With extra pressure on household budgets taking their toll and savings starting to run low, increasing numbers of older workers
have found themselves changing their plans and heading back to work.
Going back to work after retiring, or “unretirement”, as it’s usually called, isn’t new, but this time it feels different as it is driven by necessity rather than desire.
Many people are having to rip up their plans and go back to their old careers, re-imagine themselves as something different or even set up their own small business. For some people, particularly when they are juggling other responsibilities like being a carer, this can be a particularly bitter pill.
The Pensions Policy Institute shows that people could need to earn a lot of money, £26,000 for a worker on the minimum wage, to make up for a two-year absence from work, which gives a good idea of the stakes that are riding on this. Working longer isn’t, of course, always a bad thing.
Work is an important part of people’s identity, and many people in their sixties and beyond really enjoy all the benefits a job can bring. Not just the salary, but also the social interaction and feeling of making a difference to your company or community.
So there will be mixed emotions felt as people dust off their old work uniform. What’s important is that employers embrace the returning over fifties (and in some cases much older pensioners) as an opportunity.
Older workers can bring a range of skills and experience that can be a huge benefit to any employer. It’s well known that having different generations in the workplace boosts productivity, and many older workers like helping mentor younger colleagues, teaching them the tricks of the trade as they go.
And it’s likely that even more people will want to keep working in future, so it’s really important that the Government provides whatever support is necessary to help, not force, people to keep working.
This could mean encouraging employers
to do more, like having age-neutral recruitment policies, or improving legislative requirements like the flexible working regime or introducing paid carer’s leave.
For some it won’t be easy and some desperation or even anger will be felt.
However, more older workers in the labour market is a golden opportunity for the economy and for many individuals up and down the country to improve their standard of living before they take the decision to retire for good.