Older workers can boost economy

B&Q actively employ older people

Older workers are the key to a thriving economy in the Westcountry, business leaders have said.
The call to unlock the employment potential of the region's older population came as official figures revealed the South West has the oldest labour market in the country.
Figures from the Office of National Statistics show there are more people over the state pension age in the work force in the South West than anywhere in the UK
Ian Harper, of the Devon and Cornwall Business Council, has worked on programmes to encourage employers in the South West to take on older workers.
He said: "Younger people are moving out of the area to go to university and staying away but older people are moving in because it's a lovely place. With pensions drying up they are now needing to work longer so the problem we have is how do we accommodate that?"
Mr Harper said the difficulty is older people in the workplace do not have the qualifications many employers are looking for. As more and more people go on to higher education, employers are increasingly looking for a degree or similar.
In past generations, going to university was a major achievement, so Mr Harper said people in the top age brackets are struggling to compete. Employers need to move away from looking at paper qualifications and learn to value the knowledge and skills that older people can offer.
He said: "These are skills that you can't necessarily write down and have a qualification for them, like team work and communication."
Data from the Office of National Statistics shows that people over the state pension age make up 5.1 per cent of the labour market in the South West. Nationally, men and women aged over 65 and 60 respectively make up just 4.1 per cent.
And 36.5 per cent of the labour market in the region is in the over-45 age bracket, compared to a national average of 34.4 per cent.
Derek Phillips, chairman of Exeter Chamber of Commerce, agreed that businesses should be trying to use the "experience and potential" of older people. He said: "I think there's an opportunity here. I think there's a tremendous workforce that's available."
Mr Phillips cited the DIY store B&Q as one example of a business which actively employs older people. More than 25 per cent of the company's staff is 50-years of age or more and it is a founder member of the Employers Forum for Age – a employers network created to promote a more "age-balanced" workforce.
Martyn Phillips, B&Q human resources director, said: "We have found that older workers have a great rapport with the customers, as well as a conscientious attitude and real enthusiasm for the job. "
Tim Jones, chairman of the Devon and Cornwall Business Council, said responding to the region's ageing workforce was its "biggest priority". To prevent them from becoming a "burden" on the South West economy, he said the region had to work much harder to provide practical help to get older people into work.
He pointed to schemes where older people can offer their skills unpaid.

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