Do corporations and employers have a role to play in promoting the financial well-being of older adults? If yes, what can they do? How should they convince other stakeholders in the organization?

I worked in the banking industry in senior global leadership roles for over two decades. These are the questions I often get from my former colleagues and others in prominent positions at large corporations. There are many ways to contribute! Remember that you will also be in the age group of older adults in a few years or decades.

In most countries, the government policies mandating retirement age have not kept pace with the increased lifespan, and people continue to retire between the age of 60 to 65. It isn’t easy to support a 30 or 40-year retirement with savings from a 40-year career. This has resulted in financial insecurity among potential retirees.

Some older adults are financially secure and don’t need to be in paid roles in later life, but everyone needs to be productively and purposefully engaged. Everyone needs purpose and relevance.

Sense of Purpose and Relevance 

People tend to live healthier longer lives when they have a purpose and feel relevant to society. Creating volunteering and flexible job opportunities aid older adults in living fulfilling lives.

Several papers and studies have been published on this topic. In A Prescription for Longevity in the 21st Century, Dr. Phil Pizzo eloquently describes the role of purpose in healthy longevity. The article Your Professional Decline is Coming (much) Sooner Than You Think in The Atlantic magazine by Arthur C Brooks is also worth reading. He argues that professional decline might be inevitable with age, but misery is not inevitable. 

For more information, refer to ‘Purpose and Relevance’ Useful References.

Hiring and Retirement Policies

As a senior leader, you can influence your organization’s hiring and retirement policies. Age diversity in any organization is as important as gender or racial diversity. No one individual controls these policies and decision-making, but you must begin somewhere. 

The governments also have an essential role to play. An excellent example is Singapore which passed the Retirement and Re-employment Amendment Bill (RRA) in 2022, raising the minimum retirement and re-employment ages from 62 and 67, respectively, to 63 and 68, effective July 2022. For people who are willing and able to work longer, the minimum statutory retirement and re-employment ages will be set at 65 and 70, respectively, by 2030. Under the Retirement and Re-employment Bill (RRA), dismissing an employee based on age is also prohibited. This protection applies to Singapore citizens and permanent residents who are employed before age 55.

Evolving Nature of Jobs and Reskilling and Upskilling

The future of work and the future of jobs is evolving rapidly [WEF] with the advent of technology, increasing automation, and globalization. Most individuals are likely to change jobs at least twice in their working lives, meaning at least three distinct employers before the average career ends at 65 [Bloomberg]. The shift requires a mindset of lifelong learning, with periods of reskilling and upskilling. Therefore, corporations must consistently invest in employee training and engagement throughout their careers, not just for the typical onboarding.

Building Resilience and Failure Immunity

The transition between periods of work and non-work (voluntary and involuntary) also means that we need to bring young adults into the workforce with a new mindset. That requires the cooperation of employers. The individuals also need mental resilience and failure immunity to manage such transitions, especially if they are involuntary in nature.  

Changing the Corporate Culture

Any change starts with changing the office culture. You can lead by example in how you treat older employees. Many senior employees may not want to talk about financial insecurities around retirement. Something as simple as arranging a talk or a short workshop with internal or external facilitators on financial well-being and longevity can put more significant changes in motion. By bringing attention to the issue proactively and professionally and ensuring that your company doesn’t fall into the trap of ageism or age-related myths and biases, you are helping.

Companies such as Walmart are helping mid-career employees manage their careers by offering “Design Your Career” workshops. Walmart Global Tech, the IT division of Walmart, partnered with Alt-Lyf to conduct webinars and workshops in 2021 and 2022 for over 500 employees in India.

See details in the Walmart case study under Useful References.

Designing Your Life and Other Training Programs

One of the best workshops on this topic is “Designing Your Life,” offered by Professors Bill Burnett and Dave Evans of Stanford University. They have also trained and certified coaches worldwide to promote the Designing Your Life philosophy to tackle the difficult transition points in life.

Singapore offers two courses through NUS-SCALE, the Continuing Education arm of the National University of Singapore. Recognizing the importance of such programs for its residents, the Singapore government has approved the courses under its SkillsFuture program, thereby heavily subsidizing the course fees for Singapore residents.

For details, click details, click ‘Singapore: Designing for a 100-Year Life’ under Useful References.

• Designing for A 100-Year Life is a 4-day thought-provoking workshop for mid-career professionals. 
• Leading Self for a 100-Year Life is a 2-day course targeted at the general population. It has gained significant traction in the Singapore Public Service Division, and several government employees have benefited from this.

Ageism: Myths and Reality

Ageism and age-related biases are a big problem in most companies. So what is real, and what is a corporate myth? Chip Conley’s book Wisdom@Work: The Making of a Modern Elder has a chapter on ‘debunking ageist stereotypes.’ We have attempted to summarise the key points in a table under Useful References but have probably not done justice to the significant contributions by Richard Posthuma, Michael Campion, and others to Chip’s book. We highly recommend reading the book, or at least Chapter 9, to understand this better.

As a corporate leader, you can rely on this research, although it is US-centric, and try to minimize the biases in your company. If you are not in the US, you can rely on this research or maybe help by commissioning similar studies in your markets to debunk the myths. At a minimum, you can influence hiring within your team by promoting age diversity and intergenerational engagement.

Supporting Research

Prudential Singapore, an insurance company, partnered with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) to conduct a series of studies in Singapore in 2018-19. One of the reports titled Ready for 100, Preparing for Longevity in Singapore focuses on challenges related to longevity in a small country with a prosperous economy and a rapidly ageing population. Unsurprisingly, a large percentage of Singaporeans felt they were not financially ready for a 100-year life and wanted to continue working beyond the mandated retirement age.

For details, click on ‘Ready For 100?’ under Useful References.

As a corporate leader, you can partner with the EIU or other organizations or universities to commission similar studies in your country.

Walking the Talk (Prudential Singapore)

What is remarkable is that after the report was published, Prudential Singapore decided that age is indeed just a number. The insurance company abolished the statutory retirement age of 62 in Singapore, paving the way for its 1,100 employees to have extended careers and decide when they want to retire, if at all.

Redesigning Jobs for Older Adults 

The most challenging life stage transition for people who have worked throughout their adult lives is moving from full-time work until the retirement date to not knowing what to do the next day. 

A phased retirement approach enables older adults to transition gradually from full-time roles until their sixties to full retirement in the late seventies. With age, their expectations around employability and the type of jobs also change. The phased transition via part-time or flexible jobs that allow them to work 2-3 hours a day for a few days each week is a good solution. This enables them to make some money (financial health benefit) while ensuring they get some exercise as they venture out (physical health benefit), meet other people that helps reduce loneliness (mental health benefit), and keep their brains stimulated (cognitive health benefit). 

The responsibility for creating such flexible jobs extends beyond corporations to governmental bodies to formulate appropriate policies. For example, 7-11 in Taiwan employs older adults for the 7-10 am morning shift. This doesn’t strain their operational procedures, especially when the shifts are during lean periods with less business traffic, and most younger workers don’t want to start that early. It is a win-win for everyone.

It would be great if other companies with extended operating hours – such as IKEA, NTUC, CostCo, and others – created similar flexible opportunities for older adults.

See details of this and other examples under ‘Taiwan and South Korea’ under Useful References.

Intergenerational Teams and Age Diversity 

Most organizations have a diversity and inclusion agenda, and yet, age diversity is often overlooked. Older adults bring significant experience and expertise to their roles. They are also more loyal and less likely to attrite.

Studies have shown that intergenerational teams perform the same or better than teams consisting of only young adults or only older adults. An interesting study was conducted at Mercedes Benz’s large truck assembly plant in Germany. Compared to many service-sector jobs, productivity in this plant requires more physical strength, dexterity, agility, etc. (which tend to decline with age) than experience and knowledge of human nature (which tend to increase with age).

The results published in Productivity and Age: Evidence from work teams at the assembly line are fascinating. This research shows that even in an environment requiring substantial physical strength, the joint productivity of teams does not decline for workers between 25 and 65 years of age. The decline in some characteristics with age is compensated by other characteristics that increase with age, such as experience and the ability to operate well in a team when tense situations occur, typically when things go wrong, and there is little time to fix them. As a result, mixed-age teams make fewer production errors while performing at the same levels of productivity.

Impact of Work on Health in Later Life

The related question that often arises is whether working longer is beneficial or harmful for the health of older adults in later life. Well, that depends on the type of work. Globally, both statements are true: work supports healthy ageing, but some forms of work also jeopardize health. 

An interesting study, A Global View on the Effect on Health of Work Later in Life, uses data on the labor force participation of older adults in low, middle, and high-income countries to understand what individual and societal factors impact this. The results show it is economically beneficial as it provides additional financial security and has mental health benefits as it creates continued opportunities for intergenerational bonding and social engagement.

For more details, refer to ‘Impact of work on health in later life’ under Useful References.