Why age category is not the most effective way to define employees
A benefits and reward strategy needs to be effective for as broad an employee population as possible.
The alternative is that the strategy works better for some groups of people than for others, which is unlikely to be optimal – those people whose needs aren’t being met will notice that they are effectively receiving less reward than their colleagues.
That’s not a recipe for a harmonious workplace. Nor is it an effective use of monetary (or human) resources.
To make a strategy effective across a broad working population it needs to be as inclusive as possible.
Age is an important variable. Many ‘traditional’ benefits that apply across all kinds of employment have obvious greater appeal to older employees.
Looking after loved ones
A pension is more tangible once you are over 50. Leaving loved ones destitute is a greater fear to a parent than a single individual and private medical insurance claimants tend to be older than average.
We can therefore expect those benefits to be more highly valued by older employees.
That means there is plenty of scope for benefits that might appeal more to their younger peers if the younger population is to also feel looked after.
So defining by age definitely has a place. But it is not the only variable.
Take a look around any office. There are people of different age groups, different genders and different ethnicity. All of these things can lead people to have different priorities.
A woman is likely to place greater emphasis on flexibility and caring responsibilities. Ethnicity could lead someone to have different health concerns to their colleagues – for example, people of South Asian descent are six times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than people of European extraction.
Hidden disabilities
But some colleagues might have hidden disabilities – and people with multiple disabilities are more than twice as likely to have opted out of pensions than their colleagues.
Some will be homeowners who got a head start from Bank of Mum and Dad, but others will be renters who might welcome a helping hand in getting on the housing ladder.
A proportion of them may not expect to become parents and might therefore see parental leave policies in a different light.
So, segmenting employees by age can help, but only so far. There are many other ways where segmenting has value, and all of those employee segments matter.
The best way to understand what the workforce wants is not to guess, but to ask them. Survey them, talk to them, listen to them.
We all define ourselves as individuals. Let’s start looking at employee benefits in that light.
In partnership with Isio
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