Prosper Spring

BUSINESS FEATURE: OLDER WORKERS
Over-50s at work: ‘You feel
your usefulness has passed’!
Britain’s workforce is flagging, with
vacancies at a record high, but Jeremy
Hunt’s push to get older workers back to the
office will fall flat unless employers agree to
change too.
New research from the Chartered
Management Institute (CMI) suggests firms
are much less open to hiring older workers
than they are to bringing in younger people,
and the experience of many over 50s is that
they feel their usefulness has passed.
Yet at the same time the Chancellor is
urging people who retired early to return to
work.
In a recent speech Jeremy Hunt said there
were almost 300,000 fewer people in
employment than before the pandemic, and
warned firms would find it difficult to grow if
they could not find enough staff.
“So, to those who retired early after the
pandemic, or haven’t found the right role
after furlough, I say: Britain needs you,” Mr
Hunt said.
But the CMI warns that to bring more
older workers back into the workforce,
employers will also need to “shift their
attitudes” towards hiring.
The CMI surveyed more than 1,000
managers working in UK businesses and
public services. It found that just four out of
10 (42%) were open “to a large extent” to
hiring people aged between 50 and 64.
The survey found that most employers
were more open to hiring workers in
younger age groups.
Almost three-quarters, 74%, of managers
were open to a large extent to hiring
younger workers between the ages of 18
and 34. Slightly fewer – 64% – were very
open to hiring those between 34 and 49.
The number dropped furthest for
applicants in the over-65 aged group. Just
18% of managers said they were open to a
large extent to hiring people in that
category.
The findings are despite the benefits
older workers can offer. Mr O’Reilly has
decades of experience working in the
banking sector, starting as a programmer
and moving up to global IT management
positions. He is over 50, although he avoids
giving his exact age to potential employers.
“What tends to happen is, over the
phone the initial conversation is fine, but
when you do video calls or face-to-face
interviews the dynamics change. You can tell
by their manner and their body language,
they’re not really paying attention to you,”
he said.
With UK job vacancies currently sitting at
1.134 million, are we missing a trick with the
over-50s? asks Chair of the Pertemps
Recruitment Group, Carmen Watson.
“There’s no doubt this is a crisis with the
number of 50-to-64-year-olds economically
inactive currently sitting at 3.6 million,
300,000 higher than pre-pandemic,” said Ms
Watson. “We know that getting more
over-50s back into work would significantly
boost the economy and productivity, while
easing inflation and addressing the
shrunken labour market.
“The onus is on us, as employers, to be
part of the solution,” she told Prosper,
“working together with the Government to
understand how we can make the workplace
and our economy fit for older workers.
“We are proud to say that 20% of our
workforce are 50 and over, but with only a
third of all workers now aged 50 or over
across the UK it shows there’s still some way
to go for businesses.
“Among our over-50 employees, we’ve
seen the wealth of experience and industry
knowledge they bring to the table and how
essential they are when supporting and
mentoring our younger workers.
“But historically, employment support has
failed this age group. Support needs to be
tailored for people at later stages of their
working lives, while eliminating age bias and
48 PROSPER SPRING 2023