Newcastle aging centre partners with US to research intergenerational workforce

A North East innovation centre has announced that it is partnering with a US company to research the aging workforce.

The UK’s National Innovation Centre for Ageing (NICA), based in Newcastle, together with VOICE, has partnered with CIRKEL, which provides intergenerational networking services for two-way mentorships, learning, and connectedness in the workplace.

The partnership will see the launch of the first ever workshop between the UK and the US to understand respective intergenerational communities, identifying gaps and areas of opportunity for the future of the workplace.

They will gather intelligence on intergenerational exchanges in the workplace, looking to develop new approaches that leverage generational perspectives for lifelong learning.

The research will lead to the development of new methodologies to leverage the growing evidence of the need for age-inclusive policies.

Charlotte Japp, founder of CIRKEL, commented: “We deeply believe that sharing perspectives, stories, knowledge, and skills across generations has the power to create value for companies and societies at large, as well individuals.

“By partnering with the talented teams at NICA and VOICE, we aim to accelerate this process and develop a global approach working with companies in the USA and UK.

“Together, we believe the longevity conversation extends far beyond elder care and end of life care, and we must also focus on professionals’ desire and need to work longer as they live longer lives.”

Professor Lynne Corner, chief operating officer at NICA and director of VOICE added: “We are excited to partner with the wonderful team at CIRKEL – they share our ethos that cross-generational engagement and collaboration in the workplace is hugely beneficial to employees and to a business’s bottom line.

“Harnessing our collective intelligence is massively needed to help us understand and deliver on what is needed both now and in the future.

“Collective intelligence and experience are powerful assets. We have supported numerous initiatives to promote positive engagement and dialogue between generations.

“After all, healthy ageing is everyone’s business - and effective planning for longer life demands radically different approaches to life-long learning, skills and knowledge transfer, given the need for most to work longer and differently.”