How long do you think you’ll live? How long do you want to? That may seem morbid but it’s startling to consider the difference between those two answers as there’s a vast difference between merely living longer and enjoying those extra years.

Irish Life’s Life100+ research put real numbers on that, finding that 61% of people consider living longer to be a good thing in general but only 25% were certain it was best for them.

The root of the difference is healthspan, the period of our lives spent in good health. Damian Fadden, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Irish Life Employer Solutions, said this is fundamental to understanding how people think about living longer.

“In short, healthspan is the part of a person’s life when they’re generally in good health. It’s about more than how long we live; it’s about how long we live while enjoying good health, independence, good energy, and the ability to do the things that matter to us,” he said.

The Life100+ research indicates that enthusiasm for living longer is dependent on those being good years. Having an extra decade of life is only really appealing if people can enjoy that time.

“When we talked to people during the research about the concept of living longer, they only feel positive about it when they associate it with also having good health and a fulfilling life. They almost fear the opposite, that they would live longer but do so in poor health,” Fadden said.

It’s not just a question for the individual. Employers need to take this on board because the research shows that workers expect to remain in work for longer.

“If people want to work for longer, it’s important employers have the right supports and incentives in the workplace to build healthy behaviours early in life rather than reacting when it becomes a problem. It’s about adding life to years rather than just years to life,” said Fadden.

Hand in hand

Health and wealth don’t operate in isolation. The ability to keep working is naturally going to depend on an individual’s physical and mental health.

That was reflected in the Life100+ research, with 85% of those surveyed identifying health as a key factor in enabling longer careers while 83% considered good health crucial to enabling financial wellbeing in later life.

Naturally, this means problems with one can have a knock-on impact on the other and the problems can compound.

“All you need is a period of bad health to realise that your ability to work and be financially secure is very dependent on your health. There is truth in the old saying, your health is your wealth,” said Fadden.

That relationship works in both directions. Maintaining good health can support progress at work, increasing earnings in the process. Similarly, financial security can ease some of the stress that can impact wellbeing.

“Health and financial wellbeing mutually support each other. Being healthy means people can work and support their families. Having that confidence around their finances reduces uncertainty and stress and gives people a better sense of control over their lives and their choices. That in turn can feed into better health,” said Fadden.

Of course, that means the opposite is also true. Poor health, be it through lifestyle or illness, can create more expenses and interrupt earnings. 

“Ill health can interrupt your income. It can actually drive costs. It can undermine your confidence and how you feel about your ability to work, and reduce your sense of agency and control,” said Fadden.

For employers, supporting employees who are experiencing poor health can be challenging, but it’s also an opportunity. The reality is that these challenges occur but employers can plan for them by tying financial and physical wellbeing together into a coherent set of well-designed and communicated workplace supports. 

The Life100+ research found that 52% of people feel broadly in control of their lives right now but that drops to 31% when they consider the possibility of living to 100.

It’s not just physical health issues that cause the drop. There are financial considerations to bear in mind too. Those surveyed said, on average, that they would need €315,000 to fund a comfortable retirement yet the average reported retirement savings were just €102,000, with the latter figure not rising significantly amongst older respondents.

“When we look at retirement provision, a lot of people are worried they don’t have enough, but don’t actually know how much they should have. Supporting them to put a plan in place helps them to feel more confident because they have a handle on what they need to achieve over time,” said Fadden.

Confidence doesn’t just come from being able to look at a specific amount in an account. There’s also the matter of understanding what you need to do and having a plan in place to do it. That brings an extra layer of control, something that is particularly relevant to those at the midpoint of their working lives.

“Financial insecurity can really undermine people’s sense of control and increase stress at exactly the point when they are managing work and juggling family and caring pressures. In the workplace, that can make it difficult to be fully present mentally or physically; they may feel less confident and less engaged,” said Fadden.

The Life100+ research found that people aged between 35 and 64 emerged as a particularly pressured group. Those in that range can find short-term financial commitments interfering with efforts to plan for the future. The impact of this stress can spill over into their working lives.

“That has an impact on the contribution they are able to make and it becomes almost a vicious cycle. In the research, we noticed how prevalent this is at mid-life. Primarily between the ages of 35 and 64, life can be a real juggle and you are being pulled in all directions,” said Fadden.

Rethinking work

To be prepared for a longer life, it’s important to think about what that involves. A key aspect of that is the change in expectations about how long people expect to keep working.

The Life100+ report found that 95% of respondents believed organisations would need to adapt to longer working lives. Some 79% specifically expected workplaces to respond to the needs of older employees.

Moreover, just one in five anticipated following the traditional model of stopping work at a fixed retirement age. That doesn’t mean people expect to keep doing the same type of work as they stay longer in employment.

“People might want to work longer but not necessarily the way they had previously worked through their careers. We see employers as having a great opportunity to engage with the outputs from the research here,” said Fadden.

Longer careers will instead likely involve changes in working patterns and personal priorities. A big aspect of this will likely see employees move away from the current model of traditional career progression.

“With the less linear approach to careers, they want to progress up to some point but there is a later stage where they want to give back more and not be on the career treadmill,” said Fadden.

This puts the onus on employers to create structures that will allow staff to contribute in different ways across their career. This could include continuing education, possible changes in careers, or gradual transitions towards retirement.

“Employers need to think about how we enable people to be healthier, to broaden their skills, to build their financial confidence, and to design the right conditions for those later career options,” said Fadden.

“That means enabling flexible working patterns, continuous learning, facilitating career changes and changes of pace. It also means supporting people to figure out that phased approach to retirement and enabling it in the workplace.”

Making benefits smart

A lot of employers are already doing many of the parts of what’s needed to deliver in this regard. Many already provide access and support to pensions, financial education, health and wellbeing. What’s needed is a more formalised structure so that these all work together.

“Having a joined-up approach means considering all the great benefits employers provide such as pensions, protection, health insurance, wellbeing, and financial education. They are integrated, mutually supporting parts of an overall employee benefits proposition,” said Fadden.

The Life100+ research backs this up, having identified gaps between recognising the need for financial guidance and taking action. Some 74% of respondents acknowledged the need for advice on funding their lives, but only 42% had sought such advice. That means the problem is about more than just access.

“In the workplace, people are busy and juggling different things. People know they should get regular financial advice in the same way they know they should get their health checked regularly,” said Fadden.

Employers can change this by actively encouraging employees to use the services available to them. By making appointments for financial and health checks equally normal in the workplace, it encourages employees to take an active approach to both.

“Employers can normalise that and nudge people to avail of it. They can put time in people’s diaries to visibly encourage staff to take time during the work day to engage with these supports,” said Fadden.

“Even the peer effect of seeing your colleagues getting involved and making use of these services increases the likelihood that people will engage with them.”

Different needs at different ages

What an employee needs at 25 is different to 40 and is most certainly a world away from what matters at 55. According to the research, younger employees tend to place greater emphasis on pay, flexibility, and establishing their financial foundations.

Career ambition begins to decline in importance after 45, while the importance attached to salary begins to fall after 55. At that stage, flexibility surrounding retirement becomes more significant.

The study’s findings also suggest that employees increasingly value certain protections when considering longer lives. Health insurance almost doubles in importance between younger and older age groups, while income protection more than doubles and critical illness benefits almost triples.

For employers, this means they have to find a way to deliver a package that can work for employees with wildly different life circumstances.

“If you look at employees at different stages in life, their priorities change because they have different demands coming their way. Understanding what is important to people across those different stages and delivering based on that will be key in the new reality,” said Fadden.

That’s why it’s about more than just the benefits provided but how those benefits are communicated to staff. What resonates with an employee at the beginning of their career may have less relevance to someone approaching retirement.

“For the employer, they can find the optimum mix of benefits and how to communicate them to those workers so they create a tailored journey that resonates with workers in all circumstances,” said Fadden.

That improved communication can also bridge the gap between access to the support available and actual engagement on the part of employees.

“That’s where awareness, communication, and normalisation come into play in order to close that gap. It comes back to having those supports and structures in place, and that it’s perceived to be normal for people to avail of them,” said Fadden.

A commercial opportunity

This isn’t just about being a friendly employer, although that’s always good. There are clear commercial benefits to be gained from employers taking an active interest in improving the healthspan of staff.

Healthier employees, greater financial confidence, and more career flexibility can contribute to stronger engagement and retention. Retaining these experienced workers also allows businesses to continue benefiting from their knowledge rather than losing it at a traditional retirement point.

“This is a win-win for business. If you build a healthier, more resilient and more engaged workforce, and if you retain those people and that expertise within the organisation, it’s all really good for business and helps to attract new talent too,” said Fadden.

The Life100+ research was developed to help employers and employees prepare for a change that is already happening and influencing expectations around working life. The wider challenge is ensuring that longer lives translate into better lives, with appropriate support for both health and financial security.

“By engaging and educating employers and employees, we can, in partnership with them, have a really good impact on their outcomes,” said Fadden.

This is partner content and has been produced in association with Irish Life.