Why older workers should be valued in the workplace

I’m not someone who loses their temper easily but a recent post on LinkedIn provoked a small explosion on rage. It was an advert from a career site which listed people’s age and what stage of their career they were in. According to the advert people over the age of 45 are in their late career and once you are over the age of 55 you are in decline.

As someone firmly in this so-called late career category I was outraged. How can someone with potentially 20 years left before retirement be described as being in their late career?

I don’t feel anywhere near done yet – as far as I’m concerned, I could have a whole new career ahead of me in the coming years never mind coming to the end of it. You won’t be surprised to hear I wasn’t the only person to make their feelings known and the post was removed.

It points to outdated attitudes about our working patterns, and these can feed through to our financial resilience later in life. If someone over the age of 55 is viewed as being in decline, then what does that do for their job prospects or career progression?

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Are these workers missing out on promotions that could help them pour more money into their pensions to give them a better standard of living in retirement? Are employers making the most of the experience on offer among this group or are they at risk of missing out due to outdated ideas around retirement?

It also spells bad news for people looking to re-enter the jobs market after a period away. During the pandemic workers over 50 left the workplace in their droves – some because they were made redundant, while others decided the time was right to retire.

However, the cost-of-living crisis that followed laid waste to many people’s finances meaning many looked to return to work – even on a part-time basis to rebuild their pensions. However, with government estimates saying there are around 750,000 people aged over 50 who would like to work but aren’t, it suggests many still face barriers in re-starting their careers that need to be removed.

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We are living longer, and this means we need to get more money going into our pensions and for many people that will mean working well into our 60s and even beyond. However, they will likely need support in terms of flexible working as many will need to balance working with caring responsibilities or only need to work part time.

Being able to do this is surely a win-win situation in that older workers can continue in work and reap the social and financial benefits that come along with it, while employers benefit from extra expertise.

People in their 50s still have so much to give and should be nurtured as much as their younger counterparts rather than being made to feel like they are shifting ever closer to exit.

Fostering a more inclusive outlook works well for everyone – not just those who are approaching their 50s now but those in the future who will be able to make full use of this flexibility to build themselves a resilient retirement income.

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