Challenger CEO Richard Howes and Chief Executive Michelle Taylor launch the Experience, Knowledge and Commitment report alongside Meagan Lawson, COTA NSW and Kathryn Greiner of CRC Longevity

When Challenger came to talk to us at SVA, they wanted to start a community partnership; a genuine way to achieve social impact that was aligned with their business values.

As Australia’s largest provider of annuities, it seemed natural to focus on a partnership that would support older Australians.

SVA Consulting supported Challenger to better define their focus area by them articulate their theory of change. This led us to the conclusion that it would be most effective for Challenger to look for a partner to address the growing employment gap for older Australians; ideally an organisation that was working to support older Australians re-enter and stay in the workforce.

What are the barriers to employment facing older Australians?

Older Australians can be pushed out of employment through various forms of discrimination – and once they’re not employed, they can face multiple barriers trying to re-enter the workforce.

Types of discrimination that occur for older people in the workplace include:

• Not accommodating their need for flexible hours due to their caring responsibilities, often for older relatives or grandchildren
• Assuming they won’t want to report to younger bosses or that they won’t want to stay in the workforce if they aren’t being promoted

Types of discrimination that occur for older people trying to re-enter the workforce:

• Use of small font in job applications
• Perception of older workers as having little competency with technology or not being open to change

And yet, there are multiple benefits to older people remaining in the workforce, both for the workers themselves but also for the broader community.

As the number of people of working age falls, demands for services to support our ageing population will increase. This presents a range of issues for our economy and the community. Older people are skilled and able and are healthier today than at any other point in history and supporting people to work for as long as they wish is one part of the solution.

A “perfect match” community partnership

With their focus area now clearly defined, SVA Consulting supported Challenger scan the landscape for potential partner organisations. COTA NSW, an organisation for older Australians, stood out as a likely partner given their existing networks and knowledge of what works in this space.

Challenger’s program was designed to create workplaces that were age-friendly by providing support to businesses to help them identify what changes could be made to create the right environment for older workers. The scope of these assessments including things like reviewing hiring practices, job profiles and flexible work arrangements to see how they could better support older Australians re-enter and stay in the workforce.

COTA NSW seemed like a perfect match; they had real-world experience in bringing a program like this to life as it had recently provided similar services to a large, national fitness organisation who were looking to attract more older Australians as customers. We introduced them and after some discussion, they thought they could work well together on their common goal of improving workplace practices to attract and retain older employees.

Understanding age discrimination in the workplace

Before they got too far in their planning, both organisations were keen to better understand the issue of age discrimination in the workplace by speaking to older workers and employers. Challenger and COTA NSW have recently released their findings from this research in a new report, Experience, Knowledge and Commitment: Valuing Older Workers.

They found that there are more instances of older employees being laid off compared to their younger colleagues. Some of the issues they identified as contributing to the underemployment of people over 50 include:

• 33% of older workers said that they had experienced ageism in the workplace; of those who had, 66% did not report it to their employer
• Half of the surveyed employers thought they were doing enough to support older workers but only a minority had any support measures
• When confronted with an age-discrimination issue against an older person in the workplace, 56% of employers did nothing
• 47% of older workers were being told they were too experienced during recruitment
• 27% of older workers report ageism in hiring practices
• None of the surveyed employers thought that they were currently performing poorly with regards to the treatment of older employees or job applicants – despite what older workers report

The infographic below highlights the key findings from the report. For people using a screen reader, the text in the graphic is described at the end of this article.

These statistics just scrape the surface of the research’s findings.

Where to next for the community partnership?

Armed with this information, and with their experience in helping organisations be better suited for older workers, COTA NSW and Challenger will soon launch their program, which will provide HR and hiring, internal policies and structure, forging connections, and training of workers and jobseekers.

Challenger is starting by addressing the underemployment of older workers in Australia right at home in their own organisation. They will soon run a pilot of the program and assess their employment and recruitment practices. Challenger are now working through the assessment to address any potential barriers.

The full program is due to launch in late 2021.

Both Challenger and COTA NSW are committed to encouraging people to talk about the issue of underemployment for older workers and to think about better ways of working. I’m excited to see the change in attitudes and practices this work can bring so that we can all benefit from the contribution of older workers.

About the author

Anders Uechtritz is a Principal in SVA’s Consulting team, working with non-profit, government, and corporate clients to design and implement strategies, outcomes management solutions and organisational changes that support them to increase their social impact. 

Screen reader description of the key findings infographic

Why older workers matter

• By 2030, there will be 6 million Australians over 65. In NSW, that will be more than 1.8 million people, almost double the number in 2011
• The ratio of workers to non-workers in 1976 was 7:1, in 2016 was 4:1 and in 2056 is projected to be 2:1.

In the workplace

• 33% of older workers report experiencing age discrimination
• Of those who say they have experienced age discrimination, 66% of older workers took no action
• Only 10% of older workers who had experienced ageism made a formal complaint or spoke to HR
• Only 4% of employers are aware of age-related discrimination happening in their organisation
• When confronted with an age-discrimination issue against an older person in the workplace, 56% of employers did nothing
• Half of employers in the survey thought they were already doing enough to support older workers but only a minority had any support measures
• 49% of employers provide no assistance or programs specifically for older workers
• 43% of employers have an age discrimination policy

Hiring

• 27% of older workers report ageism in hiring practices
• 47% of older workers report being told they were too experienced
• None of the employers surveyed thought they were currently performing poorly with regards to the treatment of older employees or job applicants – despite what older workers report
• 74% of employers recognise it is important for the economy to have older people continue working

Retirement

• 23% of businesses report offering phased retirement
• 69% of older workers intend to use phased retirement where it is offered by employers