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I put together an Age awareness week as part of the diversity strategy the government requires councils to provide for employees. We already run two-day courses for those approaching retirement but I wanted to reach people of all ages.

I ran a working group with volunteers to find out their concerns about ageing and retirement. I used this feedback to put the programme together.

The week began with a Monday workshop to help staff identify the different needs of older and younger customers and to develop the right communication skills needed when working with different age groups. This was run by an outside training agency, Greenfields Training.

For the rest of the week, I focused on the needs of our workforce, running voluntary morning or afternoon sessions lasting a couple of hours.

I organised a session with the Pensions Trust, a not-for-profit organisation which provides the pension schemes for most of the charity and not-for-profit sector. They gave a presentation about the scheme’s benefits and offered individual advice. Managers from Staffordshire County Council came in to explain the changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme, expected in April, which include raising the minimum age for retirement benefits.

On Wednesday, in-house staff ran a career counselling session for employees. They could have a personality profile and a 20-minute discussion with one a trained career counsellors.

The next day, occupational health advisors ran a well-persons’ clinic where staff could discuss lifestyle and diet, and get blood pressure and cholesterol levels tested. It was very popular.

Friday was a dress-down day, with participating staff paying £1 each, which went to Age Concern.

Throughout the week I sent a daily email to let staff know what happened the previous day and tell them about future events.

Feedback was positive, so I’ve now decided to hold an age awareness week every year.