Victoria Tomlinson. CEO. Next-Up.
In a world waking up to issues of longevitiy, ageism, and the underleveraged value of the 50+ workforce, there is no one grasping the nettle more enthusiastically than Victoria Tomlinson. Pro-age visionary, and CEO and founder of training organisation, Next-Up.
Victoria’s two day ‘Unretirement’ workshops are proving to be a massive hit with major Accountancy and Legal firms who are struggling to make the most of their 50+ people.
Victoria, now a dynamic 67, started Next Up when she was 63. Victoria explains how she got there:
“Before Next-Up I had a comms and digital agency and was extremely frustrated that I could not get business owners to understand the power of social media.
They were missing opportunities, but also sitting on risks which they had no idea about. Alongside this, I was being sent a stream of senior people looking for advice who had ‘retired’ but still wanted to use their skills and had no idea what to do.”
“These senior people were often facing plateauing careers, ageism and redundancy. But living much longer than expected. They were feeling lost.”
“They had no idea what to do next, and wrongly believed non-exec roles were going to be easy to get. They were mentally in a bad place, often seeing the inevitable, and feeling like failures for the first time in their lives.”
“So from all this, Next-Up was born. I was 63 and relished the challenge to help – the great thing about being older is, I knew I had the skills to make a difference.”
As an experiment, Victoria encouraged her ageing clients to mentor tech and start up entrepreneurs, to great success. The benefits worked both ways.
But Victoria observed that it was not just employees, but also employers who were struggling with the 50+ issue.
“I heard the HR people at one major bank cruelly describe their 50+ employees as ‘permafrost.’ They didn’t know what to do with their older employees – whether to keep them, remotivate them, or wave them good bye.”
Clearly the opportunity was much bigger than one-on-one mentoring. The centrepiece of Next-Up’s operation soon became the epic two-day ‘Unretirement’ workshop.
“Our ‘Unretirement’ workshop features 20 plus inspirational speakers and experts. Delegates are bombarded with ideas, and optimism. They see others like themselves who have embraced the ‘Unretirement’ opportunity and are having a ball at this time of life.”
Empathetic headhunters come along to advise and network. There are health discussions with GPs. Financial planning advice for those who have underestimated the challenges of longevity. And inspirational stories and ‘start-up’ mentoring with successful entrepreneurs.
“The seminars are a massive hit,” says Victoria. “The professional firms we partner with invite up to 25 partner delegates at a time. We ask the tough questions and take on the tough issues. But the tone is positive, and so are the results.”
Delegates leave the seminar buzzing. Some reinvigorated and keen to stay on in the organisations they work for. Some equally reinvigorated but determined to leave, and forge a new ‘Unretirement’ path.
Next-Up typically partners with ‘Magic Circle’ law firms, Big 4 accountancy firms and regional firms, often working internationally.
Each ‘Unretirement’ seminar is bespoke. Workshopped in advance between Next Up’s team and the client firms’ senior executives and HR teams.
Womble Bond Dickinson signed 25 of their senior (in both senses) partners up for a Next-Up workshop. Krishna Anand, their head of learning and development observed:
“There is a huge amount of sensitivity around the word ‘retirement.’ I was worried about how the idea of Next-Up’s ‘Unretirement’ workshop would be received. But the big surprise from the workshop – and a real benefit – was that partners were so pleased to have a safe space to talk about all this. It almost felt like we had released a safety valve.”
Liz Gray, director and ‘transition leader’ at EY created an in house programme, working in partnership with Next-Up. They are achieving amazing results.
“Our programme has changed partners outlook from less than 40% engaging with businesses after leaving EY to over 90%.
Each one of that 90% is contributing to our economy and enhancing their own personal worth in a way they might not have done before.”
Different sectors have different challenges. Accountancy and law tend to have larger numbers of senior people. Nearly 20% of people working in accountancy in the UK, for example are aged over 50.
But in media and technology, the 50+ quota is significantly lower. Recent IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) figures show that advertising and media companies have about 7% staff over the age of 50. So the issues faced are different.
Scandalously, some tech companies have virtually no employees over the age of 50.
“Companies like these face different issues from the accountancy and legal firms” Victoria observes.
“In an increasingly inclusion conscious workplace, we predict an appropriate ‘quota’ of 50+ employees will soon be a requirement. Companies need to plan for this.”
“And of course, it is insane that these media and tech companies turn their backs on 50+ wisdom, experience and skills.”
So next up for Next-Up, is a focus on advertising, media and tech industries.
“Our aim is to help put the wisdom back into Britain’s media and tech firms, before ageism becomes a real problem for them.”
Victoria can be contacted at Next-Up.
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