The 55+ workforce challenge

CEIBS (China Europe International Business School) held the first of five virtual sessions on the future of work - the first was on the rapidly growing older workforce and how to make the most of generational diversity.

I was glad to tune in for several reasons: 1) Swiss Re Institute and CEIBS have already partnered several times for such insight sessions in 2020 - always with plenty of good food for thought; 2) Swiss Re's Head of HR Switzerland, Thomas Birwe, was one of the two speakers; and 3) I'm about to hit 58 and thus the topic is pretty personal! ?? Here's the video recording of the webinar - below my summarized thoughts.

Moderator and CEIBS Europe CEO Robert Straw talked about the "Silver Transformation" ... that does have a nice ring to it, doesn't it? But then, in this context, silver's just another word for grey and that is, for most of us, part of our physical appearance. Even that appearance alone, unfortunately, comes with a set of unhealthy stereotypes.

The webinar's first speaker was Professor Emily David, who shared quite a bit with regard to stereotypes - and what we can do about them. She began by highlighting the below numbers - the older workforce is on the rise! Well, percentage-wise, at least. In the US, the 55+ workforce will be close to 25% by 2025 (and she says that the UK is the same) - the right side shows the trajectory in Singapore - with the 55+ gang making up a whopping 40% by 2030. The professor also mentioned China, where, by 2030, the older crowds are expected to make up 30% of the overall workforce.

Professor David said that generational diversity can be tackled from different angles. When she teaches at CEIBS in China, her focus is often on managing conflicts between different generations. For this talk, however, the focus was on supporting (and thus engaging) the growing older workforce. According to her research, the topic still doesn't get the attention it deserves - but that the changing demographics make an increased focus on engaging the older workforce population essential.

It appears that one of the big challenges to keeping older employees engaged is a set of strongly held negative stereotypes. "Despite the wealth of experience, the skills, the leadership they bring to organizations, older workers often face negative stereotypes – about their abilities, performance, their memory, their ability to change, their adaptability."

David mentioned a Deloitte survey - of 10'000 people, a full two thirds of them state their belief that an older workforce is a significant competitive disadvantage ... imagine that. Imagine how many people, in your company, on your floor, maybe even in your team, are walking around with that mindset. The truth, according to the professor, is an altogether different one - as she said: "Old dogs CAN learn new tricks." Research shows that the negative stereotypes are either simply unfounded, or the very opposite is true. She explained that large scale studies have shown time and time again that there is no performance difference between older and younger workers. The same apparently goes for proactive behavior, such as taking initiative - it's clearly not correlated with age.

The negative stereotypes come with consequences - and those are costly. If a company simply ignores those stereotypes, it can have a powerfully harmful effect. Just think for a moment - how "generations-inclusive" is your work environment? Compare it to ethnicity, or sexual orientation - in both those instances employees and leaders are sensitive to language and behavior, right? What about age? Are you sensitive to how an older employee might feel when you crack a comment about age? It might just be a joke, or a conversation that makes a colleague feel left out ... such cues can lead to anxiety, to overthinking things, to feelings of being judged for age/work/competency ... to disengagement.

Disengagement is contagious and thus very bad news for companies. So what can be done to not just retain older employees, but keep them engaged?

Professor David urged that, from an HR perspective, there needs to be a real disruption of how we look at career trajectory, the way we think about retirement itself. And this is where Swiss Re's Thomas Birwe came in, sharing "Generations at Swiss Re", our company's efforts to create, provide and live an attractive workplace for all four generations working together at Swiss Re.

Thomas also addressed the stereotypes, such as: older employees are difficult to get along with; untrainable; not capable around new technology; change resistant ... but in his experience older employees bring important capabilities, key knowledge of markets and customers, social maturity and stability, and a strong willingness to pass on the knowledge to the next generation. There are roughly 3'500 employees working for Swiss Re in Switzerland - and, says Thomas, over the course of the next 10 years one third of these employees will leave the company due to regular retirement. That represents an organizational risk in terms of losing knowledge. So what can be done? Thomas said:

"We cannot change the demographic trends, but we can change mindsets."

The above four pillars are not all there is, but Thomas shared that they are important parts of the framework, aimed at creating the environment that brings out the best all four generations have to offer. Swiss Re works on providing greater flexibility - optionality, Thomas calls it, giving employees and their line manager various work options.

For older employees, "Flex+" is coming - a way for employees as of age 58 to reduce work gradually and step back from fulltime responsibilities. Thomas is convinced that flex work options will be key to keeping older and highly skilled employees engaged and longer in the workforce. Personally, as the old-timer that I am, I can only say that I have a distinct feeling that he just might be absolutely spot on!