The future's grey: older workers on the rise

Britain has an aging population. Do older workers want to keep working? What do they have to offer? Dolly Dhingra reports

‘Age is the hot employment issue,’ says Jessica Bone, policy and research coordinator at Employers Forum on Age (EFA). And there’s no arguing with her. Britain’s demographics are having a sweeping impact on the nature of the labour market. As the unemployment queue grows to its highest level in the past 3 years, around a third of men and women aged 50–65, remain out of work, although this figure is dropping. The post-war baby boom means that the present state pension scheme will have to triple in size to provide for baby boomers in their old age. Government and businesses alike are frantically trying to address these issues in a number of ways.

Charles Walker of Blue Arrow recruitment supports the search for solutions that focus on older workers. ‘In today’s climate of low unemployment and severe skills shortages, we need to embrace the wealth of knowledge older workers have and provide them with the opportunities to maintain their contact with the workplace. This will become increasingly important as 40% of the population will be over 60 in around fifteen years’ time,’ he says. The Government’s introduction of The New Deal 50 has made an encouraging start, helping thousands of people over 50 back to work. It provides practical and financial help for older people wanting to re-enter the labour market. As well as training, it offers an extra £60 tax free on top of a weekly wage for full-time workers, depending on eligibility.

More freedoms or just more work?
In October 2006, age discrimination legislation comes into force. The regulations hope to enable over-60s to escape the poverty of retirement by making it illegal to prevent them from working, as long as they like. The law complies with a European Union Directive agreed in 2000 to outlaw discrimination against people at work on the grounds of age, religion, disability or sexual orientation. British businesses have only a few years to prepare.

The new legislation will be welcomed by many. According to research carried out by the EFA, 40% of retired people were forced to stop work against their will. Rose Wainwright is 55: ‘I’m not looking forward to retiring at all. It scares me. I live on my own and the thought of not seeing people at work worries me. I think work is an important part of life and, if it’s taken away suddenly, it could be painful and damaging’.

The abolition of a retirement age is bound to rouse mixed feelings. Emily Jones, 59, has begun the countdown to her retirement and is looking forward to spending time with her grandchildren and garden. Jones is not impressed with the proposed legislation. ‘I think the government’s having a bit of a laugh. They’ll be having us dig our own graves next. When is a person supposed to enjoy life? I left school when I was 15 and I’ve been working non-stop ever since. What kind of life is it if work is seen as the most important thing?’ she argues.

Pensions are another problem for the Government. Everyone is being urged to save for their retirement. Employers are being compelled to offer approved stakeholder pension schemes to all workers. Pensions advisor Martin Green says, ‘The Government has employed that classic tactic – if you want to get something done then get someone else to do it for you. The stakeholder scheme tosses the responsibility of pensions firmly into the lap of the employer’.

How exactly will senior workers fare in the workplace? Do employers really want them? ‘Older people are victim to many stereotypes, such as: they can’t grasp new ideas, are not interested in training, are stuck in their ways, are not a good investment. But these beliefs are simply not based in fact,’ says Bone of the EFA.

Senior benefits
In 1989 B&Q carried out an experiment of staffing a complete store in Macclesfield with employees over 50. ‘Warwick University were so interested they carried out an academic study of the case and found that the store came top of the league in almost every department – sales, profits, staff turnover and low absenteeism. I think it was a surprise to all of us,’ says Lorraine Coutts spokesperson for B&Q.

B&Q prefer to employ a mixed age range, in order to reflect their customer profile, but they also admit that older workers do have certain assets over their younger counterparts. ‘Older people have lived in their own homes for a long time and know what DIY entails, so they can advise customers better on our products. They also tend to have good people skills,’ explains Coutts. The company also uses older employees rather than actors in their television adverts to subliminally promote their commitment to diversity.

One of the biggest advantages for employers taking on older women is that they are unlikely to take maternity leave. Michael Jackson, 60, is operations manager for Wrinklies Direct, a recruitment agency specialising in senior workers. ‘Older workers are loyal and quick starters,’ he explains. ‘They understand that when you get a job you have to get your head down and they’ve been educated in the three essentials, reading, writing and arithmetic,’ he says.

Wrinklies Direct have absolutely no problem finding their clients jobs and have placed them in careers as mortgage consultants, in customer relations departments and call centres, largely because they have life’s greatest form of education on their side – experience. For employers who are anxious that senior workers have few IT skills, Jackson points out that so-called ‘silver surfers’ are one of the largest developing communities on the Internet. ‘What you have to remember is that inside every old person is a young person yelling, ‘What on earth happened?’ We really don’t feel as old as we are.’

More information on employment opportunities for older people

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