Culture toolkit — leadership — discussion guide

This discussion guide is designed to be used by leadership to establish how age-friendly their culture is and decide upon any actions that should be taken and what to prioritise.

This may mean an item on the agenda of a formal leadership team meeting or it might mean bringing together a few people for an informal conversation — whatever is most appropriate for your organisational structure.

We recommend that you allocate a good portion of time to explore the issues and make sure everyone is able to contribute.

Before this conversation, we recommend you collate the available information you have on how older workers experience working in your organisation. Use our research guide to help. 

You may not have formal information, or the resources to collect it. In this instance we recommend using the questions in the diagnostic tool to think about what you can observe about your culture. You should also speak to workers over 50 about how they experience working in your organisation.

If possible, share the available information before you embark on the rest of the discussion. You will also need to identify where there are gaps in your knowledge.

Understanding our objectives

Before you begin, you should have a clear idea of why it is important to the business that workers of 50, 60 and beyond feel welcomed, valued and supported. 

• How will this support our business objectives? 
• Will it improve employee retention? 
• Will it help mitigate risks?

With this in mind, what would good look like? How would someone over 50 experience working in our organisation?

How does this relate to what we know about the current experience? Where are the gaps?
 

Building the culture

Do older workers feel welcome?

• How many employees do we have over 50? Are they concentrated in one area or team? How might this look or feel to someone outside or just joining the organisation?
• What can we do to make older workers feel welcome? Are they represented in our internal and external communications? Do we use language which is age-friendly and inclusive? 

Do older workers feel valued?

• How can we make sure that our older workers feel able to contribute? Are they encouraged to speak up and share their views and experience? What might stop them from doing so?
• Are we offering them the same opportunities for support and development as younger staff?
• How often do we visibly celebrate older staff and their contributions? How can we do this more?

Do older workers feel supported?

• Are there things that would make it easier for older staff to work at their best? Have we asked them about this?
• What can we offer? How flexible can we be?
• What support should only be available to older employees and which should be available to all?
   

What can we do as leaders in the organisation?

• How might the experiences of older workers differ from our own — even if we are over 50 ourselves? What might we need to mindful of? Where might our blind spots be?
• What can we do, as leaders, to show our commitment to tackling ageism?