OFS Pulse 65+: Tech and Sustainability

Designed by our Research and Advisory team, our Pulse 65+ survey captures the views, behaviours and attitudes of senior Australians. Every quarter we ask 400 seniors to take a 15-minute online survey. This flexible, innovative survey allows us to keep up to date, while tapping into the psyche of 1600 seniors every year. From this, we cultivate knowledge that we pass onto our clients. In our most recent survey held in May, we wanted to know what they thought about technology and sustainability. Here are some of our key insights.

Technology

From the latest Pulse survey, 85% of the 65+ population considers new technology to be useful, with 72% claiming to be comfortable using technology. However, in terms of video conferencing (such as Zoom) 26% are uncomfortable using it, while 40% claim to have never used it!

Sustainability

In terms of sustainability, 64% of those surveyed claimed that they could be doing more to live more sustainably, with 65% believing that living sustainably reduces household costs. However, 39% would not be prepared to pay more to move into a more sustainably designed home. Men were generally more reluctant to pay more for sustainable features/inclusions than women.

Overall, only 9% would pay more than 10%, in order to move into a place that is built with sustainable design and materials, however 80% of those planning to move into retirement living consider it important that the community operates in a sustainable way. Of those who currently live in a retirement community, the top five sustainability/technology related features ranked in terms of importance are:

1. Wi-Fi (100%)
2. Security cameras (94%)
3. Solar panels (89%)
4. Tele-medicine (83%)
5. Smart TVs (78%)

We’ve discovered some very interesting things about senior people’s attitudes across other Pulse surveys too. Such as:

• 82% of the cohort know at least something about retirement living
• 33% of non-retirement living residents claim they would be likely to move into retirement living
• 32% had a relatively low awareness of assisted living, but once explained loved the concept of it
• 82% of retirement living residents believe living in a retirement community has improved their wellbeing
• 48% were open to the idea of sharing retirement community facilities such as cafes and restaurants with the public
• 64% of those considering retirement living would pay more for a high-quality wellness offer that meets their needs
• 57% would trade off apartment size for a high-quality wellness offer that meets their needs.

If you’re interested in finding out the results from our previous surveys, or if you have ideas, topics or trends you’re interested in, talk to us about how we can explore them through our Pulse 65+ Survey.