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Fewer young professionals in Denmark’s corridors of power

New figures show that the number of private sector executives over the age of 50 and 60 is on the increase.

Fewer young professionals in Denmark’s corridors of power
Photo: stockasso/Depositphotos

Since 2010, the proportion of private sector executives over the age of fifty has risen from 35 percent to 44 percent, writes dibusiness.dk

The increase is more or less entirely due to the fact that the number of managers under the age of 40 has dropped significantly.

The experience of more senior leaders is clearly a strength, but they also need to understand the thirst for development among young professionals, says the Confederation of Danish Industry (Dansk Industri, DI), a private interest organisation funded, owned and managed by 10,000 companies within the manufacturing, trade and service industries.

The figures are based on a new report compiled by DI’s Department for Labour Market Policy on the basis of data from Statistics Denmark.

DI’s director for leadership development and productivity Kinga Szabo Christensen said she was surprised by the numbers.

“I was somewhat surprised when I saw the figures. I hadn’t expected such a significant development. It’s probably due to the fact that there are many younger leaders who are extremely visible in the media. That means the media may easily be contributing to a slightly distorted picture of what a typical leader is,” Christensen said.

Several possible explanations may exist as to why there are more leaders over the age of 50, she added.

The proportion of senior executives over the age of 60 has increased from 10.4 percent to 12 percent.

Higher life expectancies and an increasing number of people working into senior years, which makes an impact at management level, were noted by the DI director.

“There’s no doubt that the fact that society in general is getting older also has an effect on leadership,” she said.

The DI study also shows that, between 2010 and 2016, the average age of managers rose from 45.7 to 47.7.

The Danish Association of Managers (Lederne), which represents 108,000 members in management positions, agrees that there are more grey-haired leaders these days.

“There are a large number of leaders who want to continue working in the belief that they still have something to contribute. In our opinion, that’s extremely positive. The fact that more people continue working is also good for the economy,” said Kim Møller Laursen, head of analysis with the Danish Association of Managers.

He expects the number of older managers to increase even further in the years to come, because more of them will have the desire and capacity to continue.

“Not to say that one type of leader is necessarily better than another. What it’s really about is having diversity at management level,” Laursen said.

The age of company leaders is a topic worth considering, according to Christensen.

“Even though the role of leader is principally the same, age naturally plays a role in all human relationships. That also applies to the relationship between an employee and a manager,” she said.

Managers who have been in their positions the longest are often those who change their ways of thinking to match the needs of the younger generation, the DI head of department added.

“In the old days, the manager was usually more qualified than his or her staff. It was specialists with the strongest professional skills who were promoted to leadership positions. Their core competency was in the fact that they knew their field better than anyone else. Today, leadership is much more about encouraging the skills and abilities of employees,” she said.

“This is particularly true at a time when new generations have a new set of demands vis-à-vis their leaders. Leaders are regarded as authority figures far less than they used to be,” she added.

“But older leaders also have a lot of advantages. Above all, they have more life experience and equanimity. They have already been through countless situations,” Christensen said.

READ ALSO: More women at the top in Danish companies: DI

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BUSINESS

France’s EDF hails €10billion profit, despite huge UK nuclear charge

French energy giant EDF has unveiled net profit of €10billion and cut its massive debt by increasing nuclear production after problems forced some plants offline.

France's EDF hails €10billion profit, despite huge UK nuclear charge

EDF hailed an “exceptional” year after its loss of €17.9billion in 2022.

Sales slipped 2.6 percent to €139.7billion , but the group managed to slice debt by €10billion euros to €54.4billion.

EDF said however that it had booked a €12.9 billion depreciation linked to difficulties at its Hinkley Point nuclear plant in Britain.

The charge includes €11.2 billion for Hinkley Point assets and €1.7billion at its British subsidiary, EDF Energy, the group explained.

EDF announced last month a fresh delay and additional costs for the giant project hit by repeated cost overruns.

“The year was marked by many events, in particular by the recovery of production and the company’s mobilisation around production recovery,” CEO Luc Remont told reporters.

EDF put its strong showing down to a strong operational performance, notably a significant increase in nuclear generation in France at a time of historically high prices.

That followed a drop in nuclear output in France in 2022. The group had to deal with stress corrosion problems at some reactors while also facing government orders to limit price rises.

The French reactors last year produced around 320.4 TWh, in the upper range of expectations.

Nuclear production had slid back in 2022 to 279 TWh, its lowest level in three decades, because of the corrosion problems and maintenance changes after
the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hinkley Point C is one of a small number of European Pressurised Reactors (EPRs) worldwide, an EDF-led design that has been plagued by cost overruns
running into billions of euros and years of construction delays.

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