9. Is Your Business Ready for the Unretirement Uprising? | Age Pioneers Action Panel Report

What Attracts Older Workers to Employment Opportunities?

As well as founding a business using older workers, Adele has pertinent academic expertise. “My background is gerontology, the study of ageing. When you examine wellbeing, we classify it as hedonic or eudemonic. Hedonic wellbeing is concerned with pleasure attainment and pain avoidance – so that might lead you to a job that you’ll find easy and makes you happy. Eudemonic wellbeing is more associated with focus on meaning and self-realisation – and this becomes important as we age. We look for, ‘What’s matters to me as an individual?’”

Adele suggested this means values-oriented work that’s aligned with an individual’s self-identity becomes very important to older workers – and that sounds a lot like the “purpose” so many over-50s are looking for. Adele continued: “When we write a job description, we need to go beyond the standard tasks and responsibilities of a role. Financial rewards are part of the picture but there are lots of softer motivators. A job description should speak to the individual and what they might contribute in a meaningful way to the workplace. This is really critical for this age group.”

Adele added: “There’s another concept called generativity, coined by psychoanalyst Erik Erikson in 1950. It is a concern for establishing and guiding the next generation and this normally develops around middle-age, which he defined as 40-64. In GrandNanny, we notice how someone’s long life experience can bear positively on a young family’s dynamic, when everything is short-term and parents are juggling a million things. The guiding and mentoring approach that comes with the perspective of a longer life course is really special. Qualities such as reliability, steadiness, consideration and perspective come through life experience – you can’t really shortcut to those. There are roles in all businesses where an older person with decades of experience can create a level of calm.”

Conclusion: Over-50s are looking for roles that reflect their values – salary is often not the most important factor.

Budget Launch of Returnerships for Older Workers

The Chancellor launched a new apprenticeship scheme aimed at the over-50s, that he called Returnerships. Sabine noted: “I think employers have become a little frustrated with the Apprenticeship Levy. Trade bodies have suggested the current system is largely symbolic and costs a lot of money, without meeting any of the needs. And it’s not attractive to older candidates. The Returnership scheme is clearly packaged for the over-50s cohort.

“I think Returnerships will be a fantastic option for older workers who want to learn new skills to get into a new area of work or where minor re-skilling is needed to fill some small skill gap. But what information do employers need to make Returnerships workable? I strongly encourage employers to engage with the Government on how this is working or not working for you.”

You can do this through 55/Redefined and we will relay your experience to Government. Contact us here and let us know what policy makers need to do in order to make Returnerships work properly.

Conclusion: Returnerships could be a great way to help the over-50s find work, but the Government will need industry feedback and help.

Is the Midlife MOT Announced in The Budget Fit for Purpose?

In concept, a process that encourages people to plan for later life is a good thing. That is the stated aim of the Midlife MOT: “To help individuals take stock of their finances and wellbeing to prepare for a more secure retirement.”

Lyndsey remained sceptical of the initiative. “It’s disappointing. The focus is delivery through Job Centre networks – and that is flawed. Everyone we’ve spoken to from Brave Starts to Enterprise Nation to the Centre for Better Ageing say Job Centres are not the route for the over-50s. They do not go to Job Centres often. And there is no national solution, it is all regional. So, depending on where you are based, there will be a completely different product, a completely different service, a completely different mechanism of engaging with it. The Government is not going to solve this problem – the HR industry is going to have to step in. and provide better support, I’m afraid.”

Conclusion: It will be challenging to launch Midlife MOTs as currently envisaged. The HR sector will probably have to provide this itself.

Age-Inclusive Policies Beyond the Budget

Within the Budget document, Sabine said there were a few “nuggets showing how the Government wants to continue engaging with business in order to understand this better.” For example, the Government acknowledges that employees have to balance work commitments and personal circumstances, such as parenting, caring and so on. This is part of the flexibility that over-50s want and need. So, the Government will launch a call for evidence this summer, plus they’ve also provided additional funding for pilots and evaluations over 2023-24, and 2024-25. They want to keep building the evidence base on what works, in order to create some of their desired outcomes. 55/Redefined can help you provide that feedback to Government – contact us here and tell us what your thoughts are.

Conclusion: The Government needs our help and is willing to listen. 55/Redefined can be your channel to Government