AIBU to ask who will employ us at 60 plus?

[RachelGreep87]

I have made peace with the idea of not being able to retire before 70, if at all, however I don't see much conversation about what I perceive to be rampant ageism in the workplace.

I am struggling to think of anyone above the age of 55 in my workplace - private sector, professional services. Perhaps they have been fortunate enough to already retire but this seems unlikely, have also heard blatant ageist comments in the workplace as well.

AIBU to ask how we will find jobs after 60 even if we are happy to continue working?

YABU - Society will have to adapt and workers in their later years will be valued more than they are today
YANBU - Society will remain ageist, people will be screwed as they will be unable to find work but will not be able to afford retirement

I think society will remain ageist but government policy does tend to be skewed towards the older population so that will perhaps balance it out?

Society will remain ageist. However since we won’t be able to early retire the over 60s will remain in the offices glowering at our younger colleagues as they make rude comments about us.

I would like to think society would adapt but not sure how long or indeed exactly in what way this will be achieved. Many jobs that older people could do are changing. I work in a busy Supermarket but we have very few positions now where you don't need to be fairly physically fit and achieving targets within certain time frames. The days of just sitting at a checkout are long gone for most people, you need to be able to man self scans, drag out cages, and pick for home shopping.

I'm in my sixties and hadn't worked for years, having been a carer for a relative who passed away.. Amazingly, I've got new professional work in a field relevant to my caring experiences. I wasn't asked my age at any point of the recruitment process. Hopefully, sharing this will inspire others to look in areas where life experience is valued.

I'm 57, professional services, senior role. Happy to recruit people my age, but not if they’ve got a 20-year gap on their CV.

Civil service, local council and nhs are the only places I got interviews and then a job with once approaching 60. I am one of the oldest in the workplace as most seem to retire at 60.

What kind of comments have you heard at work?

I think we will have to work very hard to stay relevant and Bite our tongues a lot in the face of 23-year-olds who think they know better than us as I’m sure we did at 23.

Yes, this 😄. Can't wait.

Surely you just stay where you are?
Plenty of people will employ the best person for the job still.

Any older teacher, unless they are senior leadership, is usually bullied out so they can be replaced by younger, cheaper newly qualified teachers. School budgets are so tight a 20 year teacher on the upper payscale (still under 45k, so not exactly millionaires) will be "encoraged" to leave so an nqt and a TA can be employed. I have seen it happen year after year.

I have made the decision to leave because of this- moving into alternative education provision instead.

I’m mid 30s and struggling to find a job because I’m considered “an older applicant” for the marketing industry in Cornwall.

A local PR agency openly said I wouldn’t fit in with all their graduate PR execs and dismissed me….. and asked me not to bother reapplying for future roles.

You'd think a PR firm would know better? Nah not in Cornwall :/

It'll only get worse for me and I’m tempted to move away so I have more options available

i certainly haven't made peace with it, bloody disgrace when life expectancy hasn't increased.

Or you could work remotely, I don’t know of anybody in marketing and PR who still attends the office regularly I thought that was very 2019

The last job I offered before I took a massive step down was to a 58 year old. We took him on because we pretty much guaranteed ourselves 10 years work from him. Take on a new graduate, and they are often looking for a new role in 3-5 years.

That's actually a very good point - a more mature person is less likely to move on because it is so difficult for them to find a role elsewhere. So if they are decent, it's worth looking after them! As you say someone in their 20s or 30s can move on quite easily.

I'm hoping my DIY knowledge improves, so that I at least have a chance of a job at B&Q

Dp employs 3 in their 60's, more reliable than the youngsters

I'm in IT and I don't recognise this. Perhaps we haven't recruited people in their 60s but we have recruited a lot of people in their 50s. Obviously it may be different in other companies / industries.

I employ people of all ages.

It pays to always be learning something new.

What I have found very rewarding is starting my own business!

My more mature employees are amongst my best performing and most reliable staff. We try to respect and value their experience and they tend to stay with us when we get it right and they are lead by good people managers. They're employed in WFH roles in a specialist call centre. Happily we are seeing more and more mature applicants as we're able to offer more options in terms of contracted working hours and call centre work is no longer the preserve of youngsters swinging around on their chairs flirting their way through the day😂

Oldest staff member is 66 and I'll shed a tear when they eventually decide to retire.

Try not to worry about it for now. We won’t be worrying about it then - our cranial implants will have us on a constant drip of some kind of mood enhancer to get rid of our stress and anxieties

@eekyeeky I am looking for a remote role but finding one is trickier than anticipated - I have my own thread about it in “work” 😭

So those of you who are saying you employ older people can I ask is this people that have been previously employed in similar roles or do you employ older people having complete career changes ? What about older people who have been doing more physical work most of their career, How easy is it for them to suddenly get am office based job or retrain?