Next Monday the 21st,  under the shimmering chandeliers of a grand Regency building near the Mall, we will be welcoming Tom Nelson, Chief Operating Officer of the US based AARP and Angela Eagle, our Minister of State for Pensions and the Ageing Society, to present the AARP international awards to some of the UK’s most innovative employers.

This is the second year TAEN has been partnering others overseas in a search for creative, innovative ideas that make it possible for older workers to work longer. Innovation is a much misused word, but in this instance it is the right one.

But where does this parade of imaginative employers fit into the broader picture of extending working lives? Let’s go back to 2006 when the Paris based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development issued a seminal report Live Longer, Work Longer, on employment and social policies in the context of workforce ageing.

“Policies and practices that discourage work at an older age,” it noted, “effectively deny older workers choice in when and how to retire. ”The result was “a waste of valuable resources that business, the economy and society could ill-afford.”

Policy reforms were needed to reverse the trend towards ever earlier retirement.

But what could governments do to bring about changes that were often unpopular with the voters? How could workers, employers and governments work together to guide our ageing society to a prosperous future?

One task proposed was dispelling the myths, including the sometimes voiced view that older workers cannot really remain in the labour market longer on account of their “waning capacity” for work. Despite all the examples of older workers achieving the pinnacles of their professions, there are many who still believe this kind of nonsense.

Sure enough, medical science suggests (as if we didn’t know it) that there is some decline in cognitive and physical capacities as we age, but while these changes could matter for an international tennis star or world chess Grandmaster, for most people in most jobs we operate at well below our maximum capacity and it matters not a jot.

Note Lord Phillips’ point this week incidentally, that the talents of Judges of the new Supreme Court ought not to be squandered when they are compelled to retire at 70. I quite agree!

Of course, there can be changes in the human condition that make it harder for some to carry on working in exactly the same way. Actually, they are more likely to be for social than physiological or cognitive reasons. They can come about because of neglect of our talents, absence of new learning, a denial of career development opportunities, the inflexibility of employment contracts and so on.

Many such changes are off set by workers themselves through changed work strategies or small adaptations that their employers can make to the work environment. Identifying the need for adjustments and interventions must become part of the job of all managers who value their older workers. Taking a life course approach to maintaining personal resources and employability is important for all.

So, measures to humanise work, make it more do-able, introduce flexibility, make it possible to change horses mid stream, acquire new skills and knowledge as one goes along are all really important.

Enlightened employers have pointed the way in different parts of the world. I was intrigued to see that in a hospital in Singapore, a walking club has been started up to get employees outside and active every lunch time. I see the Belgians have a great idea – a time credit and leave scheme that is part of their welfare state and allows anyone who needs time out to cope with whatever life’s demands throw at them.

A novel approach to recruitment of older engineers in a German engineering company began as a one off initiative but has resulted in their being employer of choice among older engineers in the locality. They never advertise now!

All innovations are sparked off by something else. We can learn from these and other examples. 

So, it is no accident that we are recognising innovation next Monday. Social innovation goes hand in hand with longer working lives. Employers and countries will have to innovate to survive.

The alternative is that we accept constraints on economic performance, organisational decline and more poverty in old age. Innovation and working wiser seem much better.

The evening awards reception,  which is being held at the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining at 1 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1 on 21st September from 6:30 - 8:00 pm, is an invitation only event but anyone interested in attending should email us at info@taen.org.uk