G’day – in my last blog I promised I’d share my thoughts on the main findings of our second chapter in the Visions of Britain 2020 series, so here goes …
I was going to write about the impact of the tightening job market on graduates, but something really caught my eye in the news the other day, so I thought I’d devote my attention to the older worker!
The latest UK employment statistics show 146,000 over-50s have now been out of work for over a year. This is staggering and extremely sad news for those affected, but our report reveals a much brighter future for older workers.
It shows older workers will want to keep working and two million more of them will actually be working (one in five workers overall). More importantly, their value in the workplace will have soared to new levels. In short, older workers will hold more aces in the 2020 workforce than ever before.
Why is this? General wisdom says that as people grow older they want to slow down and let the younger talent rise through the ranks. Thankfully, this still holds true.
However, this younger talent is now drawing on the wisdom and knowledge of older workers more than ever before. Older workers are seen as a source of counsel, able to draw on their experiences and dispense advice based on what they have seen and witnessed before.
Just look at the recession. Many companies claimed they had too few people around who had experienced a recession prior to this one. The knowledge of how to cope with such a situation had retired from the organisation, leaving staff unable to rely on past experience. They were completely new to such a situation.
A key learning for business from this recession should therefore be ‘Experience matters’.
I’m encouraged that the future holds a more positive outlook for older workers. I’d love to hear your views on this too.
Thanks,
Trevor Matthews, CEO, Friends Provident
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