I’m all stood up

A good friend got much more than he bargained for when he took a bus ride during the rush hour recently. A young lady, around his daughter’s age, noticed him standing up, smiled, got to her feet and offered him her seat. My friend was mortified but I told him he shouldn’t be too quick to jump to conclusions because there were three possible ways of interpreting her action: 1 She was being polite and respectful. 2 She was thinking ‘Poor old git; he’s about to keel over’. 3 She had a thing about mature men and was trying to pull him.

Life is all about perception and so is our individual take on age - in ourselves as well as others. So, let us know what you think – was my friend being pandered to, pitied or pulled? His self-esteem is in your hands.

Can’t get no satisfaction

Sitting in the London sunshine reading through a daily paper, I was struck yet again by our  – or should I say the media’s – obsession with age. Why does everyone automatically have that ridiculous, mandatory tag placed after their name, e.g. Mick Jagger, 62, as if leaving it off would somehow deprive us of a vital piece of information?

I do not have particularly strong feelings about Mick Jagger one way or the other but one thing I do know – I couldn’t care less if he is 101 or 21 and I certainly don’t want to have it rammed down my throat every time I see an article about him. I take people as I find them; I don’t base my perceptions or my opinions on what I am supposed to think as dictated by some artificial construct of our society. As Patrick McGoohan used to say in cult TV show, The Prisoner, ‘I am not a number; I am a free man’.

The truth about older workers

Employers often tend to under-value older workers because of long established negative beliefs about their contribution and ‘value for money’, which in turn leads to ageism and age discrimination. It is often thought that older workers are more expensive than their younger colleagues. They are, of course, often paid more because of seniority and incremental pay awards.
Nevertheless, recent research implies that some organisations value the knowledge, relevant experience and loyalty of the older employee which more than compensates for higher salaries.
(Source: Centre for Research into the Older Workforce July 2006)

The training of older workers

Recent research indicates that workers who receive training after their fiftieth birthday are likely to stay longer in the workforce. This is probably due to the greater employability of workers with higher skill levels and increased loyalty resulting from the organisation’s investment in the employee.
Levels of qualification have been rising since the Second World War. People now in their 50s and 60s generally are better qualified than previous generations, but they are not as well qualified as workers in their 30s or 40s. However, often the training of the older workers is informal and problems arise when older employees are the victims of ageism and made redundant and forced to seek new employment.
Government priorities for development should be to ensure equal access to current training, compensation for previous inequality, and learning to manage age discrimination.
(Source: Centre for Research into the Older Workforce July 2006)

Simply does it

In search of the secret of long life, the BBC’s Rupert Wingfield-Hayes ventured into a small group of valleys amidst the karst limestone mountains of south-west China where people work in the fields at 100 years old and regularly live to the age of 110.
In the valley of Longlaodun, Wingfield-Hayes found an idyllic scene with crystal-clear streams flowing beneath stone bridges and peaks cloaked in swirling mist.
This oriental paradise is populated by sprightly centenarians who work tirelessly and enjoy a simple lifestyle unspoilt by Western intrusions.
Outsiders have speculated that the communal longevity is due to a combination of cool mountain air, clear water, rice wine and even the cannabis seed that many like to chew.
However, Wingfield-Hayes concluded that the secret of their ripe old age lies in their simple diet – mostly corn and vegetables – and the extraordinary peace that pervades the valley. The outside world hardly intrudes at all; there appears to be little or no yearning for its wealth or trappings.
The number of Chinese over the age of 60 is more than 134 million – 10 per cent of the population and increasing at 3.2 per cent per annum. By 2050 the number of over 60s will be 400 million – 25 per cent of the population.

Old money

Age discrimination suits have provided rich pickings in the United States. One study found the average payout in cases where age discrimination was proved was $268,926 (approx £144,000) compared with £94,000 for racial discrimination, £81,000 for disability discrimination and £65,000 for sex discrimination. In Ireland, a fifth of employment tribunals involve cases of alleged discrimination on the grounds of age.

California booming

The Golden State may soon have to be renamed the Golden Oldies State with the number of baby-boomers in California set to double by the year 2020.
Traditionally associated with all things youthful from surfers and beach babes to starlets and dot-com millionaires, California is set to challenge Florida for the greatest proportion of people in the over-65 age group in the US.
In 2000 there were just over 3 million over-65s in California but by 2020 the number is projected to reach over 6 million. By 2030 that figure will have grown to over 8 million.
Almost four decades after the counter-cultural upheavals of hippie communes and campus revolts, the 75 million baby-boomers (those born between1946-64) across the United States are generally a contented group.
A poll of over 3,000 by the Pew Research Centre, reported in The Washington Times in December, 2005, found that despite the 1960s sexual revolution, 89 per cent followed the traditional path and got married, with 51 per cent saying they married only once.
The survey also revealed that 72 per cent of those boomers, whose iconic rallying cry was ‘never trust anyone over 30’, were ‘very satisfied’ with their family life. Two thirds were happy to pay for their children’s college education and 56 per cent said they would take in an elderly parent.

Dying for sex

Having regular sex could hinder your prospects of living to a ripe old age according to scientists at the University of Sheffield.
Their research involving mealworm beetles showed that a hormone released after mating adversely affected an enzyme vital to keeping the immune system functioning. The beetles were therefore more susceptible to infection and less likely to live as long.
Dr Michael Siva-Jothy said: “Those organisms that mate the most and are therefore more successful in evolutionary terms reduce their own life expectancy in the process.”
The research could also help explain how sexually transmitted diseases evolve – by exploiting the depressed immune system when humans have sex. Such diseases also lead to the possibility of a reduction in life expectancy in humans.

Edwina curries favour

Not so much changing the traditional image of Personal Assistants as smashing it to smithereens, Edwina Bradley works five to six days a week as PA to the Chief Executive of the St Margaret Hospice in Clydebank, Scotland, at the age of 92. She has been in the job since 2001 after several years as a volunteer. Sister Rita Dawson, her boss, says: “I am fortunate to have someone whose judgement and experience are excellent. Her age is certainly no barrier.”

Top companies shun experience

An analysis of the “Sunday Times 100 Best companies to work for 2006” indicates that seven of the companies had no staff over the age of 55, while overall the percentage of employees in this category over the age of 55 was seven per cent.
The picture is bleaker with the ”Sunday Times 100 Best Small companies to work for 2006”. Thirty one of the companies had no employees over the age of 55, while overall the percentage of employees in this category over the age of 55 was six per cent.
It is our aim eventually to “name and shame” these companies and challenge them about their compliance with the new employment legislation.