibilities affect their work. Of these, 39% left employment altogether.

Source: AgeUK Press Release (September 11, 2012)

Book: "Mid and Late Career Issues: An Integrative Perspective"

The University of Florida has announced the publication of Mid and Late Career Issues: An Integrative Perspective," which finds that older workers learn more quickly and have more drive than some employers might believe. Based on a synthesis of the limited literature on the topic as well as numerous in-depth interviews with older workers and recent retirees, the authors challenge the stereotypes associated with older workers, such as they are more difficult to train and they lack energy compared with younger colleagues.

The book is co-authored by Mo Wang, an associate professor of management and co-director of the Human Resource Research Center at the Warrington College of Business Administration, Deborah A. Olson, an associate professor of management and leadership at the University of La Verne (Calif.), and Kenneth Shultz, a professor of psychology at California State University, San Bernadino.

According to the book, older workers are often better at certain types of work, such as customer service, because they are better equipped to deal with emotional aspects of the job. Experiences such as raising children and caring for elderly parents provide older workers with the skills to deal with emotional obstacles. Such life experience also benefits workers when they change jobs or face layoffs.

“We really found no basis to argue that older workers are harder to train than younger workers,” Wang said. “This stereotype often contributes to employers’ unwillingness for hiring older workers.”

Wang said that when workers reach their early 40s, their career priorities could change. No longer preoccupied with advancement, older workers reassess their position and value.

“When you get to be 40 or 45, your future in your organization becomes clear,” Wang said. “You’re thinking less about climbing the career ladder. You begin to think of other ways to have a legacy.”

Source: University of Florida News Release (September 7, 2012)

Australia: IAG Chief Addresses Diversity, Harnessing Energy of Older Workers

Mike Wilkins, Managing Director and CEO, Insurance Australia Group (IAG), addressing the Australian Human Rights Commission, believes that while there are things government can do to help make employment a more viable option for older workers, business has the responsibility to help change community attitudes around older workers and to walk the talk.

In describing the diversity initiatives undertaken by IAG, Wilkins pointed out that "diversity is really about diversity of thought" even though "diversity of gender, ethnicity and age are positive lead indicators of a healthy organisation." To this end, IAG ran unconscious bias sessions with its leaders to help them recognize their thought process when they make employment decisions, so that, for example, one doesn't automatically assume that an older person may not have the technical nous required in a modern workplace.

In addition to regularly promoting and celebrating the achievements and long service milestones of its employees, IAG has an established range of policies, programs, and practices to respond to the demographic challenge, largely around the need for flexibility that older workers frequently want.

With respect to government initiatives, Wilkins endorsed efforts to reform the superannuation arrangements so as not to discourage people from remaining in or re-entering the workforce, suggested possible subsidies for older workers who want to take on mentoring roles and tax breaks to make it more appealing for older workers to re-enter the workforce, and applauded the Queensland and Western Australian governments for removing the age limit on their workers compensation schemes and recommended that all states and territories do the same.

Source: Insurance Australia Group Media Release (September 3, 2012)

United Kingdom: Illness Forces Many Older Workers To Stop Working Before Retirement Age

The United Kingdom's Trades Union Congress (TUC) has released an analysis of official labor market data showing that disability and poor health are preventing nearly half a million people approaching retirement from working, a figure that the TUC says will only increase as the state pension age starts to rise. Specifically, the TUC research finds that the employment rates for those approaching the current SPA are low, with just 54% of men aged 60-64 and 62% of women aged 56-60 in work.

As nearly two in five of those approaching retirement age are economically inactive, with long-term sickness and disability cited as the main reason for then not working, the TUC argues that the UK government is wrong to raise the state pension age without first addressing the health inequalities that are forcing many people out of work well before they're able to draw their pension. Instead, the government should focus on tackling age discrimination, extending access to flexible working and supporting those who are actively seeking work to re-enter the jobs market. TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

While more people are working past their state pension age, often as the only way to get a decent retirement income, a far greater number of older people are unable to work due to ill-health or because they are trapped in long-term unemployment.

Accelerating the rise in the state pension age will simply push more people into poverty. We will end up with a new limbo zone for people in their mid-60s who are too young for a pension, but too old to have any realistic chance of a job. With a benefits system that gets meaner and tougher each year, even 66 year olds who have worked for decades before stopping work will be treated as work-shy scroungers.

By raising the state pension age and ignoring persistent health inequalities, the government risks overseeing a dramatic rise in pensioner poverty.

Source: Trades Union Congress News Release (August 30, 2012)

Research: Eliminating Social Security Taxes on Older Workers Would Encourage Longer Working Lives, Reduce Government Expenses

According to research published by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, eliminating social security payroll taxes starting when workers are 55-years-old would lead to their take-home pay jumping by 10.6%, and they would work 1.5 years longer on average, paying more income taxes, and helping to reduce the Federal deficit. In their article "Consumption, retirement and social security: Evaluating the efficiency of reform that encourages longer careers," in the Journal of Public Economics, University of Michigan economists John Laitner and Dan Silverman explore how tax cuts targeted at older workers would affect the likelihood of working longer and the size of the federal deficit.

According to their abstract, "The estimated magnitude of the change in consumption–expenditure depends importantly on the treatment of consumption by adult children of the household. Simulations indicate that the reform could increase retirement ages one year or more, equivalent variations could average more than $4000 per household, and income tax revenues per household could increase by more than $14,000."

However, in order for the Social Security system to break even,
workers would need to pay about one percent higher payroll taxes a year until age 55. Thus, Laitner said:

Households with a strong preference for very early retirement would pay the slightly higher payroll tax before age 55, but leave the labor force before gaining much from the elimination of the payroll tax after that. Late retirees would, by the same token, be big winners. And the point of the reform, after all, is to encourage work by rewarding it.

Source: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan Research Release (August 28, 2012)

Survey: U.S. Employers Want Older Workers To Keep Working

Nearly half of 412 retirement plans sponsors surveyed by BMO Retirement Services expect U.S. companies to benefit from baby boomer employees who prolong their careers past age 65. In addition, only 4% of the firms surveyed believe employees who postpone retirement will be a negative for companies.

"Although some companies will continue to offer buyouts and retirement packages to their older staff, our survey suggests that many businesses will be pleased to retain selected boomer employees," said Todd Perala, Director of Relationship Management at BMO Retirement Services. "There appears to be a growing recognition in corporate America that employees in their sixties possess valuable institutional experience and expertise."

BMO Retirement Services also found that close to a quarter of surveyed employers estimate that the percentage of working boomers who postpone retirement could exceed 50% in the years ahead. Nearly half of respondents predict that more than 30% of boomers will fall into this category.

The plans surveyed have a minimum of $2 million in trust assets and use the BMO Retirement Services recordkeeping platform.

Source: BMO Retirement Services Press Release (August 21, 2012)

New Zealand: Exploring Employer HR Needs and the Silver Tsunami

According to an article from the University of Auckland's Retirement Policy and Research Centre, the retirement of baby boomers in Nez Zealand will leave labor and skill gaps that will need filling and will change the whole process of retirement, but employers able to harness those two challenges will fare better as the "silver tsunami" moves through New Zealand’s age groups. In "A commentary on older workers and some HR issues facing employers," Michael Littlewood examines what is known about New Zealand's older workers, looks at effective retirement ages, makes international comparisons, and explores some of the myths of the silver tsunami.

Among other things, Littlewood writes that not enough is known bout older New Zealanders, as the five yearly Census was last done in 2006. He points out that, as of that time, participation rate of those aged 65 and over had approximately trebled over the 20 years 1986-2006, and that t there were wice as many male "participants" as female in each of several age groups broken out of those over 65 in 2006.

Baby boomers will change everything as they move through their late careers, the transition to retirement and retirement itself. Their numbers alone make that inevitable. They present a human resources’ challenge to employers on at least two grounds: their retirement will leave labour and skill gaps that will need filling, and they will change the whole process of retirement.

Source: Retirement Policy and Research Centre Pension Commentary 2012-4 (August 13, 2012)

United Kingdom: Survey Finds Many Workers Plan To Never Retire; Others Unsure

A survey conducted by Baring Assest Management finds that 44% of non-retired Great Britain adults aged 55 to 64 do not know when they will be able to retire--a higher percentage than the 38% of all non-retired adults who don't know when they will be able to retire. In addition, 12% of the larger pool do not plan to retire at all.

According to Barings, "the results of this year’s survey are in stark contrast to the results from before the financial crisis in 2008. Back then, 100% of non-retired respondents were confident that they would retire, with only 1% saying that they did not know at what age they
would be able to do so."

The survey also finds that of those that plan to retire over the age of 65, 65% are men and 35% are women, suggesting that proportionally men are likely to retire later.

Marino Valensise, Chief Investment Officer at Baring Asset Management commented:

Particularly concerning is the fact that such a huge proportion of people aged 55 – 64 do not know when they will be able to retire. It is likely that these people will have suffered pension losses in recent years due to the financial crisis and therefore need to work longer to recoup funds. With a high number of younger people also failing to save, it is essential that the benefits of a pension are understood to avoid further generations of pension poverty. While financial demands extend beyond saving for retirement, starting to build a pension early in your working life is absolutely key to ensuring a comfortable retirement.

Source: Baring Assest Management Press Release (August 16, 2012)

Study: Labor Force Participation and Increased Participation by Older Workers

The Urban Institute has released a report suggesting that changing age demographics have powerful implications for the shape of the nation's work force, but that "formal models of labor force participation fail to take into account that as the relative supply of younger workers declines, employers will increasingly turn to older workers to meet their demand for labor to provide goods and services." According to "Correcting Labor Supply Projections for Older Workers Could Help Social Security and Economic Reform," by C. Eugene Steuerle and Caleb Quakenbush, increased labor force participation among older workers can add to the solvency of Social Security and the broader federal budget. Policymakers in both the public and private sectors can accommodate this trend by removing barriers that discourage hiring and retaining older workers.

Older workers are to the first half of the 21st century what women were to the last half of the 20th: the largest underused source of labor and human capital in the economy. Few policymakers are taking this extraordinary possibility into account in their reform packages. In an increasingly informationand service-based economy, older workers represent a valuable source of knowledge and experience that employers will tap, especially if Social Security and related economic reforms attempt to channel rather than obstruct these forces.

Source: Urban Institute Publication News (August 10, 2012)

United Kingdom: Action Needed To Improve Older Workers Employment Gap

The Resolution Foundation has issued a report suggesting that the United Kingdom may be missing a historic opportunity to boost employment among the over 50s. The UK ranks 15th out of 34 OECD countries, for older workers, lagging the five top countries for by over fifteen percentage points, and closing this gap would mean around 1.5 million more people in work. According to "Unfinished Business: Barriers and opportunities for older workers," authored by Giselle Cory, planned increases in the state pension age are a step in the right direction, but without parallel reforms to tackle the other barriers to older employment, the change will hinder rather than help some older women who are unable to find or keep employment.

In particular, the report identifies six key barriers which need to be overcome to support greater employment amongst the over 50s:

1. lack of adequate financial incentives to remain in, or return to, work;
2. significant caring responsibilities;
3. lack of employment support to move back into work, including training;
4. limited access to flexible working opportunities
5. continued prevalent age discrimination; and
6. poor health.

The UK should attack these because there is a strong desire for longer working lives and a strong need, particularly for those on low to middle incomes. Among other things, most pension saving takes place after age 50 and only one in four is currently saving enough to retire at state pension age; two out of three older workers say they want to continue working up to or past pensionable age; and older women face particular barriers to work, with only 60% of older women employed versus 72% of older men and a large gender pay gap.

Source: Resolution Foundation Press Release (August 8, 2012)

United Kingdom: Official Endorses Mid-life Career Planning To Help Working Longer

During a parliamentary debate, John Hayes, UK Minister for Skills, endorsed proposals made by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) for a mid-life career review. "NIACE has been exploring with the Departments of Business, Innovation and Skills; Work and Pensions and Health whether such a review might encourage people to stay longer and more productively in work, and ensure that they retire in circumstances and ways which make them healthy and independent in retirement." Hayes said:

"...I wanted to accept NIACE's proposal of a mid-life learning health check so that we could look at people at the age of 40 and 50 perhaps and use the national careers service to gauge when and where they could study to upskill or reskill. That there is a need for that has been argued in the sector for some time, and we have taken it on board...".

According to NIACE, the idea of the proposal is to encourage and support people to review the learning and skills they need to successfully manage the second half of their lives. "[T]here is a need for adults to review their career aspirations, training, health, finances and retirement plans before age-discrimination and ill health begin to limit choices."

NIACE also points to "Next steps: Life transitions and retirement in the 21st century," a report prepared by Lord Wei and written by Dr. Alison Hulme for the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, as support for this approach.

Source: National Institute of Adult Continuing Education News Archive (July 18, 2012)

Israel: Research Finds that Professional "Vitality" Peaks at Ages 50 to 59

According to the results of research announced by the University of Haifa, managers demonstrate their highest levels of professional vitality in their 50's. In an investigation of the functionality of high-tech, engineering, and infrastructure executives, Dr. Shmuel Grimland, Prof. Yehuda Baruch, and Prof. Eran Vigoda-Gadot, found that in terms of vitality--defined as " the ability to carry out tasks with passion, vigor, and competence, and to gain satisfaction from his or her work performance", advancing age plays a significant role.

Specifically, the older the manager, the higher his or her professional vitality, reaching a peak at 50-59 and 57 being the highest point in the sample group. Then, the manager’s vitality then begins to drop.

"Our study shows that providing tools for workers to improve their professional vitality will also improve their satisfaction and will help cultivate resourceful and innovative workers. This indicates that an organization should make it a priority to provide such tools. Workers’ vitality ‘fuels’ the success of the organization, and the fact that professional vitality is preserved and actually rises well into one’s 50s indicates that organizations investing in this aspect of the workplace will be able to benefit from productive workers for many years," the researchers concluded.

Source: University of Haifa Press Release (July 15, 2012)

Singapore: Government To Focus on Career Development, not Job Placement Agency, To Help Older Workers

Responding to a question at Parliament, Tan Chuan-Jin, Singapore's Minister of State for National Development and Manpower, stated that the government recognizes that older workers often have special requirements and needs, but that a Job Development, Assessment and Placement Service for older workers is not needed. Rather, the government believes in adopting a functional approach and ensuring that existing service touchpoints are sensitive to the needs and requirements of older workers too.

Thus, the government's aid is "to attract and develop career consultants to have the right experience and personal qualities to assist a wide range of job seekers. The career consultants adopt a case management approach to help each client based on their individual needs. They carry out an in-depth assessment of each client’s capabilities and circumstances, before deciding how best to match job seekers to jobs or whether they need more training to become job ready."

While the Government will provide quality training and employment facilitation services for older workers, our efforts will have limited effect if conditions at the workplace are not conducive for older workers. Hence, we have and will continue to encourage employers to adopt age management practices in their workplaces, such as redesigning work processes to suit the physical abilities and skills of an ageing workforce. This will enable employers to be attractive to older workers in this tight labour market.

Sources: Parliament Questions Oral Answer by Mr Tan Chuan-Jin (July 10, 2012); Today Online "Govt open to set up task force to create more jobs for elderly" (July 10, 2012)

United Kingdom: Employers Failing at Supporting Older Workers at Retirement

According to a report prepared for Aviva, almost two-thirds of United Kingdom employers offer no tailored retirement support to their older workers. The "Aviva Real Retirement Report" finds that 64% of businesses don’t offer any tailored retirement support, even though 70% of employees who received support found it useful. In addition, the report finds that the number of employees deferring their state pension continues to increase.

Aviva notes that 56% of employers have spent money on providing work place benefits such as pensions, private medical insurance, and annual bonus, but that only 36% provide employees with guidance in the run-up to retirement:

This lack of guidance not only highlights a lack of commitment to employee benefits but is also likely to lead to a loss of vital skills from older employees. Almost a third (32%)* of those who qualify for the state pension are still looking to work – at least on a part-time basis – so by engaging with an employee’s retirement planning a business may be able to keep their valuable employees for longer.

Interestingly, the main focus if the 36% of employers who recognise the benefits of providing support to older employees is on enabling them to remain working for longer if they choose. "One in ten companies say they offer workers the option of part-time or flexi-time employment as they approach retirement, and 9% look at ways to extend the careers of their employees if this is what they wish to do."

Source: Aviva News Release (July 11, 2012)

China: Official Proposes Pushing Retirement Age to 65 by 2045

He Ping, director of the Social Security Research Institute under the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS), has proposed that China should gradually push back the retirement age for both men and women to 65 by 2045. Announcing his proposal at a workshop on coping with the aging population, he said that the changes should begin in 2016 by adding one year every two years over a period of ten years.

In China, the retirement age is currently 60 for men, 55 for female civil servants and 50 for other female workers. Li Jun, an expert with the Institute of Quantitative & Technical Economics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), also recommended a timely increase in the retirement age. He expressed that this aim is not to promote growth but to reduce the speed of the shrinking of the overall labor force size, to weaken the anticipated increase in costs to the labor force. But he pointed out that the age of retirement is extremely important, and must be treated cautiously in policy making.

Cai Fang, director of the CASS Institute of Population and Labor Economics, argued that China can gradually push back its retirement age in response to the dramatic decline in working age population. However, Cai did indicate that the circumstances for China to extend its retirement age are yet to mature since the country's older generation usually lacks the sufficient educational background to meet the new requirements of their job positions. Therefore, it would be better for the government to adopt a flexible policy in this regard and, at the same time, provide more training opportunities for the elderly.

Sources: Morning Whistle "China should push retirement age to 65 as aging problems grow, official says" (July 2, 2012); China.org "Proposal to push retirement age to 65" (July 2, 2012); ChinaSmack "Experts Propose Increasing China’s Reitrement Age to 65" (July 2, 2012)

Massachusetts: Aging Workforce and Skills Gaps in Metros South/West Region

The first in a series of skills gap reports prepared as a joint project by Commonwealth Corporation and the New England Public Policy Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston has been released. According to "Labor Market Trends in the Metro South/West Region," the Metro South/West Region--which includes major workforce centers like Marlborough, Framingham, Natick, Franklin and Hopkinton--faces the demographic challenges of an aging population and potential shortfalls in workers with the required educational levels.

The area is one of the oldest regions in the state; in 2008-10, nearly 50% of the region’s civilian labor force was 45 years of age or older, suggesting that the region’s businesses are facing a potential overall shortage of younger workers to replace baby boomers as they retire.

In the past decade, there has been strong growth in the share of workers who are 45-54 years old and 55-64 years old. In addition, there have been an increasing number of workers who are 65 years and older and in the labor force. At the same time, there has been a declining number of workers between the ages of 25 and 34 and between 35 and 44.

With respect to unemployment, the report notes:

A larger share of the unemployed in Metro South/West is over the age of 45, compared with Massachusetts and the nation. This is a consequence of the region’s older population. At the beginning of the decade, when the unemployment rate was at 2.1 percent, the unemployed population was largely concentrated among 25-54-year-olds. As the region’s population increased in age over the decade and the Great Recession took hold, the share of the unemployed age 45 or older grew to over 50 percent.

Source: New England Public Policy Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Executive Summary (June 26, 2012)

Older Americans Support Legislation To Fight Age Discrimination in Workplace

The AARP has released a survey finding that 78% of registered voters over 50 support passage of the bipartisan "Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act,: which is aimed at is overturning the U.S. Supreme Court decision (Gross v. FBL Financial Services) that made it much more difficult for older workers to prove claims of illegal bias based on age. Furthermore, according to "Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act: National Public Opinion Report," over one-third (34%) reported that they or someone they know has experienced age discrimination in the workplace.

On questions related to the proposed legislation, 90% said that competent workers should be able to stay on the job regardless of their age, and 91% agree that older Americans should be protected from age discrimination just as they are protected from other forms of discrimination. In addition, 64% think that people over age 50 face age discrimination in the workplace.

AARP has also published survey segments of the opinion of older voters in Alaska, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Tennessee.

Source: AARP Press Release (June 21, 2012)

South Korea: Will Have World's Highest Average Age by 2045

A report prepared by the Korea Center for International Finance (KCIF), based on findings by the Royal Bank of Scotland, shows that South Korea's population is expected to be the oldest in the world in 2045. In that year, the average age of the country's population will hit 50. In addition, the report shows that the total number of workers in the country is expected to fall by 1.2% every year until 2025, with the figures rising to 2% up until 2050.

In addition, the old age dependency ratio is predicted to steadily rise in the coming years until people over 65, who are no longer economically active, will outnumber workers in 2039. It said in 2050, every worker in the country will have to support 1.65 people who no longer earn a living.

According to an interview with Youngsun Koh, Chief Economist Korea Development Institute, it will be critical for the government to lay out policies that involve more senior citizens and women in the workforce to prevent Korea's aging population from hindering the country's growth.

Sources: Yonhap News Agency"S. Korea's average age to be highest in the world in 2045: report" (June 19, 2012); Airang "Report: Korean Workforce to Be World's Oldest by 2045" (June 19, 2012)

United Kingdom: Report Urges Removing Barriers for 50 Plus Employment

The Policy Exchange has issued a report calling on the United Kingdom to confront the barriers to employment faced by those 50 and older and stating that a failure to provide support based on targeting the barriers to work of the most needy means that many will miss out on the support that they require. According to "Too Much to Lose: Understanding and supporting Britain’s older workers," written by Matthew Tinsley, "without reforms to address these issues, growth in the UK economy will be lower than it might otherwise be and, on average, the population of over-50s could see a fall in living standards."

While the report recognizes that significant progress has been made over the last two decades, with the older workforce becoming more educated, working in more skilled roles and less likely to be affected by health problems, those over-50s currently unemployed are much less likely than any other age group to find work in the next year. Research behind the report finds "that there is a significant scarring effect of unemployment on future wages for older workers and that this is larger than for other age group."

The report says that further regulation is unlikely to help, but that better back-to-work support is needed. Specifically, it recommends:

1. As a part of the current consultation, the government should look into legislating for a system of protected conversations between employers and employees. This must allow conversations around both retirement and the opportunities for flexible working and provide a platform for employers to get an understanding of the plans of their older workers regarding when they plan to retire and discuss possible flexible working arrangements.
2. Government pilots allowing more advisor flexibility for older workers across all Jobcentres should be extended where there has been success so far.
3. The government should pilot a scheme where more skilled older workers can take a budget for the support that they receive and use it to find support in areas that suit their specific needs.
4. For the potentially large number of older jobseekers whose experience is in sectors that currently lack good prospects there should be the condition to search and/or gain experience in other sectors as part of their mandatory job search activities.
5. Through Jobcentre Plus there should be a greater push to allow volunteering and work experience on a voluntary basis to older jobseekers who JCP advisors believe can benefit the most from it.
6. For the minority of older jobseekers that advisors believe are not making a serious attempt to look in different sectors or roles, a mandatory element should be introduced into the scheme. Such claimants would be given the option of undertaking either a Mandatory Work Activity
   placement, or engaging in the work experience scheme.

Source: Conservative Home "Matthew Tinsley: Helping older workers" (June 19, 2012)