Seven in ten senior British business leaders say their organisation benefits from having different generations working together. Yet only 18% include age in their equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) policies, according to the Work Foundation's Working Together report. This suggests a gap between recognising the benefits of age diversity and addressing it in workplace policies.
Just because your organisation employs people of different ages doesn't automatically mean your workplace is inclusive. What matters is how you recruit, retain and support employees throughout their careers. This guide explains what age diversity means, why it matters, and how to promote it in your workplace.
Age diversity in the workplace means employing people of different ages and giving everyone equal opportunities to contribute, develop and progress in their careers.
Both aspects matter. Even with a diverse workforce, an organisation can still overlook younger or older employees when it comes to career development and progression.
It also isn't only about older workers. Age is one of nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, and Acas guidance on age discrimination is clear that it can happen to people of any age. For example, a 24-year-old might be overlooked for promotion because they're considered 'not ready', while a 58-year-old might be excluded from a recruitment shortlist because of assumptions about their age.
Generational diversity refers to people from different generations working together, such as baby boomers, gen X, millennials and gen Z. However, these generational labels don't necessarily reflect employees' individual needs.
Consider two employees of the same age. One has a newborn, while the other has adult children and a parent who needs daily care. Although they belong to the same generation, they may have very different financial, health and personal needs.
Life stage can tell you more about an employee's needs than their birth year. Use age data to identify potential inequalities and consider employees' life stages when deciding what support to offer.
Because working lives are getting longer, and they no longer follow one pattern.
The average age at which people leave the labour market is now 65.1 for women and 65.8 for men, both the highest on record, according to the Department for Work and Pensions' 2026 statistics. People are staying in work for longer, while school leavers, graduates and career changers continue to enter the workforce. This means employers need to support people across different ages and career stages.
Age diversity isn't just about inclusion. It also has practical implications for your organisation:
Research by Ciphr and ProAge found that 88% of surveyed employers see broader experience and perspectives as a key advantage of multigenerational teams, while 81% highlight better knowledge sharing. Age diversity can offer several benefits to your organisation:
However, these advantages don't happen automatically. Without inclusive management practices and benefits that meet employees' different needs, organisations may struggle to realise the full value of age diversity. The following steps explain how to support an age-diverse workforce.
Before making changes to your policies, review your workforce data by age group (under 30, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59, and 60 and over). Start with four key metrics:
Look at these metrics together to identify patterns that may indicate potential issues:
Keep the bands broad, and don't report on groups small enough to identify individuals.
Many EDI policies address gender, ethnicity and disability, but fewer explicitly include age. Include age diversity in your policy and set a measurable goal based on your workforce data. Assign someone to oversee progress and agree on a review date.
For example, a measurable goal such as 'Reduce employee turnover among staff aged 50 and over by 20% within 12 months' is more actionable than a general statement such as 'We value employees of all ages'.
Age bias in recruitment isn't always deliberate. It can appear in job adverts, shortlisting criteria and interview processes. Blind recruitment can help reduce unconscious bias by removing identifying information from applications during the initial screening process.
Flexible working is often associated with working parents, but employees at different life stages can benefit from it. Someone studying for a qualification, a parent managing school runs or an older employee approaching retirement may all need flexibility for different reasons.
Review whether your flexible working policy meets the needs of employees at different life stages. If certain groups face barriers to accessing flexible working arrangements, consider how you could make the policy more inclusive.
Consider options such as phased retirement, compressed hours and term-time working. You could also offer holiday trading so employees can buy additional annual leave when they need it.
Recruiting employees of different ages is only part of creating an inclusive workplace. Your employee benefits package should also reflect the needs of people at different life stages.
Start with core benefits that support a wide range of needs, such as a workplace pension, financial protection, access to healthcare and an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP). Then offer additional choices so employees can select benefits that suit their individual needs.
Review your existing benefits against the needs of employees at different life stages. Identify which benefits provide relevant support and where there may be gaps in your offering.
Check whether your insurance providers apply age limits to certain benefits. Some policies may stop providing cover after a certain age, potentially leaving older employees without access to benefits they previously received.
Even a well-designed benefits package may have low take-up if employees aren't aware of what's available. Targeting communications based on age alone can also mean missing people who may find the information relevant. For example, sharing menopause support information only with women over 45 could exclude younger employees and managers who may also benefit from it.
Tailor your communications to employees' different needs and interests. For example, when annual pension statements become available, share the information with all employees. You could highlight the value of employer pension contributions for employees who have recently started saving, while also explaining how to check retirement income forecasts for those approaching retirement.
You can also ask employees which benefits and topics are most relevant to them. This helps you share information they're interested in without relying on age-based assumptions.
FlexGenius is a flexible and customisable employee benefits platform that brings your benefits programme together in one place. You can tailor it to the needs of employees across different ages and life stages.
To see how it would work for your people, book a demo or download the brochure.