Date: Thursday 24 June 2021
Time: 2.00pm – 4.00pm BST (3.00pm – 5.00pm CEST, 9.00am – 11.00am EDT)

Across the world, societies are ageing, and so are our workforces. Older workers make up a growing proportion of the workforce – across the G20, 1 in 3 workers is aged 50 and over, and this is set to increase to 4 in 10 by 2040. 

With an ageing workforce, we need to fundamentally rethink the way we work, learn and live. This affects not only older workers, but the way in which we plan the future of work for young and old alike. 

We know that there are lots of opportunities that come from an ageing workforce. But we also know that employers and policymakers could be doing much more to tap into this potential and that too many people are being left behind. 

For this reason, ILC, supported by the Innovation Resource Center for HR, has launched an international competition – Work for tomorrow – to identify and award the most promising innovations responding to an ageing workforce across 4 categories: 

• Maintaining good health 
• Building knowledge, skills, and competence 
• Addressing discrimination and supporting diversity 
• Adapting the workplace 

This interactive workshop unpicked some of the challenges and opportunities of an ageing workforce; how these trends intersect with changes in technology and AI; what we’ve learnt from COVID-19; and what the potential for innovation is in this space to ensure our workplaces and policies adapt in line with the changes happening around us. 

The workshop was chaired by: George MacGinnis, Challenge Director, Healthy Ageing, UK Research and Innovation

Speakers and facilitators included:

• Ashton Applewhite, Author and Activist
• David Blane, Imperial College London
• Sheila Callaham, Age Equity Alliance and Forbes
• Prof Vybarr Cregan-Reid, Author
• Alex Hirst, Hoxby
• Alex Hoskyn, Chatty Café
• Lily Parsey, ILC UK
• Mehbs Remtulla, What’s neXT?!
• Yvonne Sonsino, Mercer
• Patrick Thomson, Centre for Ageing Better
• David Sinclair, Director, ILC UK
• Brian Beach, ILC UK
• Kerry Walker, Head of HR, Retirement Retail, Legal and General

Find out more about our “Work for tomorrow” competition with submissions closing on 1 September 2021.