The great unretirement is over – but is your business benefitting?

The December ONS labour market statistics show a marked increase in the number of older workers getting back into work, with a 22% reduction in the number aged 50 – 64 who are economically inactive, compared with May-June this year.

This is continuing a trend which sees record numbers of over 65’s working – 1.5m people over the age of 65 are now working today.

A survey from 55/Redefined indicates that 56% of over 50’s want to continue working beyond 65 – and 89% would take a drop in salary to retrain for a new role/industry.

So why’s this important to employers?

By 2050, our working population will shrink by 25%, whilst the over 60’s will grow by 40%. No surprise when you realise that 30 years has been added to life expectancy in the last century.

73% of the UK’s employment growth over the last 30 years has come from workers aged over 50. And almost a third of the workforce is now over 50.

What’s more, it also makes sense from a productivity perspective. Research from the Daily Telegraph shows workers aged 50 plus are 50% less likely to take time off sick, compared to workers in their 20’s and this group also remains more loyal to the employer.

But research from Deloitte highlights the readiness gap.

Whilst 70% of organisations they surveyed recognise that a multi-generational workforce is important or very important to their success over the next 12 – 18 months, only 10% say they are ready to address this trend.

While job vacancies are contracting (but still at 1.19 million), there’s still a critical need to fill to persistent skills gaps and ongoing harder-to-fill roles.

And wages falling in real terms, inflation and economic concerns remain top of mind for employees. Mentions of these terms in last month’s Glassdoor reviews increased over ten times from November 2021.

Maintaining staff levels and productivity all while weathering an uncertain economy is the priority for employers.

The organisations that can weather this storm in 2023 will be those which apply agility, flexibility and speed –filling existing job vacancies quickly so that they are capable of delivering for today, as well as tomorrow’s challenges.

Faced with such a volatile market. surely an older worker recruitment programme needs to be part of your multi-channel strategy?