dynamics of later life working expert panel

7/31/2019 Dynamics of Later Life Working Expert Panel

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www.workinglate.org

Dynamics of Later-life Working
http://www.workinglate.org/http://www.workinglate.org/


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Overview

2

Outline of project

Provide summary findings

Interactive discussions throughout

How do your experiences compare?


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3

Topicality of Research

High Profile age discrimination cases

Miriam OReilly vs BBC

Removal of the Default Retirement Age

Seldon vs CWJ Supreme Court Ruling


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Topicality of Research

4

Increase of State Pension Age

Women: 60 to 65

SPA for both genders to 68 by 2046

Changes to public and private sector pensions


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5

Aims and Objectives

Consider the facilitators and challenges of later

life working

Examine the interaction between employmentand other responsibilities

Explore the impact of recent age related

legislation on the dynamics of later life working


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6

Development of Research

2 Initial panels

124 Semi-structured interviews:

Employers

Employees

Job seekers

Recently retired


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Validation

Expert panels

Presenting & discussing findings

Dissemination

Maximising impact


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Themes 1

9

Moving the goal posts

Working beyond SPA

Perceptions of age discrimination

Recruitment & retention


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Themes 2

10

Attitudes towards retirement

Homeostasis of career

Work life balance

New identities of ageing


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Moving Goalposts

I've contributed ever since I left school, to my

pension, and I would say, the fact that they've

now moved the goalpost to the right slightly, is

slightly infuriating. (Employee, 50)

Changing targets

Culture of uncertainty

In relation to:

retirement, pensions, job seeking and economic

outlook


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Moving Goalposts

[] its because I talk to people all of the time with joint issues, back

issues, depression, social isolation, misuse of alcohol, it can be very

difficult. And then to expect those people to change their goal posts, theirretirement age, and then to expect them to be healthy until that age, I dont

know if that works so well. (Employee, 55)


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Moving Goal Posts

You're thinking 60 is when I retire, my mother retired at 60, and,now, theyre telling me 66. Well, that gives me 16 working years

left [] now if I was 20 and looking from 20 to 36, you think you

could have massive career advancement in that time. Whereas,

when youre 50 to 66 you have a different perception and maybe

partly because you had from a young age the idea that at 60 youwould be retiring. So its an adjustment and a turnaround

adjustment that you have to make. (Employee, 50)

Influence on career development


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Discussion Point

How can organisations manage this uncertainty aroundthe end of employees working lives?


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Perceptions of Age Discrimination

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Phrases used: feeling, inkling, hunch to describe

suspicion of age discrimination

Low incidence of formal complaints relative to suspicionof age discrimination

Lack of evidence to substantiate claims

First experience of age discrimination tends to be asearly as 40s


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17

Kate is 53, she has been working with her organisation for over 10

years. After reaching 50 she began to get a feeling of a possible

culture of age discrimination. Kate was denied support to attain a

qualification. When this was challenged she explained that the buck

of explanation was passed along.

Kate began to gather up similar experiences from other colleagues

of similar ages. She then took her case to her Union representative

who advised her there wasnt enough evidence to make formal

claim.

The experience left Kate with the feeling that The company dont

value people of my age group


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18

Discussion Point

Is this hunch or inkling regarding age discrimination

something youve heard of or experienced before?

Would you say it is difficult to prove such cases?


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19


Age diversity in the workforce leads to a more age positive

organisational attitude

[] its nice having that broad mixture

of peoples [ages], and we all get on

very well. (Employee, 62)

Its important to have older workers

working with younger workers

together. (Employee, 58)


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I can remember my early days in recruitment, you know, there were

piles of candidates under the age of 35 and piles of candidates over

the age of 35. And that was one of the ways they were actuallysegregated, and then you rarely saw older candidates to be honest.

I'm talking 20 years ago when I first went into recruitment.

(Employer, 51)

Perceptions of age discrimination were reported from the

ages of 40-50 in current interviewees

Experienced much earlier in the past:


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Discussion Point

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With regard to experiences of age discrimination, have the

age boundaries for these reported experiences changed?


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22

Recruitment

Employers cite organisational policy that age is alwaysremoved from CVs. However it is accepted that age is often

inferred from employment history

The view of employees & job seekers is that age is taken into

account during the application process, and can be both a

barrier or facilitator to gaining employment, depending on the

role

Age discrimination disputes in recruitment rare due to lack of

evidence


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23

Recruitment

Well Ive made a lot of applications, but theyve all, I would

suggest, have been rejected because of age. I mean, Im

under no doubt about that. The application to [the job I was

eventually offered] was initially rejected and I sent an email tothe CEO querying why I was rejected; my qualifications were

perfect and I said it can only be you havent read my CV or its

age, and I then got put back in the system.

(Employee, 63)


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Too Old To Work (From Channel 4)

24


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25

Recruitment

Job seekers reported inaccessibility of the application process

Employers also accept recruitment is a online process, which is

unlikely to change

Dissonance between these two groups

Older job seekers are often not given a

chance[] Everything is email, when you

call the number they say they will call back

or post something but they never do

(Job Seeker, 52)


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Recruitment

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In [this industry] you dont tend to get anyone over the age of 40,

you just dont see it [] most people who work here are young,

and we tend to recruit people similar to ourselves, often from a

recommendation. (Employer, 27)

Some organisations or sectors create barriers to older

workers due to lack of age diversity


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27

Recruitment

Job Advert


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28

Recruitment


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29

Discussion Point

In your experience, has age discrimination legislation reduced

age bias in the job application process?


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End of Session 1

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Session 2 Overview

31

Themes:

Working beyond SPA


Work life balance


Implications of findings:

Employment policy and

practice

Guidelines foremployers

Dissemination

Impact Further research


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32

Working beyond SPA

Definitely the call should be the employer, based on evidence

to support why you don't want that particular individual to work

beyond 65, for instance[] If I decide as the employer, I don't

want to employ you after 65, that should be my choice,because I'm paying you. So if I decide that I don't want you,

then I don't want you. Simple as that. (Employee, 50)

DRA has been removed

Uncertainty about who really decides when an

individual retires


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Working beyond SPA

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Seldon Supreme court interpretation: objectively

justifiable means legitimate aim

Missing out on legislation

Confusion about the legality of talking about retirement

Managing retirement with dignity


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Working beyond SPA

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[] Its kind of awful to think that people are going to end their

careers going down a capability route of disciplinary because they

are no longer capable of doing the role thats required of thembecause they are older. No one wants to performance manage out

an older worker as theyre reaching the end of their career []

regardless of legislation everyone wants careers to end with dignity.

(Employer, 42)


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Discussion Point

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Even after the removal of the DRA, who decides when an

employee should retire?


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36


Age and other commitments expressed as a major factor

limiting the desire for career progression

In many instances the term Career was deemed

inappropriate in reference to an individuals working life

Im not so sure about developing. Its sort of being stable, you know. I mean

obviously I have to keep up with the new technology which changes all the time.

You know in archaeology we have new equipment for surveying out on site, so

you have to adapt all the time to new developments. But, yes, Im not going to

get promoted at all in the next three years. (Employee, 62)


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The majority of interviewees aim to keep the same role, or

secure long term contracts in a particular role, rather than

progress their career

Maintaining work life balance was reported to be the main

rationale for this

Im not intending to look for

promotion but to maintain the

grade that Im on and just maybe

a sideways move.

(Employee, 53)

They [older workers] tend to stay with

us for a longer period of time. So

theyve got to a stage often in theircareer where the content of their role

is just as important as actually being

promoted. (Employer, 48)


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Work Life Balance

Employees want polices inclusive of all ages:

Flexible working

Working from home

Carers polices Succession planning

Participants who report an age diverse workforce report a better

organisational attitude to age

Employees want equality a level playing field


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Summary

Most employers strive for inclusive policies

Avoiding singling out any groups

Age legislation protects all age groups equally

I think that weve got to be careful here that we keep the right

balance, and we dont distinguish too much between a young

workforce and an older workforce[] theres a danger of

focusing anything on age per se because youll end up

stereotyping or putting people in boxes which isnt always

healthy. (Employer, 48)


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40

Job seekers:

Changes in identity occur through the job search

processThrough the job search workers report feeling

labelled as old

Transition to retired to avoid label of unemployed


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41

[] Ive done a few media interviews, and they describe me as: hes

a photographer, you know, that makes me sound interesting. If they

just say I was unemployed, I would not sound very interesting. []also I still try and identify myself with my previous job [park ranger]

as Ive done it for over 17 years. People Identify me with it, thats

what Im known as. [] Im aware of the issue with employment and

identity, its a big one for me. (Job seeker, 56)


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A positive view from many participants living

healthy, productive lives

The view that we are living healthier as well aslonger lives

Rejection of the label of older when referring to

people over 50 years of age


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I dont feel as old as I would have thought Id feel, when my

parents were around my age, they were very old. But I dont feel oldat all, Id almost say 60 is the new 40. (Recently retired, 67)


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Employment Policy

Evidence that larger organisations were ahead of legislativechanges in DRA

Interviewees reported larger organisations lead the way in

policies regarding:

Retirement planning Phased retirement Pensions Recruitment & Retention

SMEs worked on a case by case basis


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Discussion Point

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How can good practice be transferred between organisations?


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Discussion

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Consideration of overall findings


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Implications for employment policy and practice

47

Implications of these findings for occupational health provision?


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Implications for employment policy and practice

48

Implications of these findings for interactions

between HR and line managers


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Dissemination

49

How might these findings be

disseminated to reach the widest audience and maximise

the impact of this research?


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Further research

50

Are there any topics raised by this research that would be

interesting for further research?


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Thank you for Listening

www.workinglate.org
http://www.workinglate.org/http://www.workinglate.org/

dynamics of later life working expert panel

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