More older workers spells changes in recruitment

As older workers stake their claim on an improving jobs market, new recruitment trends can be seen in the retail sector, says a leading recruiter.
Fri, 22 Aug 2014 | By Nicola Sullivan
As older workers stake their claim on an improving jobs market, new recruitment trends can be seen in the retail sector, says a leading recruiter.

David Mann, founder and executive director of Exsurgo, says he had seen a number of older people working as self-employed consultants in areas like procurement, buying and e-commerce.

It is more common, says Mann, for those aged between 55 and 64 to set themselves up as contractors to get work in these fields rather than apply for an advertised role. “People of that age group tend to want to have more control of their life and more control of the work that they do,” he told Recruiter.

However, those that go down this route tend to operate via their own personal services company and use existing contacts to find work, and therefore don’t often require assistance from recruitment agencies, Mann adds.

He also pointed out that supermarkets such as Tesco were actively recruiting older workers, who prove to be “reliable individuals” with “excellent sickness absence records”.

“Retailers tend to find that the older demographic have a very positive influence on the younger people in the store.”

Research released this month showed that the proportion of older workers in staff and contract jobs has increased.

Figures from the Office of National Statistics this week showed that 43% of all self-employed workers are aged 50 and over, while the number of self-employed pensioners has doubled from 241,000 in 2009 to 428,000 in 2014.

A report by Saga, which focuses on serving the needs of the over 50s, showed that the number of over 65s in work had increased by 36% between April and June this year. Over the same time period the proportion of people aged between 50 and 64 increased by 9%.

Watford, North Dorset and the Shetland Islands have the highest rates of employment among workers aged between 50 and 64, according to research released by the Department of Work and Pensions yesterday [20 August 2014]. In Watford, 89.5% of this age group are employed, followed by 88.3% in The Shetlands and 87.2% in North Dorset.

Other high employment areas include Stroud in Gloucestershire, South Northamptonshire (84.6%), Horsham in Sussex (84.2%) and Tandridge in Surrey (84.2%).

In a press statement, Ros Altmann, the government’s business champion for older workers, said: “Of course, there can be unique challenges faced by older workers – particularly in manual or strenuous jobs – but there is no reason why a person in their 50s and 60s cannot re-train to take on a different role with their existing employer, cut down their working hours or even opt for a complete career change.”

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