Comment
The changing tide for mature workers
The COTA National Seniors education programme for mature age people about workforce change has come to an end for now. Project director, Veronica Sheen, reports on some of the key findings of the programme.
Around 1000 mature age workers have been involved in the COTA National Seniors (CNS) project on workforce change. They have three clear messages:
- recognise the complex issues faced by mature workers in today’s job market and improve policies in employment, training and social welfare;
- employment placement agencies/job networks etc need to provide specialised services that take account of the life and work experience of mature workers; and
- employers need to recognise the value of employing mature age workers.
What is the program about?
COTA National Seniors (CNS) has been concerned in recent years that many mature workers face an up-hill battle to find jobs in the new world of work. We have known that age discrimination is a huge problem in today’s competitive job market and that mature workers are often targeted for retrenchment.
In 2002, the Commonwealth Department of Employment and Workplace Relations offered CNS an opportunity to run an education programme on the changing nature of the labour market as a series of national workshops.
The aims of the programme were to:
• help mature workers understand the changes taking place both nationally and locally in the world of work,
• provide information about new opportunities in the workforce,
• advise on strategies for dealing with age discrimination,
• ensure mature workers know about the help they can get from the Job Network and State Government programmes where available, and
• bring mature workers up to date on the best way to look for work.
Workshops with presenters covering these topics were conducted in 19 locations around Australia in 2002 and 2003, including capital cities, outer metropolitan areas, large industrial centres and some smaller regional cities. Participants had opportunities for asking questions, discussing the issues they face and putting forward their own ideas for improving the situation for Australia’s mature workers.
Feedback indicated that 98 per cent of people attending the workshops found the programme very or quite useful. This result vastly exceeded our expectations. Even more surprising has been the impact on people’s outlook and job seeking activities following participation in the workshop.
Why was the programme successful?
The programme was successful because it:
• specifically targeted mature age people and invited them to attend a professionally run event in which their participation and input was valued
• was interactive and allowed time for networking, discussion, feedback and input into policy
• affirmed mature age people’s experience and placed that experience in the broader context of social and economic change
• acknowledged the difficulties that many people experience in terms of age discrimination but set out a range of positive strategies for moving forward in the labour market
• was run by COTA National Seniors as the representative body of people aged 50 and over
• involved the Commonwealth Government and CNS working alongside for the benefit of mature workers.
Where to from here?
CNS is now preparing a report to Government about the program and what it says about the needs of mature workers in the current job market.
The report will be tackling the following questions:
• how can employment services for mature workers be improved?
• what can be done to change employers’ attitudes about mature workers?
• what are the challenges for dealing with age discrimination in different industries and in large and small to medium sized businesses?
• how can mature workers get better information and advice?
• how can mature workers get better support when they are unemployed?
• how can we prevent long term unemployment amongst mature workers?
• what sort of training programs do mature workers need in the new world of work?
Although a one-off programme, CNS believes that it will result in considerable benefits for mature workers over the long term. The Department is keen to work with CNS to ensure a better deal for mature workers.
