Engaging the missing middle

Community and stakeholder engagement aims to capture the perspectives of diverse demographic groups, with practitioners often focused on hearing from people on one end of an identity spectrum. But with ample investment in hearing from young and old voices, we’re often asked how to meet the needs of Australians in the middle age groups, who are increasingly time-poor and in demand.

Each year, Articulous conducts a survey that allows us to monitor engagement trends in real time, ensuring we understand what makes people tick and how they best like to be engaged. As Australia’s largest community engagement survey, the People Matter Community Engagement Poll takes the pulse of Australians about the practice of engagement.

To avoid biasing our results, we enlist a market research company to recruit Australians from across the country, to share their honest opinions about community engagement. In 2025, we conducted our largest survey to date, recruiting 1,517 people from every state and territory in Australia, including 1,301 people from Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. Our research frequently reveals interesting insights about varied demographic groups. In 2025, we were particularly struck by the responses received by 30-39, 40-49 and 50-59 year olds.

Australians in the youngest (18-29) and oldest cohorts (60+) shared clear and distinct preferences for community engagement and expressed an overall enthusiasm to participate according to their unique needs. Interestingly, it appears that people in the middle years have less discernible interest in participating and tend to sit on the fence when asked to evaluate their engagement experiences.

So, what did we learn?

1. Middle-aged adults are the least eager to engage face-to-face

As predominantly working professionals, it’s easy to assume that middle-aged adults would be best placed to share their perspectives sitting across the table from others.

Surprisingly, however, 30-39 and 40-49 year olds were the age groups least willing to engage face-to-face. Just over a quarter of each group (26%) elected face-to-face engagement as their preferred consultation method, compared to 33% of 18-29 year olds, and 38% of 50-59 year olds.

Instead, respondents in these demographics elected to engage via online hubs in their own time, which is an effective option for capturing insights from those in middle-aged cohorts.

2. ‘Lack of time’ is a major barrier to engagement for people aged 30-39 and 40-49

When asked to list factors that discourage them from participating in engagement activities, adults aged 30-39 and 40-49 year olds cited a lack of time as their number one response, and more frequently than most other age groups (27% and 21% respectively).

The second most popular response for 30-39 year olds was ‘inconvenient time or location’, which suggests that 30-39 year olds are particularly concerned with fitting engagement sessions into their daily lives and around their schedules.

Evidently, planning engagement activities around the work and lifestyle patterns of middle-aged Australians may be necessary to maximise participation.

3. Middle-aged adults don’t always feel listened to

Unfortunately, a third (33%) of 50-59 year olds feel that ‘all or most people’ are unheard during typical engagement processes, compared to a typical 20-25% for other demographics.

Inflexible political agendas and a lack of genuine influence were commonly suggested as reasons why the average middle-aged Australian is not wholly heard by decision-makers through the community engagement process.

4. People in the middle years are more cynical/less trusting

13% of 50-59 year olds and 11% of 40-49 year olds selected ‘5 (Always) when asked how often they feel community engagement is a box ticking exercise’ – the highest of all demographics.

In comparison, just 2.3% of 18-29 year olds made this same selection, indicating that skeptism about engagement increases as people reach the middle-years.

5. Middle-aged adults are motivated to engage when presented with a specific rational.

When asked why they participate in community engagement in their own words, respondents shared a diverse set of motivators. For 40-49 and 50-59 year olds, ‘advocate for a topic of interest or specific passion’ was their third most commonly cited reason to engage.

While younger Australian are more likely to engage due to a sense of duty or commitment to community service (8% of 18-29 year olds compared to 2% of 50-59 year olds), older Australians frequently reported offering their time and expertise to projects where they have specific insights to share.

While middle-aged people can be more reluctant to engage, assuring would-be participants that their specific knowledge is valuable and that they will be genuinely listened to is key to interacting with this cohort. Streamlining your planned engagement activity for efficiency and maximum engagement around busy schedules is also essential to getting these age groups on side!