The Business of Aging

Intel's Impressive Aging In Place Technology

A Business Week article titled Intel Wants You to Age Gracefully, at Home discusses a new category of technologies designed to help seniors stay longer in their homes - and in the process save the health care system billion of dollars. 

One such product is Intel's Health Guide,  a device that let doctors monitor a patient's health remotely.

An excerpt from the BW article describing the technology:

"Each day after he woke up, he'd step on a scale and strap on a blood-pressure cuff that were attached to the Health Guide. The device collected his vitals and zapped them to his doctor's office. From there, nurse Marie DiCola scoured the data, and if she noticed anything amiss, she dialed up Lang and chatted with him over Health Guide's videophone."

Very cool.

Besides Intel (INTC), the aging-in-place market has attracted the likes of General Electric (GE), Philips Electronics, Honeywell (HON), Bosch, and dozens of technology startups.  I think Johnson and Johnson (JNJ) is also in the space.

Also mentioned in the article was an advocacy group that Intel and 400 other technology and health-care organizations formed called the Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST). The group's mission is to fight to improve the reimbursement outlook for aging-in-place technologies.

A good newsletter to read to follow the aging in place technology market is aging in place technology watch.   - or this blog :-)

"Retrofitting" Suburbia for the Aging Population

At the 2009 Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit & Business Plan Competition there were a few start-ups competing in the business plan competition that intended to market products/services that would help seniors age independently in their own homes. Some of the companies proposed "retrofitting" homes to make them more senior friendly while others were focused on senior friendly technologies.

The idea of making our homes more senior friendly through both architectural design improvements and aging in place technologies is nothing new and lots of companies are investing in these areas.

But what about making our cities and towns more senior friendly?

A recent AARP survey showed 85% of individuals age 50-plus that they wish to remain in their communities for as long as possible.

A special section in the Wall Street Journal's Weekend Report (September 19th, 2009) was dedicated to "Making Suburbia More Livable" for the aging population. Or, as the intro to the story stated:

The nation's sprawling suburbs may have been a good place to grow up, but they're a tough place to grow old. 

(By the way, have you noticed the dramatic increase in stories dedicated to "aging" topics in the national media?) 

Ken Steele is the mayor of Fayetteville, Georgia and he is working to transform his community  into a "lifelong community" and suggests neighborhoods across the country need to do the same.

"Every small community has the same problem," says Mr. Steele, age 69. "We want residents to be able to age in place, to meet their needs…here, without having to move away."

The idea is to "retrofit" suburbia which involve taking a neighborhood or site within an existing town or suburb and creating a compact, walkable community—one with alternatives to single-family homes, such as condominiums or row houses. Older residents in large homes will have the option of downsizing and remaining in a community where they can access restaurants, shopping and other amenities and services on foot.

This is already underway in Lakewood, Colo. "The change is pretty dramatic," says Mike Rock, retired city manager of Lakewood who helped direct Belmar's development. "Buildings are pulled right up to the sidewalk; residential living is above the retail outlets. You don't expect to see this in a suburban setting.

"Many weekends, my wife and I don't use the car," he says. Movies, an athletic club, a coffee house and restaurants are all within walking distance. "I regularly see people who are 10 years older than me—and 30 years younger," he adds. "I like that. I like the vibrancy."

The entire Wall Street Journal article can be read here. It's a very interesting story.

Boomers Putting Off Retirement: More Research.

We've blogged quite a bit about stories and research showing a significant number of aging Boomers are expected to delay retirement.

Today I read another report confirming this fact.

Researchers at the University of Michigan collected data from 4,412 older Americans in April and May of 2009. Those over the age of 51 were quizzed about career plans.

"We asked the same older workers what the chances were that they would still be working full time after age 65, and they went up from 47 percent to 57 percent between 2008 and 2009---a very rapid change after a long period of stability," said Michigan economist David Weir, director of the Health and Retirement Study. The chances of working past 62 went up from 60 percent to 65 percent.”

The focus of the research was on how older American's are weathering the financial crisis of the last year but regardless of their reasons, we are seeing more evidence of Boomers planning to remain in the workforce.

Go here to read about the research report, "Older Americans: How they are faring in the recession".

Implications of an Aging Workforce: What Japan Can Teach Us.

An article from Japan Inc. titled The Silver Market Phenomenon discusses the aging and shrinking society and its huge implications for businesses in Japan. It is a great read and I'll summarize the key points fro  the article.

• While most accounts of the so-called demographic “problem” deal with the threats posed by declining numbers in terms of the shrinking workforce, the added welfare burden, social conflict and so on, the opportunities of this trend are often neglected - the emergence of new markets, the potential for innovation, the integration of older people into jobs and workplaces, the joy of active aging and varied roles within the society. 

• Being relatively well-off, aging Boomers are an attractive and promising yet underdeveloped in terms of product and service offerings. This means that workplaces need to be adapted to fit the needs of an aging workforce.

• Japan is the country most severely affected by this demographic shift and it is the most advanced in terms of product development and innovation. Japanese companies were among the first to react to the challenge of the demographic change and are constantly coming up with product as well as service innovations.Japan offers the opportunity to study the silver market phenomenon and learn from the successes and failures of Japanese pioneer firms. Examples include:

- NTT Docomo’s ‘Raku-Raku’ (Easy- Easy) phone, with its strong emphasis on usability.

- Supportive devices, such as the Robot Suit HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb). Developed by University of Tsukuba Professor Sankai, it helps elderly people to move their limbs as well as workers to carry heavy weights by wearing a cyborg- type robotic suit.

- The Japanese automotive industry is also busy developing cars for the elderly, placing an emphasis on safety and accessibility.

• Despite what you may read in the popular press and in “marketing to baby boomers” books, the silver market is by no means a homogenous market. Companies should resist the temptation of getting too carried away by people’s agesegment and the over-50 market covers a wide range of different customers and consumers with an equally diverse range of values, attitudes, needs and wants.

• Another aspect to consider is that the silver market is not necessarily restricted to the silver generation only and it is important to remember the powerful concepts of universal and ‘transgenerational’ design. The best products, services and solutions are often those that can be attractive to a variety of customers regardless of their age, physical condition or mental wellbeing. In other words, beware of ageism, think transgenerationally! One of the most prominent and successful examples of this is Nintendo’s game console ‘Wii’ which has helped Nintendo tap into the elderly marketplace.

• The ‘Silver Market Phenomenon’ will not only be an opportunity for business but also an opportunity for innovation and invention, creativity, learning and social response and responsibility. Japan could certainly serve as an interesting role model for the rest of the world.

In a related blog post on this subject, Aging In Place Technology Watch, Laurie M. Orlov had an interesting take on all of this in a post titled Why don't large vendors invest more in technology for seniors?

Recession Turns a Graying Office Grayer

The Pew Research Center just released a report titled "Recession Turns a Graying Office Grayer" and it is full of excellent information.

A big thanks to online marketing and social media expert Erin Read Ruddick from the firm Creating Results  who turned me on to this report. If you get a chance subscribe to Mature Marketing Matters,  the blog of Creating Results where Erin is a contributor. It's a great blog.

I'll summarize the research from Pew.

The American work force is graying because older adults are staying in the labor force longer, and younger adults are staying out of it longer. And this recession is accelerating this trend.
 
According to one government estimate, 93% of the growth in the U.S. labor force from 2006 to 2016 will be among workers ages 55 and older.

Yes the recession plays a role. According to the Pew Research, nearly four-in-ten adults who are working past the median retirement age of 62 say they have delayed their retirement because of the recession. Among workers ages 50 to 61, fully 63% say they might have to push back their expected retirement date because of current economic conditions.

What's interesting, as this blog has repeatedly pointed out, is that a major reason behind the aging workforce, beyond demographic and economic factors, is that older workers want to work (see image ).

Fifty four percent of workers ages 65 and older say the main reason they work is that they want to. Just 17% say the main reason is that they need the paycheck. Older adults are less inclined now than at any time since the 1960s to give up on the working life.

Older workers are also the happiest workers. Some 54% of workers ages 65 and older say they are "completely satisfied" with their job, compared with just 29% of workers ages 16 to 64.

Age is not the only demographic characteristic of the work force that's changing.

The labor force participation rate of women has essentially flattened out at 59%, about 13 percentage points below the current rate for men. Even in an era of growing gender parity in the workplace, the work/family trade-off continues to be much more complicated for women than for men. The Pew Research finds that nonworking women are nine times as likely as nonworking men to cite the tug of family responsibility as a key reason for not having a job. The survey also finds that only a small share of the public -- 12% -- thinks the ideal situation for a mother of young children is to work full time outside the home.

The impacts of these trends is enormous. We wrote about some in our HRmarketer blog post Will Boomers Retire or Keep Working: Two Opposing Views.

Read the Pew research - it is a fascinating read, especially for companies that provide "work life" or "family friendly" employee benefits.

A related Business Week article Reward Older Workers With What They Really Want  gives more insight into this trend and discusses how Boomers are poised to retire traditional notions of retirement:

"[aging workers] not only want their employers to recognize their enthusiasm; they expect them to support it by shelving outmoded shibboleths about where, when and how work gets done. Boomers overwhelmingly want modular work that is deeply flexible in terms of hours, location and even life stage...".

The Business Week article points out that aging Boomers are willing to accept a radically "remixed" set of non-monetary rewards to achieve it. They rate four other forms of compensation—a range of new experiences, a great team, challenging assignments and recognition for a job well done—as at least as important as money. 

This "rewards remix" is both challenging and liberating for talent managers. It's challenging because it means letting go of cash as the prime motivator and tangling with the difficult task of redesigning incentives to include more complex, holistic rewards.