Programme: Dublin City
WHO Theme: Civic Participation and Employment
Cost: 5000 – 10000
Status: In Progress
Description
A HBR recent article showed that only 8% of organizations include age as part of their DEI strategy.
https://hbr.org/2022/03/harnessing-the-power-of-age-diversity.
In a 2022 study by LiveCareer, Older People & the Workplace, with more than 1,000 workers surveyed about “ their opinions about older people in the workplace” :43% of those surveyed said 40-plus is old, 26% said 50-plus is old and 21% said 60-plus is old. 86% aged 50-plus felt that most job postings were addressed to people younger than them. And yet, to compete in today’s talent marketplace, employers must recognize the value of a more age-diverse workforce as a source of great talent and build more representative employer brands as a result. The world of tech as an industry has the second youngest age profile after Retail but with 5 different generations at work, it was critical to find additional ways to support those 40+ within Linkedin.
The Wisdom ERG was launched in 2021 and within EMEA focused on the Dublin office given its key role in Linkedin as the EMEA HQ. The Wisdom ERG targets members who are 40 years + and their allies & creates events & initiatives designed to improve and enhance belonging and inclusion. Our vision is to ensure that Linkedin is a place that works for everyone regardless of age and our Mission is to create a thriving community inclusive of employees from all stages of life.
Our primary focus is to create and support the Wisdom community at work in Linkedin & additionally to create and build and awareness and appreciation of the need for a multigenerational workforce. Between now and 2030, the 18-49 segment is expected to grow 12% while the 50+ segment will expand by 34 percent. According to Global Web Index (GWI) data, 86% of people over 40 don’t feel represented in the ads they see, which is especially problematic because more than one-third of those individuals (35%) have a higher income than folks under 40 years old. Age diversity is only 7% of the whole diversity conversation happening on Linkedin but over the last 2 years there has been an increase in company updates and in age related keywords on the platform. In that sense age diversity is an area whose time has come. In the 2 years of the Wisdom ERG at Linkedin we have developed insights around Talent hiring as well as partnering with the Marketing Solutions business to look at the business opportunity around age (see uploads)
Across Jul’21 – June’23 we ran a total of 30 events designed to increase awareness of age, deepen connections between members & build partnerships both internally and externally. The team have created events in partnership with a range of external companies from Age Friendly Ireland, Age Action, Alzheimer’s Society, Soul Space and featured diverse speakers from Dr Mary Collins, to Dr Maureen Gaffney to motivational speakers that encourage career development for all from Orlaith Carmody to Gerry Hussey to Alana Kirk among others. The use of external partners & speakers was augmented by internal speakers and panellists which established strong connections in the business across business lines. Regular connect points via “Fast Friends” over zoom were help during Covid to retain connections between members when working fully remotely – these have continued as people have retained hybrid working. With Fast Friends events, we share icebreakers and break out into small groups of 4 to discuss and then come back and share within the full group. Each Fast Friends events lasts 45 minutes and consists of two icebreakers/topics of interest. We also created a learning path in collaboration with Linkedin Learning available to anyone on Linkedin designed to assist with lifelong career development; https://www.linkedin.com/checkpoint/enterprise/login/104?pathWildcard=104&application=learning&redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Elinkedin%2Ecom%2Flearning%2Fpaths%2Flinkedin-skills-for-continuous-career-transformation%3Fu%3D104
External visibility & awareness: Within Linkedin over 2022-23 we have created visibility of our Wisdom members featuring content describing the careers of those in the community (Jan’23 featuring Guido Schenk, Angela Ritrovato and Deirdre Wafer). Posts are regularly posted to build awareness of the topics we are talking to and to enable Linkedin platform members join the conversation. Alongside this we have published Hiring insights in collaboration with Talent Insights and more recently Marketing insights on Age Diversity with the Linkedin Collective in 2023
Aim of Initiative
Our vision is to ensure that Linkedin is a place that works for everyone regardless of age and our Mission is to create a thriving community inclusive of employees from all stages of life.
Who is it aimed at
The Wisdom Employee Resource group is now 2 years old. Dublin is a key office for Linkedin being the Regional HQ and so the EMEA Wisdom ERG is led out of this office. The Wisdom ERG is targeted at employees aged 40 years + and their allies.
3 Steps critical to success
- Putting the right team in place. This is an additional ask on top of the day job. So, finding volunteers that would be willing to give time to this is not a small ask. Across the last 12 years, we have grown the Regional team from a core team of 2 Co-Chairs, Chief of Staff, Communications Lead, Programme Manager, Allyship lead, Showcase lead to also include Office leads in 2022 for Dublin, Germany and Nordics to lead activation and integration on the ground.
- Developing a strategy to build awareness & membership growth and engagement. A strategy for the Region was prepared against the 4C model(DRR Advisors LLC) focus areas of Culture, Career, Commerce and Community. Each 4C focus area represents a core aspect of ERG programming that can help you better categorize targeted impact and effectiveness. Culture is about providing belonging moments & connections to build inclusivity. Career (Professional development, Career development, connecting with Talent Acquisition on hiring) Commerce (business effectiveness, cross ERG engagement & partnership) Community (external focus and partnerships)
In year one our focus was mainly internal on Culture (driving belonging & providing events where people could get to know each other. A core part of this was the establishment of regular Fast Friends events in year 1 (speed connections using zoom where we took icebreakers & discussed for 15 mins before redoing breakouts for further 15 minutes). Additionally, we focused on the area of Career development – a key area for Wisdom workers – providing a Rock your Profile session. This was led by a trained facilitator and shared tips with people from across Wisdom about their Linkedin Profile, the power of continually revisiting and updating your profile to reflect new skills/areas of responsibility. We developed the Career area further by focusing our Showcase month (January – when Wisdom own the calendar in Linkedin) on addressing some ageism perceptions, sharing some talent insights & having external speakers on the power of multi-generational workforces as well as career coaching for midlife. We also partnered with the Talent Insights team to develop some insights around hiring – this was shared on Linkedin (See links provided) . Across 2021-22, we ran 15 events including a launch event; – partnering with 3 established ERG’s in Linkedin (Women, Families and EnableIn) & externally with Age Action , delivering 4 events with external speakers/panellists (Dr Maureen Gaffney, Auxilia (Grey Matters Network now Auxilia), Dr Mary Collins and motivational speaker Dr James Sweetman) plus a Rock your Profile session designed to enable Wisdom members update their Linkedin Profile as well as Fast Friends zoom connect meet ups.
In year 2 our focus was to continue to build awareness, deepen connections within our membership and with the Talent Acquisition team, create further insights to deepen understanding of the Wisdom workforce & audience and build further internal and external partnerships. Across 2022-23 we connected with Age Friendly Ireland, The Alzheimers Society, The Wellness Warrior in Ireland and The Menopause Charity (UK) and the Soul Space. Age unites us all & this was a key part of the development of the ERG and what we delivered in EMEA. In 2022-23 we collaborated with Out@ on a session on inclusive meetings, with Women @ on mentoring & coaching events and with Families, BIG (Black Inclusion Group) to deliver a series of events and with the Wellness team on building awareness & understanding of Menopause. This collaboration was a key in underpinning the need for age recognition & the interface between age and other characteristics in affecting the lived experience for the workforce. Together with the Talent Acquisition team we partnered on creating content for LinkedIn to build awareness of Wisdom workers & their inclusion in the workforce (see links attached for quote postcards from 2023).
Over the last 2 years, we created internal videos featuring “Words of Wisdom” which were shared internally around our Showcase months in each year as well as on our 1st and 2nd anniversaries. These videos shared some thoughts on the positive nature of multi-generational teams as well as thoughts on older role models people have, and their own experience in getting older.
More recently Wisdom in EMEA partnered with Marketing Insights to create some content for the Linkedin Collective on the challenge of Age Diversity in Advertising. - Securing budget for region – annual 5-10k to cover any external speaker costs or promo material
3 Challenges in Planning / Delivery
- Like any Employee Resource Group the Wisdom ERG is dependant on volunteers to deliver on its programme of activities. Volunteerism is a powerful force in driving involvement but it can be difficult to maintain in commercial busy times.
- Creation of Awareness – Building partnerships with key parts of the organisation e.g. Talent Acquisition, Wellness as well as across other ERGs was key. This has encompassed multiple engagements & involvement of committee members to build these relationships both strategically as well as on the ground. The Wisdom Office lead for Dublin created ERG lunches to connect in with other more established ERGs and open dialogues. He was also key to the creation of ERG Fairs where Wisdom could be showcased alongside other ERGS. While these initiatives benefit all ERGs for a new ERG they were a key opportunity to create space for dialogue and show we had arrived.
- Covid moved us from in- person to remote and hybrid events & connects, which has presented some challenges in ensuring that events work in person/remote as needed, with recordings made available for internal use. Given that the team are all volunteer led, this requires considerable advance planning, preparation & liaison across multiple technical & facilities teams.
3 Outcomes / Benefits
- Successfully established the Wisdom ERG at the heart of LinkedIn through the delivery of internal awareness videos, external content on the Linkedin platform and the creation of internal partnerships across other more established ERGs.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/celebrating-generational-wisdom-deirdre-wafer%3FtrackingId=boqBqRA%252BT5WmQ5ihtjDPmw%253D%253D/?trackingId=boqBqRA%2BT5WmQ5ihtjDPmw%3D%3Dhttps://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7046539642262704128/https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7029169411265585152/
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7018136840788410368/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/busting-ageist-myths-get-hired-by-linkedin-news/
- Creation of Talent Insights and Marketing Insights in collaboration with the Wisdom ERG to deliver deeper understanding & build awareness of the challenges facing older people at work – resulting in publication of insights on LTS Hiring and on the Linkedin Collective.
- Created & delivered on a partnership with the Talent Acquisition team & in year 2 extending this to the Wellness team.Attendance at events grew across 2023 with the largest event attracting 200+ attendees on motivational coaching for life to other more specialist events that attracted specific members on caring & health issues of 30 -50 people.