Rishi wants the over 50s back to work, which are the companies clamouring for over 50s employees?

[StarInTheHeavens]

I never hear about a shortage of over 50s staff so who are the companies that will absorb this workforce?

I tried applying for one of these roles today. The amount of references required for a simple admin post is ridiculous.

If you have had a substantial career break due to early retirement / sickness / redundancy / SAHPing then you also need references to cover each year.

ANNND what's even funnier is that the NHS suggested I asked my GP for a personal reference 😅 you'd think NHS HR bods would realise that's silly advice considering how busy they are!

Anyway, gave up and applied for roles at the Council instead.

Sounds lovely! What do you do?

Oops, sorry, that was a reply to @fakenamefornow

if they have taken early retirement, say they have been working for 30 years and have a pension, why on earth should they work if they dont want to!

NHS

It’s nit private sector op, it’s public, police, ambulance, fire, nurses, doctors etc. I have three senior retired police officers in my friendship group and all three have been asked to come back at least twice, they are mid fifties. The money is very very high. Astonishingly so.

I walk around a massive great warehouse (inside and out) with an iPad inspecting things. Theres some desk work as well but only about 25% of the day.

Most people my age don’t have good enough pensions to even think about retiring in their 50s. In fact, most will have very little to live on in retirement, so they will have to put off retirement as long as possible. I’m in the private sector. Salaries seem to be worse in the private sector than the public sector, and so are pensions and benefits. I work shifts, 12-hour days, weekends etc, and that is tiring in your 50s. Also, many people in their 50s I know actually have some serious health problems, but have to carry on working. They carry on in a job they are familiar with, but aren’t able to push themselves up the career ladder any more.

There are all sorts of incentives they could use, but probably won't!

Free return to practice course
Ability to earn x amount with certain tax exemptions so pension income not affected
Flexible working hours with shorter days/ hours
Part time available

Ie if you want more returnees to nhs etc, then make it worthwhile for them

I don't know, this might not catch on, but why doesn't Rishi instead of worry about people who have left the workforce address the many who might leave the public sector workforce in the next year, by giving them a pay rise that means they are paid in real terms at least as much as when he was first a member of the government?

Sorry, silly idea, will try not to do it again.

Game "If you have had a substantial career break due to early retirement / sickness / redundancy / SAHPing then you also need references to cover each year."

that is utterly mad, a reference to cover each year! Can one person be the reference for a few years or is that not allowed?

There was a similar thread a few weeks ago (not complaining) and like other PP on that and this thread, I'm confident the early retirees will be cast as the villains in the UK's projected economic advance. Rather like Boris Johnson's injunctions for everyone to get back in the office and buying Pret after WFH became just too practical.

So many good points being made here about if you want older people back, make it worth their while.

the pension and tax issue is a real problem for many, go back to work and you have to pay tax and if you are claiming your pension it is not always worth your while.
i understand.

many places simply take personal references if you references are out of date.

My team of 7 has 3 people age 60 and over and one in her late 50s. Our most recent hire just had his 60th birthday. We very much value their experience.

They can if they've known you for that entire duration but in this particular instance the personal reference HAD to be from a pre selected list.
E.g teacher, your own GP, lawyer, accountant.

No friends or family (obviously) and you can't just choose Bob next door, a CEO of his own firm.

I've volunteered and I asked if the CEO of the charity could be used for a reference and the NHS said no.

So flipping weird. But then, I'm in Cornwall and processes here are backwards and pre dates 2000.

They need to change work place culture and stress levels, if you can retire why wouldn't you rather than ending each day exhausted and feeling like a husk. Work shouldn't be so knackering and hard in this day and age. You can only work like this for so long.

It's very interesting that people are giving up work due to poor health . The very reason I have looked for and taken a new job, is to improve my health. I knew I'd get much more exercise with a specific type of job than I would having leisure time at home.

OP - how strange, I'd have thought a referee who actually knows you, like the charity CEO, would be important to them.

the workplace makes less sense as time goes on!

I retired in my 50's after 25 years in the police. Years of shifts, never finishing on time, missing family functions, cancelled rest days with just a few hours notice, ridicous case loads. I was completely burnt out. Gonna need a few years rest before I'd consider going back to another job. There's a reason why the average age of survival for a police officer after retirement was only 5 years!

Ah , I was thinking you were a Traffic Warden /Enforcement

Lots of walking
Looking at things ( bad parking /tickets)

That is my plan after retiring from NHS

Uniform
Good walking shoes
Get a patch near schools ( I still bear grudges of being pissed off by other parents and my DC are in their 20s )

Instead of having to deal with late patients and having to work round their bad time keeping , I'll have to deal with drivers bad choices and "I'm only a few minutes late" ....... Shame . You have a Fixed Penalty .

** I realise its a job that gets a load of abuse

I haven't worked since 1996 when I had DD. The original plan was I'd be a SAHM until she was in school - but then I was diagnosed with a chronic illness which means that working would be very difficult. However I'm now in a place, at 50, where I'd love to do a few hours a week. And we really could do with the money.

I've applied for hundreds of jobs but they all need recent experience and references. I have neither. As I suspect many 50+ people (particularly women) who'd like to return to work do. Added to that the limitations of my disability and I've given up hope of ever working again.

I would LOVE a job. But realistically, I'm unemployable. It's heartbreaking.

I was a dentist who really loved their job but the last couple of years have taken their toll physically and mentally.
The constant abuse from patients , the increasing expectations from government , increasing paperwork , the increasing pace of work and increasing litigation culture are telling.
Coming into my sixties and each year earning less and less , with greater and greater work burdens .
I then developed health problems directly as a result of work and gp said I would kill myself if I carried on.
Ive had to have a couple of months off but am now looking at a career change as I have a while to go until I get to retirement age. It would have been nice to have used my skills but present day workplace in dentistry , even private , is not for an older person whose body is breaking down from years of working in a high stress , technically demanding job.
I need to earn some money but mortgage etc paid off so applying for jobs that interest me but have a far healthier work life. Most of my colleagues of my age have also retired because of health concerns and many are now working part time in jobs varying from cake making, boat building and running B and B .

What line of work are you in?

I was told I was too old for my profession when I was 30 (was told that firms wouldn't get their money's worth out of me, I assume they expected me to have kids). So I improvised and set up a business, which has worked out well.

Now I'm 50+, I can't envision working in an actual employed role with lots of supervision/hassle/grief for not very much money, despite a tonne of experience and qualifications. I'm ND too, so find the politics difficult.

Might do a bit of volunteering but even that's got a bit too corporate. So might do something even more casual to keep my brain ticking over. Won't give up my freedom tho.