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?

In fact any corporate speak is enough to turn me off. CBA with it anymore.

This is why l retired.😁

Thats the job spec for work experience position for a 14yo, email signatures would always be automated and templated to company policy.

So i don't know what sector your in but thats an incredibly low bar.

Down here Devon Cornwall, there is such low pay that any job paying more than £25k will attract 100s of applicants.

A recent Cross Country customer service role had people applying from e.g. teaching nursing HE and ambulance, over 250 applicants.

@Brefugee is correct.

Its just terminology
Hit the ground running does mean an understanding of the basic skills and etiquette in the work place.

It’s shocking how much of the workforce does not have these ‘basic skills’ (I can vouch for it - I am 50+ and done my time in hospitality management, recruitment and careers education!) sadly I have at least 10 more years work ahead of me unless some financial miracle happens….

Knowledgeable and steady is good in many workplaces, so long as you are open to learning, friendly and team focussed😁

as i said, where you have been working is obviously different to mine. Because when i was employed here (well over 50) i was described as having hit the ground running despite zero experience in this industry.
Whatever.

Nobody has to take a job if they don't want it. apply for less stressful ones, like the poster described previously, NMW lots of walking and suits her. If she didn't like the walking she wouldn't have taken it.

Down here Devon Cornwall, there is such low pay that any job paying more than £25k will attract 100s of applicants.

also i did say that our experience will vary. Our graduates earn double that.

50s and work fulltime in IT. No intention of retiring. To my mind it’s the ideal role for older folks, office based and easy to WFH if you like, at least some of the time. Loads of online training that you can get on with to upskill (cloud certification for example) but in fact the core competencies for success are still the old school classics - teamwork, communication and problem solving. I’d maybe like to drop down to a 4 day week in the future (which I did when kids were very young) - just to make time for other stuff as opposed to spending less time working IYSWIM - but I actually enjoy going to work, interacting with interesting people and earning a decent living and can’t imagine giving up.

DS (25) works with a lot of older people and their IT skills and flexibility to manage new systems isn't great. Effectively they need a younger person in each team to help with transitions and new tech.
I don't think they are hugely well paid, and it's an office environment. He is an IT guy and runs from room to room helping people when they can no longer find the print facility after an update.

I think our eyesight or ability to scan and process must diminish.

I see it in myself. I'm just not as sharp as I used to be and actively avoid certain tasks and I haven't got the capacity to learn something new. I have a chronic illness which affects that though. Mid fifties.

Sure but this is a thread about attracting over 50s not in work back to the workforce... not what younger graduates earn... its irrelevant.

Generally, people who stopped work.... usually after being laid off (or they would have got the lump sum) will not be applying for jobs at 50k p.a, if they were, they'd already be in that industry.

Thats not where the shortages are, they are in Care, Hospitality, Logistics i.e low pay and physically demanding.

As i said earlier, this is about shifting blame not solving the issues.

I'm sure the younger employees in his company have a whole different gap in their skill set though, and I think it's an advantage of a diverse workforce, that we can support and learn from each other.

Are many workplaces too pressured for that though, no one has a spare minute to support their colleague?

Agree with this .

I’m 52 and still working. I probably will be until at least 66/67. Who are all these happily retired 50 year olds?

Same. Been teaching 22 years and won't have pension until 67. That's another 17 years 😩

I think I will need to do something different from 60 onwards.

That's not true you can take your pension fron 55. Obviously it will be reduced and you'll have to decide if you're prepared to accept a reduced lifestyle for early retirement, but you do have choices. Better than most.

You didn't start teaching until 30, you must have some provision from before that?

I'm 57. Retired at 55. Rishi Sunak could turn up outside my house with a truck full of cash and I wouldn't go back to work. I was a teacher. It was relentless. I never want to hear "Oh but it's for the children" ever again when the head wants me to do another thing in the evening or the holidays or a Saturday summer fair, or any other flaming thing that ,as an older member of staff, I would have been expected to take charge of the ball ache organisation for. I never ,ever want to have to deal with rude,obnoxious ,aggressive parents who think their child is in a class of 1 and is cleverer than Einstein when they are very much not.
I don't need extra money so I don't want to be a carer, work in a shop or work in an unqualified way in the NHS which are the roles Rishi is desperate to fill. I certainly don't want to go back into school as a TA and wait for the the inevitable "Oh Angelina, Mrs X is poorly today, could you just 'pop' into class 3 and make something up for the day". The use of the word 'pop' of course removes the need to pay me supply rates . No fuck off.

our graduates are on the bottom of the earning pile. Outside of the Over 50s who work with us on the EUR 450 scheme, or in what the Germans call "altersteilzeit" (reduced hours in preparation for retirement) or whatever.

The shortages in Care and hospitality are different for sure. One PP has described the stupid hurdles to getting back in to the NHS. Rishi could look at that.

Care? it requires more money. It is also not always work an over 50 with health problems can easily take up. Paying more might stop people leaving though (ditto nursing etc)

Hospitality? has been a car-crash waiting to happen for years. Even pre-covid many high-end restaurants were choosing between lunchtime/daytime and evening openings and had chosen one or the other. Mostly because they can't get staff to work split shifts, which they sell to us as "looking out for the work-life balance of their staff". Lower end? They need to pay more or offer better conditions. There are other incentives to work in hospitality - one of them is fewer crappy contracts and more guaranteed hours. And yes, that makes using hospitality more expensive. In the 70s we didn't all go out for food all the time because it was expensive compared to now.

etc etc.

I imagine it's part time roles in less high-speed retail, like cafes, garden centres, etc

And me! I also know at least 5 other over 50’s who have retired early from my old school alone. Teachers and admin staff. I wouldn’t go back to teaching even though they’ve asked me several times!

MS Azure certification is difficult, requires in depth knowledge, industry experience and is expensive.

I agree with @picklemewalnuts i come from an IT industry background and senior directors would call the older techies "Grey Tops" they never got to go on the latest training courses as they weren't degree educated, we had graduate programs for cloud services and the legacy stuff was outsourced and eventually binned.

100s of guys with amazing experience in tech and customer services, laid off and most never worked again in IT, one i know is at B&Q, another at Screwfix but most just took the money and gave up work.

I looked at the local NHS jobs last night. Our walk in centre is looking for a receptionist so I clicked on apply. I wouldn't be considered as I don't have A levels or an NVQ. I do however have 30 years experience in customer service! Maybe they need to be more willing to look at experience rather than a piece of paper for some posts (and this doesn't just apply to the NHS).

A lot of people on here seem to enjoy their jobs.

But posters from the NHS or teaching seemed very relieved to get out ( myself included)

Are these areas where the vacancies are?

I think this probably sums it up.
I’m much younger but have 15 years experience in my field and head up a department. But because of living wage there is a relatively small gap between the junior twenty year olds who have just started & middle management. If I was older, more experienced and had paid off my mortgage I couldn’t be bothered with it for the negligible pay increase really.

I am exactly the sort of person they are looking for, always had jobs ( as opposed to careers) , health care assistant, bus driver, retail, that sort of thing.

I paid into several private pensions, did the maths and retired at 60. All those jobs now have way worse conditions compared to when I started them and for what, a quid an hour over minimum wage if you are lucky?

You want me to work for you?

Treat me like like human and pay me decently I might come back, but for wages and conditions that would turn a robot into a Marxist?

It's " the market". Big business and the government were mad keen on " the market" when they could use it to drive down conditions and wages.

Well, the market has changed.

Yes they are. the vacancies are in things like teach, nhs, hospitality and care.

So either jobs where the current staff are leaving in droves because of poor conditions or striking because of poor conditions. Or jobs which are zero hours contacts with no stability and are generally areas where the staff can be treated a bit shit.

The issue is improving employee care so people want to work in these areas.

@Kazzyhoward my brother is a police officer in his late 40's. He comes home bone tired after every shift, mostly late off! Being a police officer today is both mentally and physically exhausting for very little pay for the lowly PC. I'd like to see you running after and trying to get a knife out of an 18 year olds hands when you're 60.
He plans to retire at 55 then get a minimum wage job with zero responsibilities.

As I understand it, he want people who have retired to return to the workforce. However, as PPs have pointed out, most jobs are at NMW in sectors such as caring, hospitality etc. Why would some one who is currently comfortable in their retirement want to return to work for low pay in a stressful job?

My workplace has several employees over the age of 50. Also lots of working mothers. All but one employee is female. (Also female dominated profession).

The main reason? Flexible hours. Generally only the younger employees without children work full time. Most others do four day weeks or similar reduced hours. We never seem to struggle that hard to get experienced people because they want the flexibility and the younger people build their skills quickly by working with them. It’s a good place to work.

this is what i really don't understand about the current Tories. They claim to be conservatives, which in theory should mean they believe in The Market.

And even for the most ardent followers of Milton and Chicago School Economics that means the market sets the price of everything. It is absolutely Economics 101 that when something is scarce (in this case labour) its price goes up.

But suddenly, when it is their mates (or themselves in the case of the NHS) having to pay for it, The Market is a crock of shit. It must be one thing or the other.

Labour governments not quite so much, but the last lot seemed more Chicago School than Marxist to me, so the same applies to them.