Age profiling - Mature @ EU

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Age profiling The essential tool for HR professionals The HR world is renowned for its use of jargon. One of the latest buzzwords is ‘age profiling’. But what does it mean and can it actually help steer your business Age profiling is an efficient technique to map the age of a group of people, typically a workforce or customer base. And whilst a blanket profile of your business will tell you little except that you employ people of different ages, targeted age profiling can be a very useful tool. Used effectively, age profiling can help you evaluate arange of personnel issues including performance, employee satisfaction, recruitment and retention levels. It can help identify risks and opportunities amongst key groups or business functions and most importantly allow you to plan for future needs. It is an technique that is increasingly being used by smart employers to measure business performance. GSK “A simple statistical analysis of some raw HR data underlined how frequently even HR teams, tend to make assumptions about employees. In one part of the company, there seemed to be a dip post 39.We thought we knew why. However, further analysis – cross-referring age to other factors – quickly showed those assumptions to be wrong.This small piece of work has resulted in GSK reviewing (and in some instances revising) HR systems and policy. We have already scheduled further discrete projects in key business areas, where we anticipate age profiling will provide very useful current and projected trend data.” Ian Brown UK Diversity Director, GSK Age profiling categories EFA recommends the following categories may be helpful for age profiling as they marry with Government statistics and with bands that are used by many UK employers. 16-24; 25-34; 35-44; 45-54; 55-64 etc This latest version of the famous EFA ‘wave chart’ illustrates the enormous changes that are taking place in the shape and balance of UK demographics. It is these dramatic changes – mirrored across the whole of Europe – that are now driving national and employment policy review. UK Population Projections Thousands 5000 4500 4000 3500 3000 2500 2002 15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 Source: ONS 2002 2006 2015 Age 2020 2025
Co-operative Bank A robust system was developed to produce accurate statistical data which is shared bankwide on a six monthly basis with all Executive and Senior Managers.The Co-op Bank’s profile is regularly measured against national and regional trends and results published annually. In 2001 data on age was included for the first time in the bank’s annual report and showed that the bank was reflecting demographic trends with 32% of the workforce being aged over 40. However, further analysis did identify considerable differences in the age profile from one business unit to another. For instance the age profile in smile, (the Bank’s internet banking service) was much younger with over 85% of it’s staff under the age of 35 compared to the Bank average of 49% Smile were concerned that candidates were de-selecting themselves believing “Internet Banking” was for the younger person.They therefore included the statement “We welcome applications from all ages” to change this belief.This has now had the positive result of a 5% improvement. Viv O’Connell, Human Resources Relationship Manager, Co-operative Bank Risk analysis The age profiling of particular teams will quickly identify potential risks, either current gaps or future loss of personnel, and knowledge. Age profiling will help you to look ahead and to effectively anticipate skill needs and demand, as well as supporting succession planning. It will also help you predict future costs – e.g. pensions. A comparison of the current working age population with the projected population in 2020 clearly highlights the age cohorts that will either shrink or grow in 20 years. UK Working Age Population 2002 compared to 2020 Thousands 5000 4500 4000 3500 3000 2500 15-19 20-24 Source: ONS 2002 25-29 30-34 35-39 2002 2020 Age 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-65 An age profile can help explain a department or team’s turnover (in general an older profile will be more static than a younger). It may also account for differences in performance – there can be a correlation between the age-mix and productivity or outcomes such as sales. By looking at selected age profiles you can easily spot any problems that might lie ahead. Avoiding unnecessary skills loss Many organisations still put themselves at risk by not age profiling prior to a redundancy or voluntary severance programme. Age profiling combined with a skills gap analysis can help you avoid the unnecessary loss of experience and knowledge that can sometimes leave an organisation operationally challenged. John Menzies We were conscious that a number of key executives were nearing retirement age, and an age profiling exercise confirmed that 25% of our most senior executives are due to retire within the next five years.The age profiling exercise has therefore been helpful in terms of reviewing our succession planning and retention practices. We now want to age profile the entire workforce as we feel that this will have wider links with other diversity and HR issues. Equity has to be the watchword. Jim Warnock, Director of Group Personnel, John Menzies plc
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