In a fast-moving world, many of today’s jobs may well have vanished within the next decade. That makes access to retraining vital. But the older generation of workers are finding themselves at the back of the queue – threatening their future livelihoods. Enter the renaissance career…
By Tony Watts OBE, co-author of The Midlife Review
It’s become a bit of a cliché, but there is a whole generation of people out there who have woken up to the smell of the proverbial coffee and, faced with the prospect of joining the ranks of the unemployed, have reinvented themselves as their old jobs have been phased out.
Many have set up their own businesses; others have harnessed valuable life skills built up over many decades to launch entirely new roles. “Renaissance careers” has a nice ring about it, and necessity has proven to be quite the trigger for many older people to go into more satisfying employment – albeit not always carrying the same salary.
It’s another well-worn cliché that employers, when scanning the serried ranks of their staff, see the older faces as the ones that can be most conveniently culled – especially if they have a good DB pension building up. The pandemic has accelerated that process, leading to older people (next to the youngest cohort) being the most vulnerable to enforced redundancies.
But longer term there is another threat on the horizon: the jobs we do today may well not be there tomorrow as technology evolves and markets change. But how do we train up people to fill the new jobs being created?
For some time there has been concern expressed that the country isn’t gearing up for the future: indeed, we face a growing skills gaps. The City & Guilds Group is the latest organisation to issue a warning, urging businesses to halt the older talent drain from the workforce by investing in upskilling valuable older workers – or risk productivity shortfalls as the country gets back on its feet from Covid and Brexit.
Research by City & Guilds Group shows that when it comes to formal workplace training, those aged 55 and over are at the highest risk of being left behind and less employable. Only just over half (53%) have undertaken formal workplace training in the last five years, compared to 67% of 35–54-year-olds and 83% of 18–34-year-olds.
Reflecting this, less than half (47%) of older workers think they are equipped with the skills they need in a future workplace. Even more worrying, just one in seven (14%) businesses say they would consider turning to recruiting or retraining older workers or retirees to tackle skills shortages.
Kirstie Donnelly MBE, CEO of City & Guilds Group, commented on the research, saying: “We risk consigning a generation of valuable workers to the scrapheap, just when many industries are crying out for more workers post Brexit and as we unlock society after the pandemic. Ultimately, if we don’t keep on investing in our workforce throughout their lives, recognising their value right through to retirement, older workers will not to be able to contribute effectively to their employers and the economy in years to come. And this is something we simply can’t afford.”
If YOU are concerned that you are not getting the training you’ll need to take you forward in the years ahead, perhaps now is the time to remind your employer that it’s in their interests to retain your talent for their future as well as yours…
Check out how your retirement plans are going…
If you want to find out how your retirement plans are faring, and if/when you can afford to retire, or how much more you need to save, then why not check out your financial future on the RetireEasy LifePlan site. It takes a few minutes to set your plan up, it’s totally confidential and absolutely no one will try and sell you anything! Moreover, it costs just a few pounds a month to keep tabs on your plans longer term – and you can unsubscribe at any time.
