Reflecting on one year of the Age-friendly Employer Pledge

Why we signed the Age-friendly Employer Pledge

We’ve always been a people-first organisation, knowing that our people are the most important thing we have, and that to get the best out of your people you have to understand, value and champion them.

At Stand, the work we do focuses on tackling the major challenges that we face as a world today – from changing banking for good, to building support for net zero, to tackling inequalities and injustices. Through this, we’ve been lucky enough to work with trailblazing organisations to raise awareness of the issues facing people in later life and call for change.

When we helped our longstanding client Anchor (also an Age-friendly Employer) launch the Platinum Pound campaign to make workplaces more age-inclusive, Anchor encouraged businesses to sign the Age-friendly Employer Pledge. At this point we realised we were missing a trick by not signing it ourselves. Just because we were committed to being inclusive, that didn’t mean we shouldn’t be doing more – the work is constant and ongoing.

So, signing the Pledge felt like a natural extension of what we stand for – a significant way to cement our commitment to our current and future colleagues, while being part of a movement to eradicate prevalent injustices.

Ageism in the communications industry

Our industry has a longstanding problem with inclusivity – ageism being a key one. With late twenties being the average age of a comms professional, and 23% of female PR professionals saying they’ve experienced age discrimination, it’s clear that the industry needs to up its game and take action to ensure no one is overlooked or discriminated against due to their age.

And the risk of a talent drain is very real – with two thirds of female PR professionals saying they can’t see themselves working in PR agencies beyond 50 years of age. By not proactively promoting age-friendly workplaces, the industry is at risk of missing out on the diverse talent and valuable experience that multi-generational teams bring to the workplace. In an industry that’s becoming more and more diverse in terms of the disciplines it encompasses – from AI to digital content, podcasts to creative ideation – now’s the time to look at your age-friendly practices and get creative with who you look to hire and how you look after your people, to help them thrive whatever their age.

With this in mind, we were somewhat surprised to learn that we were the first comms consultancy to sign the pledge. But we also find this encouraging, as it means there’s so much potential for progress. Signing it has really brought home just how much movements like this are needed – we need to be looking at inclusivity and belonging through every lens, to ensure that both employees and employers aren’t missing out.

Our experience so far

Often when it comes to bringing about change, knowing where to start can be the biggest barrier. But upon signing the Pledge, that barrier quickly dissolved. We were given a clear understanding of what it means to be an Age-friendly employer, and an action framework of key areas where employers can take action to become more age-friendly: creating an age-friendly culture, hiring age-positively, being flexible about flexible working, encouraging career development at all ages, and ensuring everyone has the health and support they need.

This helped us focus our journey to promote age-friendly practices, rather than being overwhelmed with everything we could possibly look at. Regular check-ins from the team at Centre for Ageing Better helped keep us on track and gave us strategic advice on how to continue our journey.

One year on, and we’ve promoted learning and development opportunities for our older colleagues, put our older colleagues at the forefront of our recruitment ads, and we are developing a menopause policy.

What we’ve learnt

• It’s a journey – and signing the Pledge is an important step in that journey, rather than the end goal. It won’t suddenly make your workforce more diverse, but it helps you know where to focus and gives you a clear direction of travel
• Progress not perfection – be patient, as change won’t happen overnight. But the earlier you start and the more attention you give it, the more impactful the results will be
• You’re not alone – the Pledge team are happy to support, and there’s a network of Age-friendly employers who can also share their experience and ideas with you
• You’re missing out if you don’t sign – enough said!

Overall, signing the Pledge is a no-brainer. It shows your current employees that you care and that you’re there for them across their entire career. And by helping to remove unconscious bias, it opens the door to attracting and retaining later life talent.