Don't consign older workers to the scrapheap
Older people have the life experience and leadership skills which employers want, according to a Shropshire businessman.
Recruitment specialist Steve Wood, welcoming the end of the default national retirement age of 65, said more companies should consider what the over-50s have to offer the workplace.
Mr Wood is branch manager at award-winning recruitment agency TRS Personnel in Telford, a member of the Age Positive campaign to promote the employment of older people.
He said: “At the end of last month, the last people eligible to be retired under the default retirement age turned 65. That means that employers must treat workers over-65 the same as their younger colleagues.
“Older people should not be in a position where, just because they celebrate a birthday, they're consigned to the scrapheap. We know the value which older workers have as we are committed to bring them on board and finding them work.
“Older workers have life experience and skills which can provide a better balance in the office or on the shopfloor. We also have a number of older drivers on our books, and clearly this is a huge benefit when you consider the increasing costs of insuring younger and less experienced drivers.”
Mr Wood spoke out as unemployment figures revealed there were 74,000 fewer over-65s in employment than the previous quarter, reaching 822,000 people.
He said the increase could be due to older people deciding to quit their jobs ahead of the summer, but a more likely explanation would be that employers were acting ahead of last month's deadline and automatically retiring staff.
“Whatever the reason, there are now more over-65s out there looking for work and historically, older people find it far more difficult to get back into the labour market than younger people – that can often be because businesses are concerned about pensioners perhaps needing more time off through sickness.
“We have found this categorically not to be the case, the older workers we have recruited are extremely reliable and less likely to call in sick because they've had a night on the town! People don't suddenly become ill just because they've turned 65.
“Employers should be considering the value older workers can bring to a business, through their experience and leadership skills,” added Mr Wood.
