Slide deck: 12 June Presentation
Longevity Mindset Index™
The Longevity Mindset Index™ (LMI) is a signature stragegic diagnostic that helps organizations measure and strengthen talent sustainability across all ages and life stages—turning insight into action.
Grounded in research and built for business application, the LMI provides leaders with actionable insights into how policies, practices, and culture support—or limit—performance, retention, and long-term workforce resilience. Learn more.
Articles
The case for and against using generational labels, from “Gen Z” to “boomers”, Dr. Daniel Jolles, Sheila Callaham, London School of Economics Business Review, June 2024
Published by the London School of Economics and Political Science, this article presents a structured debate between age inclusion advocate Sheila Callaham and researcher Daniel Jolles on the value of generational labels in the workplace. Jolles argues that labels can help communicate social and demographic shifts to non-academic audiences, while Callaham contends that inconsistent definitions, age-based stereotypes and cultural assumptions make labels less useful than referring to specific age ranges. Despite their differing views, both authors agree that employees across age groups share more similarities than differences and that leaders should avoid using labels to reinforce stereotypes or division.
Key takeaway: Whether organizations retain or abandon generational labels, leaders should focus on building age-inclusive workplaces that emphasize shared values, individual strengths and meaningful collaboration across age groups rather than reinforcing stereotypes.
Why Employment Design Is Becoming A Competitive Differentiator, Sheila Callaham, Forbes, Feb. 2026
As workforce disruption becomes a permanent feature of modern organizations, employees increasingly assess whether they still have a future within their employer. The article explores how restructuring, changing opportunities and organizational signals shape engagement long before turnover becomes visible, arguing that leaders must design workplaces that support continued growth, mobility and contribution across longer working lives.
Key takeaway: Talent sustainability depends on keeping opportunity visible and creating pathways for employees to continue contributing, even as organizations adapt to ongoing change.
Build A Bridge: Why Every Company Needs An On-Ramp Strategy For Former Employees, Sheila Callaham, Forbes, June 2025
As careers become longer and less linear, more employees are stepping away from work for caregiving, health, personal development or other life priorities. This article explores how re-employment programs can help organizations reconnect with former employees who left in good standing, providing access to experienced, culturally aligned talent while reducing recruitment, onboarding and training costs. It argues that re-employment is a practical talent sustainability strategy that benefits both employers and employees across all ages and life stages.
Key takeaway: Organizations that create clear pathways for former employees to return can strengthen workforce resilience, preserve institutional knowledge and build loyalty in an era of longer careers and persistent talent shortages.
Talent Sustainability: 10 Leadership Moves To Build A Workforce That Lasts, Sheila Callaham, Forbes, June 2025
Despite widespread reports of labor shortages, many qualified candidates—including recent graduates and experienced workers later in their careers—struggle to secure employment opportunities. This article argues that outdated assumptions, age-related bias and narrow definitions of talent are shrinking available talent pools at a time when demographic change demands a broader approach. It outlines practical leadership actions to create more age-inclusive hiring, development and workforce strategies that support longer, more dynamic careers.
Key takeaway: Organizations that focus on skills, potential and contribution rather than age-based assumptions will be better positioned to attract talent, strengthen workforce resilience and sustain performance in an era of demographic change.
Raising The Retirement Age Also Requires Employment Policy Reform, Sheila Callaham, Forbes, May 2025
With countries across Europe—including Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Ireland and the U.K.—raising retirement ages or extending working lives, policymakers are responding to a common challenge: increased longevity combined with declining birth rates. This article argues that pension reform alone is insufficient. Without stronger employment protections, flexible work options, retraining opportunities and age-inclusive hiring practices, many people will be expected to work longer while facing significant barriers to employment. Drawing on examples from across Europe and Asia, the article highlights how leading countries are pairing retirement reform with broader workforce policies designed to support longer careers.
Key takeaway: Europe’s demographic future requires more than later retirement. Sustainable solutions combine pension reform with age-inclusive employment policies that enable people to remain economically active, employable and financially secure throughout longer working lives.
Generational Stereotypes Fuel Fake Battles—And Stifle Workplace Progress, Sheila Callaham, Forbes, October 2024
Drawing on the research of Bobby Duffy—a leading U.K. researcher and author of The Generation Myth—this article challenges the widespread use of generational labels in the workplace. Duffy argues that many commonly accepted beliefs about differences between age groups are unsupported by evidence and often reinforce stereotypes rather than improve understanding. The article explores how age labels can create unnecessary division, weaken workplace connections and distract leaders from more meaningful factors such as life stage, workplace culture and individual experience. It also highlights research linking age-inclusive practices to higher productivity, engagement and job satisfaction.
Key takeaway: Organizations are better served by focusing on age inclusion and collaboration across age groups than on generational labels, which often oversimplify differences and reinforce stereotypes rather than strengthen workplace performance.
Employers Should Stop Saying They Have 5 Generations In The Workplace, Sheila Callaham, Forbes, December 2024
Why Organizations Should Rethink Generational Labels
This article challenges the common claim that organizations employ “five generations in the workplace,” arguing that what employers actually mean is five age cohorts rather than true generations. Drawing on research from the Pew Research Center, London School of Economics and Political Science and the work of Bobby Duffy, it argues that generational labels are inconsistent, lack scientific rigor and often reinforce stereotypes rather than improve understanding. The article advocates using specific age ranges when age-related analysis is necessary and focusing on shared workplace goals rather than assumed differences between age groups.
Key takeaway: Generational labels can oversimplify, stereotype and divide. Organizations are better served by using precise age ranges when relevant and building workplace cultures that emphasize inclusion, collaboration and individual strengths across all ages and life stages.
Sheila Callaham’s Forbes Archive with more than 200 articles.
Other resources:
WHO Global Report on Ageism, 2021
The report was developed jointly by the World Health Organization, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the United Nations Population Fund and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. It concludes that ageism affects people across the life course worldwide and identifies three evidence-based interventions: stronger laws and policies, education to challenge stereotypes and meaningful intergenerational contact. For employers, ageism can shrink talent pools, limit development opportunities and reduce workforce participation at a time when many countries face demographic change and labor shortages.
The WHO identifies three evidence-based actions to combat ageism:
- Strengthen laws and policies that prohibit age discrimination.
- Provide education that challenges age-based stereotypes.
- Encourage meaningful interaction between people of different ages.
Key takeaway: Ageism harms individuals, workplaces and economies. Reducing it requires stronger protections, better education and greater collaboration across age groups.
Lead researcher: Dr. Vânia de la Fuente-Núñez
