Family Business Blog
May 20, 2010
Living and Working with an Aging Population
The International Federation on Aging recently held its 10th global conference in Melbourne. The conference covered a range of topics from healthy aging to the economic impact of aging on communities.
At a personal level I’m a bit concerned that I’ve reached an age where I’m attracted to this topic, but in reality it’s a topic that should concern us all, whether we’re Baby Boomers who are ‘living it’, or Gen X or Y’ers who have to live with consequences.
The topic is extremely relevant to family businesses. A comment that caught my eye was made by Dr John Beard, director of the World Health Organisation’s Department of Aging and Life Course. He predicted that within the next 20 years Australian companies could have 100 year-old employees.
In an interview in The Melbourne Age (25-4-2010) he said… ''the traditional way to look at population ageing is to look at it as a burden and to look at the impact of increased demand on social services and healthcare. But older people are an incredible human resource … We're overlooking that resource and in the process costing ourselves a lot of money…''. He added “that often people felt they had been forced to give up their jobs when they still had a lot to offer”.
How will this impact on your family business? What will it do to your succession plans? How will you continue to generate the passion for success in ambitious Gen X & Y’ers if the Baby Boomers decide to hang on?
One of my clients is successfully addressing this issue by identifying a mission critical role in R & D for his father, whilst another is dealing with the challenge of a parent who refuses to let go. As ever, in the world of family business there are no simple answers or one solution that works for everyone.
At a personal level I’m a bit concerned that I’ve reached an age where I’m attracted to this topic, but in reality it’s a topic that should concern us all, whether we’re Baby Boomers who are ‘living it’, or Gen X or Y’ers who have to live with consequences.
The topic is extremely relevant to family businesses. A comment that caught my eye was made by Dr John Beard, director of the World Health Organisation’s Department of Aging and Life Course. He predicted that within the next 20 years Australian companies could have 100 year-old employees.
In an interview in The Melbourne Age (25-4-2010) he said… ''the traditional way to look at population ageing is to look at it as a burden and to look at the impact of increased demand on social services and healthcare. But older people are an incredible human resource … We're overlooking that resource and in the process costing ourselves a lot of money…''. He added “that often people felt they had been forced to give up their jobs when they still had a lot to offer”.
How will this impact on your family business? What will it do to your succession plans? How will you continue to generate the passion for success in ambitious Gen X & Y’ers if the Baby Boomers decide to hang on?
One of my clients is successfully addressing this issue by identifying a mission critical role in R & D for his father, whilst another is dealing with the challenge of a parent who refuses to let go. As ever, in the world of family business there are no simple answers or one solution that works for everyone.
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