(article written by Chris Partridge in the Times, June 27 2006)
In a remarkable turnaround, organisations are trying to retain their older employees up to and beyond the official retirement age and are even looking to take on new staff from the ranks.
The change is being driven by several factors. The labour market has changed, with skills shortages suddenley forcing companies to try to keep older employees and look again at more mature job applicants. Older employees are keener to stay at work, fearful that early retirement will mean poverty in the longer term. To add an extra urgency, new regulations banning age discrimination at work come into force this year.
According to the annual recruitment survey carried out by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) published this month, 70% of employers are actively seeking to recruit people aged between 55 and 65, and an astonishing 31% are looking for people already entitled to their state pension.
Dianah Worman, CIPD's adviser for diversity, says: "The change is excellent news, older people are the future and we need their skills and knowledge." There are problems in keeping older staff in place, however. The main one being that many will have paid off their mortgages and educated their children and want to spend more time playing golf.
Worman adds: "What do you do to keep them? They have made it economically, possibly with a reasonable pension, so managers will have to think differently to hang on to them."
She says older employees may like the idea of a change of pace, perhaps working part time. They may also relish new challenges, such as training or looking at long term strategies.
"They do not want to carry on in the same old job and not everyone will want to continue full time, so everything must be more flexible, starting from a clean sheet in terms of working practices. Many employers are using older people as mentors."
Despite their experience and seniority, they should also consider training in new areas, and updating skills. "Older employees do not take part in training as much as they should, saying 'what is the point?' because they feel that they know it all."
Experienced employees are a resource that should not be thrown on the scrap heap because they have reached bus pass age. Sadly, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish ageism from concern about a persons continuing ability to do a job. "Employers turn older people down either have their heads in the sand or are not telling the truth about performance issues," she adds.
Some people approaching retirement cannot wait to leave, says Manpower, a recruitment consulting company. Recent research conducted for the company by NOP found that more than half of employers want to keep their staff beyond the age of 65, but that 81% of the employees had every intention of stopping work on that birthday.
"To halt the rush to the trout stream, employers must offer flexible working, says Mark Cahill, managing director of Manpower UK. When people can expect to change careers at least 3 times in their lifetime, flexibility is at the front of employers' and workers' concerns - but employees need to be aware of the needs of business. The challenge is to get the balance right."
The survey found that 84% of employers believe that flexible working will improve staff retention levels, and 63% of workers expect to be working flexible hours within the next decade.