Ageing Well Is a Workplace Issue - Let’s Treat It Like One
June 06, 2025Posted by:
What the latest SRAG Lunch & Learn taught us about older workers, carers, and how we show up for both
Last week’s SRAG Lunch & Learn with Heather Griffin from Age UK Nottingham & Nottinghamshire was one of the most engaged sessions we’ve run this year. It was also timely as Carers Week 2025 is running from June 9th to 15th.
It was clear that this subject matters to everyone, and touches all of our lives at some point. Most of us have older family members. Many of us are carers. And every one of us is getting older.
Here’s what stood out, and why this session has prompted a quiet urgency among employers to act -and act now.
The UK Workforce Is Getting Older - Fast
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People aged 50+ now make up over a third of the UK workforce.
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That’s not a blip - it's rising. Pension age is going up. Living costs are going up. And the desire to stay socially and mentally active is strong and getting stronger as the connection between stress and long term health issues is better understood.
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But older workers are still more likely to leave - especially when caring responsibilities go unsupported.
In fact, 600 people leave work every day to care for someone older, disabled or seriously ill. That’s over 200,000 people a year - at a cost guesstimate to business running into billions of pounds.
Employers Are Listening - and Learning
This session landed. We heard from NHS leaders, retail giants, care professionals, and local employers.
67% said they expect to work beyond retirement age. Others spoke openly about wanting to work beyond retirement to stay mentally well, keep active, and retain a sense of structure. Several shared personal stories about caring for parents post-stroke, post-surgery, or with dementia - and how Age UK helped them keep working
And that’s what made this so compelling: it wasn’t theoretical. It was real people, real lives, and real solutions.
The Big Takeaways for Employers
If you want to retain your experienced people, reduce burnout, and build genuine inclusion across life stages - start here:
✅ Talk about caring responsibilities
Don’t wait for crisis. People need to know they can share what's going on at home. Start with “carer’s passports” or create an HR prompt. Ask carers who disclose their status to your organisation if they want to be put in touch with each other and ringfence time for them to talk.
✅ Connect with your local Age UK
They offer free, practical help - from benefit checks to pre-retirement workshops to walking groups and dementia advice. Could you signpost their services?
✅ Rethink flexibility
Why is caring for children normalised - but caring for parents isn’t? Allowing one week’s statutory carers leave is a start. But could policies go further?
The Cost of Doing Nothing?
It’s not just moral. It’s financial.
“If we lose 200,000 workers a year to caring responsibilities, and it costs £6,000 to replace each one - we’re looking at £1.2 billion in recruitment costs alone.”
Not to mention lost knowledge, lost loyalty, and lost wellbeing - for both the employee and the person they care for.
👉 Interested in this Lunch and Learn and the growing archive of SRAG events on everything from employing prison leavers, to why you need social value training?
Is your organisation already taking action? Let us know. SRAG is building up a bank of practical employer case studies, and we’d love to include yours.
After all, ageing isn’t someone else’s issue. It’s everyone’s.
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June 06, 2025Posted by:
