An age friendly business or service is person centered. It aims to create an environment that is accessible and provide a customer service experience that is inclusive and respectful. It offers products and services that meet the needs of all of its customers and clients irrespective of age, life stage and ability.

In 2020, the Gore District in Southern New Zealand established New Zealand’s first Age friendly Business programme. The programme recognises businesses and organisations in the district  that are aspiring to be age friendly. Watch a short video about their work here.

As a part of their programme the Age Friendly Business Framework and Toolkit were developed, designed to be used by other regions and communities. These resources were developed collaboratively by Gore district’s Ready for Living programme, local businesses and its older community members and was facilitated by Partners in Change with support from the Office for Seniors. An implementation guide has also been developed to assist other communities that want to establish an Age friendly Business programme in their area.

Read about how to develop an Age friendly Business programme in your community:

Age friendly Aotearoa New Zealand Becoming-an-age-friendly-business-implementation-guide-2020

Find out about the resources that were developed for businesses wanting to become more age friendly in the Gore District:

Age friendly Aotearoa New Zealand becoming-an-age-friendly-business-book-2020

Age friendly Aotearoa New Zealand Age friendly business toolkit-self-assessment.2020

Age friendly Aotearoa New Zealand age friendly-business-action-plan-2020