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2011 Media Awards OPSO 2011 Media Awards newsletter For more details and photos please go the Awards page. |
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INFO: BeNext: The Future of Work Survey (Career Intentions of the Baby Boomer Generation)
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Grandparents Day To celebrate Grandparents Day, designated by the Queensland State Government for the first Sunday of November (November 6 this year), we are holding a special competition and would appreciate your help so your students can enter. Letter to school principals (Adobe Acrobat PDF format): |
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Nomination Forms for the 2011 OPSO Media Awards There are several changes to the National Awards Entry Forms in 2011; in the first place there are five Special Awards each attracting a prize of $2000. There are a further 10 categories of other awards for specific media items. |
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Seniors Workers…at any age: Planning for the future One of the most recent initiatives from the Commonwealth Government and its Consultative Forum on Mature Age Participation {on which OPSO is a member} is the recent Investing in Experience event which brought together a cross section of employers. The event focused on harnessing the skills and experience of older workers to help meet increasing labour demand as the population ages. Those employers who attended will receive ongoing support to help them “invest in experience”. Contacts: The Forum is made up of seniors organisations, unions, employer and industry groups and other experts all working together to raise both industry and public awareness about the value of mature age workers. |
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| There are many ways to promote the value of older workers... One of my favourite television shows is “New Tricks”, and I applaud the creators and writers for disguising important social commentary as terrific entertainment. Whilst there are many ways to view the show, which is set in an English police station, the focus of this commentary is how this workplace benefits from, and accommodates, older workers. The key players in this drama are complex individuals who, like all workers, have a range of personal health and family issues, which impact on their work and on the work environment. Sandra, a serving police officer, and the ‘boss’, is competent, confident and no pushover; despite being younger than her three male subordinates, all retired police officers, now working in the police service in another capacity. The oldest, Jack, a widower who talks to his dead wife, is a former police inspector, used to being ‘in charge’, and always dressed in a suit. Jack’s age and quiet approach belie his strength and tenacity in dealing with tasks. Brian is a recovering alcoholic with mental health issues and an encyclopaedic memory of previous cases, and a very supportive / long suffering wife. Brian dresses in casual clothes and sneakers, and rides his bicycle into the office. And there is Gerry, the smoking, drinking, gambling, ‘womaniser’ with multiple ex-wives, children and grandchildren, who never made it past sergeant, and is resilient and street wise, dressed in black shirts and colourful ties. Sandra is sandwiched between her younger male boss, with his private school education and his ‘new’ approach to policing, and her team of older very experienced workers applying ‘tried and true’ techniques, in a new technological environment. It’s an interesting dynamic where issues related to male and female, young and old, boss and worker, worker and worker, old and new, personal and organisational, public and private; intersect in a challenging and stressful environment where positive outcomes are required to ensure the survival of the work unit, and the ongoing employment of them all. What does the show tell us about the workplace and older workers? Importantly it demonstrates that older workers add value by bringing significant experience, skills and capabilities to the workplace, despite the different approaches each of them bring to the task at hand. There is recognition of the wisdom that comes with age and tolerance of individual difference. The workplace is flexible and adaptive, accommodating the health needs of individuals, and managing the impacts of ill health on individual work performance and the effect on other members of the team. The management of a worker with significant mental health issues is particularly instructive. For example, the organisation capitalises on Brian’s memory and corporate history, and his capacity to analyse new information, whilst supporting him when his medication negatively impacts on his personal health and work performance. It is an adaptive work environment where eccentric behaviour is not only tolerated, it is appreciated and utilised. Sandra demonstrates considerable leadership by identifying strengths of individual members of the team and matching those strengths with organisational needs in order to maximise outcomes. She understands that the men are very different, despite being similar ages and having similar work backgrounds. She often looks to Jack for guidance and support, but is not afraid to make it clear that she ultimately makes the decisions. She is not ‘threatened’ by the knowledge and capabilities of the older workers and identifies particular tasks which may negatively impact on an individual and allocates work accordingly. All workers bring personal issues to the workplace, not just older workers, and personal issues do impact on the workplace. Whether that impact is negative and to what extent, depends on how the leader and others in the workplace manages those issues. A feature of the show is teamwork. Whilst the older workers occasionally push the limits, they know where the ‘authority’ line sits. They would have had limited, if any, experience of a senior female boss during their long careers. The respect between them all is obvious, albeit demonstrated in different ways. Any assumption that older workers are the same is misguided. This show demonstrates differences in the approach of older workers to technology in the workplace, with some ignoring it and others embracing and applying it. They are tolerant of each other’s individual differences and very supportive of each other, particularly in times of personal need. Work tasks are allocated to combinations of workers to capitalise on strengths, limit weaknesses, and maximise organisation outcomes. Another interesting feature is the impact of the family of workers on the workplace, and the impact of the workplace on the individual and their family. Older workers ‘need’ work, for different reasons, for personal fulfilment, the money, their mental health, and for a range of other personal reasons. The age of the workers is often mentioned during the show, sometimes in a derogatory manner, with differing responses from the workers themselves, ranging from ignoring the comments to capitalising on their age/experience to get a better organisational outcome. The most important feature of the show is that these older workers are not doing the same job, but a similar job that utilises their skills, knowledge, experience and capability, developed and acquired over a long career. This is not an ‘all of nothing approach’ to work. The jobs have been created to match the workers with the particular jobs of the work unit. Workplaces are dynamic, not static. Older workers are not a homogeneous group; each is a unique individual with strengths and weaknesses. Older workers can have a positive impact on the workplace and work outcomes when their background and skills are matched to the task at hand. There are demonstrable financial and personal health benefits, particularly mental health benefits, which potentially lead to reduced public health costs. And the positive impact of workforce reliability and stability of older workers on the ‘business bottom line’ should not be underestimated. More needs to be done to improve workforce participation of older workers.
Older people need to work, and workplaces of the future need older workers. The key is sound public policy, public and private sector collaboration, and inspirational leaders who rise to the challenge, embrace employee diversity and realise the potential of flexible workplaces. With the ageing population and skills shortage, attributing common characteristics to all older workers and negative stereotyping is counterproductive. We need to celebrate the advances in public health contributing to this longevity and capitalise on the benefits that age and experience bring to society in general and the workplace in particular. The media plays an important role in countering these negative attitudes and stereotypes. If you want to see a positive portrayal of older workers, have a look at ‘New Tricks’, “It’s all right, it’s okay, doesn’t matter if you’re old and grey...”. —Linda Eather |
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General Comments For organisations to show true commitment to the workforce across the life span the proposed points by OPSO should be considered. There is a need for a Business Charter that imparts or evoke a sense of urgency for action within an organisation. In this charter we would like to see a business case for change as a pre requisite .We would like to see applications of known best practice. Without measurement such Business Charter would be a toothless Tiger.
We must address the following barriers
General Positions that presently need to be met Access to resources and opportunities for older job seekers, those wanting a career or casual work status. These resources need to be in a format available to older workers such as www and printed literature, including in multilingual formats. As well there needs to be access to face to face support. |
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The ageing workforce – OPSO’s contribution This year’s OPSO Media Awards aim to
draw attention to one of the major issues
facing Australia: the need to keep our As the population ages we face the need
for great changes in community and
business attitude if we are to meet the The Federal Government’s Consultative
Forum has been working on the answers
to senior’s workplace participation. As The answers so far include a resource package for employers on which all Forum members have been consulted. The Forum looks for innovation in policies that are based on understanding the needs, motivation, experience and value of older workers, and the most productive ways of developing and using this expanding workforce. Two relevant election promises were also welcome. One was the changes to the amount seniors on the pension can earn before their pension is affected, and the other, the appointment of a dedicated Discrimination Commissioner. One of OPSO’s own contributions has been to offer two $2000 cash prizes: one for journalism that features the contribution of older workers between the ages of 50 and 67, and the other that features the contribution of those over 67. Thanks to the support of the young Charity’s
Angels we have been able to give
another award, and a very important The OPSO Awards for the last 17 years have been helping to change the public’s attitude to older people. With these special awards we believe we can draw attention to the great contribution seniors can make to the workforce. Breaking down the stereotypes associated with older workers is no easy task, but with the support of all of you in the media we can make it happen: not just for now, but for the security of our society in the future. – Val French AM, President, OPSO |
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The ageing workforce – at last a real election voice I had a welcome surprise early on Saturday...a phone call from Labor Minister Jenny Macklin to talk about the package for seniors to be announced that lunchtime, initiatives based on the requests that seniors’ groups have make for this election. These include allowing those on a pension who want to do work to earn $6,OOO a year before their earning affect their pension. That is one thing I have found with the present government: they really have listened to seniors during the last three years – and acted on our recommendation...their pension reforms for instance. The ageing workforce initiatives are another another example. The Liberal Party’s solution this week was to offer money to employers to take on senior workers – great ... as far as it goes. The Labor Party’s response to seniors earlier this year was different. They had studied the research carried out by seniors’ organisations and included their representatives in the new Consultative Forum on Participation Policy. This Forum is also made up of the major business bodies related to workforce participation. The Consultative Forum has been working on the answers to seniors’ workplace participation. One of the important answers has been the resource package for employers, to which all Forum members are contributing. The Forum looks for innovation in policies that are based on understanding the needs, motivation, experience and value of older workers, the most productive ways of developing and using this expanding workforce in an ageing society. The changes to the amount seniors on the pension can earn before their pension is affected is another positive response to senior’s recommendations, this time to the recommendations put forward by those of us representing seniors at the Pension Review. The Seniors Package also includes a training package and a long-awaited dedicated Age Discrimination Commissioner. – Val French AM, President, OPSO Breaking the Aged Care Barrier Issues Paper: Seniors agree that ageing in place be accepted at all levels. In discussions about breaking the age care barrier the Commonwealth Bureau of Statistics reveal that only 5-7% of the ageing population end up in nursing homes. We are concerned about the remaining 95%. Concerns
Why is a well funded HACC the key?
Needs
HACC regional boundaries need to be changed based on community interest.
UPGRADE CAREER STRUCTURE
MARKETING OF POSITIVE AGEING HAAC
Individual needs
ACCOMMODATION OPTIONS
Affordable accommodation options should be considered to allow HAAC services to be provided. ENHANCE AGEING
Investigate ways to involve nursing home patients. ISSUES
Because it is financially expedient to do this – health benefits and involvement of the community – Start now! We are the solution – not the problem |
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Negative attitudes to ageing – a series Older People Speak Out is to planning a variety of attacks on the community’s negative attitude to ageing and to those who are ageing. This follows the appointment of our president Val French to Wayne Swan’s Consultative Forum on Mature Age Participation in the Workforce. We are doing this in response to the public attention that has been given to the so-called “problems of an ageing society”. We believe the “problems” are more the result of community attitude than inevitable consequences of growing older. This attitude is the inevitable result of business’s constant emphasis on marketing to youth...for which, of course, the older was to blame: we were the generation that went without during the Great Depression and the World War 2 and the reconstruction years that followed. We determined to give our children what we went without. So youth became the plus...and now the older generation is being joined by the baby boomers: we are told that the too, even at 45 are being discriminated against in the workforce. Somehow we built a “give me” society, and our baby-boomer children have continued this “give to youth” society. To begin our campaign against negative attitudes and discrimination we have here the first articles on the Ageing Workforce and Workforce Challenges.
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When is Old? For those of us in Older People Speak Out the word “older” was a deliberately chosen term. . From the moment we are born we are growing older. Being old, though, is completely different. Today, the word immediately marginalises us. Yet once it was not a negative word. It merited respect. So what went wrong? Those who survived the Depression and the Second World War were a generation who had gone without. In the prosperous years that followed, that generation made sure that their children in that Populate or Perish era were given all that they themselves had missed – : education, toys, clothes, and the security of a home. The business world soon realised that under these circumstances, Youth was a huge market. So the Baby Boomer generation was born and bred. Somehow along the way when they moved into the workforce and as our generation grew old, we became marginalised: to be young was to be beautiful, so to be old became the opposite – being old simply got a bad name. Consequently, the value of older workers was downgraded, to the cost of many businesses in the 90’s which made many of their older workers, with all their knowledge and experience, redundant. Thus in a Commonwealth survey in the early 1990’ the over-60–year-olds maintained they were being marginalised by the community simply because of their age. So what is “old”? Is it a matter of the number of years lived or is it a matter of community or individual attitude to those years? Some people are never old, no matter what their chronological age. Some people are old at 50 or even 45. .Some are born old. There are people who set some sort of biological clock – based perhaps on advertising propaganda that links wrinkles with age– and as soon as they reach their set age they say, ‘ I am 60 or 70 and so I am old”. From then on they become really old – they give up. One man I know did wonders in his garden, and even built a swimming pool himself. He always defined 68 as the time when he’d be old. From his 68th birthday onwards he did nothing more. “I am too old” he’d say. On the other hand, a woman in a hostel. and who had heart and sight problems and chronic arthritis defied the medical staff and went on a holiday to Honolulu. There she had a ball, dancing as best she could and just simply enjoying herself. Like another friend of mine who is going blind, she learnt to touch type so she could write to her friends when her sight goes. Yet there are many who defy the years. I know some people, young at heart who, in their late eighties and nineties, are delivering Meals on Wheels. I know doctors who are still in practice well into their 70s, and many people in their 70s and 80s who work long hours as volunteers, or in their own businesses or who look after their grandchildren while the parents work. They never think of themselves as old. In fact, most of my generation simply has not got the time to feel, or to think, old.
By Val French |
Help us end age discrimination We are adding a fourth dimension to the OPSO Media Awards by offering two stand-alone prizes of $2000 each, both aimed at breaking down discrimination in the work force. The first of these prizes will be for the best coverage in any medium (print, electronic or photographic) that helps break down age discrimination in the 45 to 67 age group. The second will cover the 68-and-onwards age group. We invite you to enter and to spread the message to your colleagues. Nomination forms can be found in the Media Awards section of this website. Good Luck! |
To view or download The OPSO Times in PDF format click here.
OPSO Granfriends Who a GRANFRIEND is: A GRANFRIEND is a senior volunteer who passes on their skills to Primary School children. These skills are numerous. They can include reading, spelling, tables, creative writing, knitting, sewing, crochet, embroidery, chess and other games, craft work, story telling, dancing, debating and drama. Other skills are welcome. How we organise this: By approaching schools where our volunteers would like to teach. By helping volunteers to receive their blue cards. Why this programme is a success: We help bridge the generation gap by giving schoolchildren a GRANFRIEND. We encourage volunteering among seniors. We keep in touch with newsletters. All our GRANFRIENDS and children enjoy their time with each other and To become a GRANFRIEND phone Blanche O’Connor on 07 33242779 or email granfboc@hotmail.com |
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OPSO extends thanks to all our SPONSORS:
* The Department of Health and Ageing is not responsible for any recommendations, ideas or opinions on this website. It does not accept liability for any loss
damage, cost or expense that arises out of or in connection with use or reliance on anything contained in this website. |
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