A New Age of Work: Best practices in supporting the expanded workforce

David began planning for his retirement from his very first day of his very first job, almost 55 years ago. Like many of his generation, he worked long hours, often involving weekend functions and later, business development trips overseas. But when the time finally came, he simply could not bring himself to walk away, moving instead into a more flexible advisory position that he still holds today.

As McCrindle puts it: 65 is the new 50.  And for a growing number of Australians, 80 is the new 65.

Stories like David’s are common enough on an individual level. But on a macro scale, the implications of this New Age of Work are profound. Australia’s workforce is changing in both size and shape, with older workers, women and contractors comprising a larger share than ever. Workplaces will need to change accordingly to stay competitive and help staff thrive.

According to Simon Kuestenmacher, co-founder of the Demographics Group, the New Age of Work has come from the convergence of several major trends: new technology; the rise of flexible, mobile work; gender equity; a shift to white-collar work; and people living longer, healthier lives.

“People are delaying and ‘sliding’ into retirement,” Kuestenmacher says. “Sometimes, people cannot tell you if they are retired because although they might work fewer hours than before, they still sit on boards and advisory bodies or help with training. 

“In demographics we call this a long-life approach: If you know that you’re going to be living longer, you hang out in each stage of life for longer. The workplace is just a part of that.”

The share of older Australians in the workforce has more than doubled in the past 20 years, with almost a sixth of over-65s now remaining in, or returning to, the workforce. Work for this cohort can take many forms, and, as Lendlease notes in its “A New Age of Work” research paper, drives not only additional income, better health and neuroplasticity for older Australians, but also more diverse work environments nationwide.

Providing professional development opportunities for all life stages

Employers now face the unprecedented challenge of supporting four generations of workers, all at different life stages: Baby Boomers seeking to leave a legacy; Generation X coming into positions of greater responsibility and power; millennials, juggling work and home life; and the young and mobile Gen Z.

As senior workers hold on to leadership roles for longer, forward-thinking employers are implementing flatter organisational structures to ensure staff at all levels have room to grow.

“As the baby boomers retire, the hierarchical bureaucracy retires,” Kuestenmacher says, citing the need to keep workers satisfied in their jobs amid a nationwide talent crunch. “It’s a real challenge, but it is important. [Staff] retention is the name of the game.”

Leading organisations are investing in a culture of lifelong learning and development to help workers prepare for longer, more diverse and dynamic careers, and keep up with today’s breakneck pace of technological and social change.

On average, Australians now stay in their roles for just 3.3 years. Research indicates that Gen Z school leavers can now expect to go through as many as 18 jobs across 6 industries over the course of their working lives.

“Many more jobs now need to be regularly upskilled,” Kuestenmacher says. “We need to move away from the idea that you have education and work that need to be separated. Lifelong learning has long been part of the medical profession; this now needs to be done everywhere.

“Within organisations, knowledge transfer practices will need to be changed. Back in the day when people were all in the office full time, we learned informally by chatting with colleagues, and being more involved in others’ day-to-day work.

“This hasn’t been happening to the same degree since people started working more flexibly from home. Organisations now need to create more excuses for the transfer of knowledge whether that’s through compulsory online tutorials, off-sites, or formal mentoring programs. We need to proactively ensure that knowledge of more senior workers gets passed into the heads of the junior workers.”

Learning and development is a major focus for Karen Lonergan who, as Chief People Officer at PwC Australia, is responsible for supporting the firm’s 8,000-strong team.

To encourage individuals to buy in to their own growth, PwC asks all staff to explicitly set personal development goals at the start of each year. These are embedded into PwC’s performance review framework and assessed alongside standard performance targets during staff reviews.

Staff are asked to pursue not only topics directly related to their jobs but also more broad-based upskilling. As an example, Lonergan highlighted a recent generative AI training program that was introduced firmwide to help both technical and non-technical staff make the most of the internal “ChatPwC”.

“We see learning and development as something that should be embedded into business-as-usual rather than something that you do when you’ve got spare time,” Lonergan said. “It’s about being really deliberate about carving out time for learning and growth.

“Learning and growing new skills is core to our value proposition at PwC. It’s actually one of the big reasons our people join and stay.”

Proactively caring for staff with flexible working and breaks

With over 25 years of leadership experience and family responsibilities of her own, Lonergan is intimately aware of how important workplace flexibility is for staff at each stage of life.

As the word implies, there is no one-size-fits-all way for people to “flexibly” balance their work and home lives. Younger workers might want to maximise growth and development opportunities, while those with young children might seek more flexible work hours so they are able to ferry them around as needed. Others may be juggling aged- or childcare responsibilities while also stepping into more senior positions at work. Meanwhile, older workers may seek ways to meaningfully contribute while also enjoying extended periods of time off as they ease into retirement.

“The central question for us as a firm is: how do we continue to provide all the flexibility that our people need and all of the different ways in which that flexibility can manifest in a way that also sets us up to deliver for our clients and have the right level of productivity,” Lonergan says.

“It comes down to figuring out what kind of flexibility and what kind of support people need. I don’t think anyone has this cracked completely, but I feel like we’re doing ok.”

Given its size and cultural goals, PwC has no firm-wide hybrid working mandate. Instead, leaders work with each of their teams to determine the best ways of working for them — balancing time in the office with time on client sites, and flexible hours at home.

The Demographics Group’s Kuestenmacher agrees that flexibility is the number one drawcard for attracting and retaining employees in the current job market.

“If you think of the 80-20 rule, it makes sense to look at what Generation X cares about in the coming decade,” he says. “They are the generation that are burning the candle from three ends, with financially dependent kids and ageing parents, and being the generation most likely to have overburdened themselves with a mortgage in the period of very low interest rates.

“So how do employers help? What does wellbeing look like? This is not a generation that will have time for morning yoga or in-office massages and their pressures do not get better if they have a wonderful chair with a wonderful view.

“What might help is flexibility. Give them as much of a work-life balance as you can offer. Be very proactive in scheduling breaks, because we do know how much this can improve both wellbeing and productivity at work.”

¹https://mccrindle.com.au/article/topic/demographics/australian-baby-boomers-redefining-retirement/

This Insights piece is part of series titled ‘A New Age of Work’, created by Lendlease in partnership with TEDxSydney. See more.