Qualitative Research Explore the experiences and perceptions of

Qualitative Research Explore the experiences and perceptions of older people in relation to age and employment with particular emphasis on: Ø Ø Barriers to labour market participation Age Discrimination and the new Legislation

Rationale Knowledge that is grounded in the expressed needs of older people themselves provides relevant insight This can used to tackle barriers to employment, inform policy and ultimately to improve employability of older workers

Sample 56 people from the Northwest of England 55. 4% male (N= 31) 44. 6% female (N=25) Age range from 50 to 68 Mean age 58. 9 years (median 59)

48. 2% 30. 3% 21. 4% 18. 5% Employment Status

Method Lifespan Approach Occupational Event Calendars – Track employment histories Semi-Structured Interview – Attitudes to work, older workers and recent age discrimination legislation

Emergent Themes Barriers to employment Economic Factors Lack of Education Lack of Skills and Training Discrimination Health Self Imposed Barriers Restricted Opportunities

Economic Factors Employers take a long term view to looking for workers Well the same thing, if you’ve got a 45 year old and a 65 year old going for the same job, who are they going to pick because they’ve got to … they’ll be thinking of the long-term future of the company, somebody who’s 65 if they take them on they might only be with them for two or three years, somebody 45 will be with them for 20 years. ( Unemployed Male)

Economic Factors Older workers are undervalued which has manifested itself in poor calibre job opportunities typified by low pay and low skilled work Or you know, you’ve seen posts like at garden centres where they’re saying they do target the older person and that has an effect on you. You know, you see that and you think, well thank you! …. You want that feeling that you’re still worthy and nobody has to give you a gift or that they want you because they can pay you less money and stuff like that. (FT employed female)

Value of Experience ‘Intellectual capital’ felt to be largely ignored Experience can raise individual productivity, provides valuable knowledge in relation to a skill or process or how an organisation or a piece of equipment functions which can be passed onto younger / new employees Like I say, at one stage I had 28 engineers who reported to me, 12 of them were graduates and they were all higher qualified than I was on paper. But obviously they’d not got their hands dirty. They’d not lived in the real world. And I was able to sort of live a little bit in their world and understand a little bit of their world. I mean educationally and the fact that they could pick things up, I mean they could leave me standing. But because of my experience and knowledge I was able to help them and mould them and help then progress. (PT employed male)

Changing Employment Cycle Peak of Career Traditional employment pattern no longer the norm ‘Going full circle’ Nearing Retirement Starting out So I think maybe that’s what we have to think in retirement as we come up to finish off, is that you know how we start off as we’re saying, on quite a low wage and then we peak and a lot of us though we would peak. But then I think perhaps we will see with employment is that we’ll then come back down on to a lower salary, but we will still be productive and we’ll still be doing something, you know, how many mature people do you see in B&Q for example, doing a part time quite menial job, and they probably were quite senior executives. (self employed female)

Lack of Education Norm for older workers to have left school with few or no qualifications This lack of educational opportunities is often overlooked by employers I think older people have a lot to offer really because of experience and things. So you know, why should you just because you know, a younger person’s got degrees and goodness knows what, as an older person, most older people don’t………. I mean I’ve not got anything at all really. So you know, what somebody may have achieved in a degree by studying an older person might have in the experience and that. So you know, I don’t think they should be discriminated against just for that (FT employed female)

Lack of Skills and Training Shortage of technological skills especially in IT I mean we have to be computer literate. And a lot of the people of my age are not computer literate. You just have to be. You have to know what you’re doing with a computer. (full time employed female) I went down to the computer place. . and I did a years course last year. Just to update me with computers which seemed a bit ironic by the fact that I started off in computers. . . But the computers that I dealt with took up two complete rooms of equipment and they were nothing like it is now. And I’d totally lost touch, absolutely lost touch (retired male)

Barriers to Training Lack of motivation Lack of perceived need Shortage of time in current work Cost of undertaking employment Resistance to training – Negative experience – Fear or Anxiety Catch 22 That was something that they ask you to get in to get the job, if you’re in the job maybe, it might be a good thing but you’ve got to get in before you can get … do the training (Unemployed male)

Discrimination Widespread belief that ageist attitudes lead to discriminatory decision-making and practices from employers Blanket assumptions are often made about capabilities and abilities Yes I think older people are perceived as being suitable for certain categories of work which are because they’re old and sort of degenerate and not very fit and not very bright and losing their marbles and all those sort of stereotypical perceptions, which place them in those sorts of avenues of opportunity and exclude them from the mainstream for those sort of jobs. (Retired male)

Discrimination Contemporary ‘older people’ stigmatised by prevailing stereotypes I think people now that are reaching 60 are generally more physically fit than they’ve ever been, and mentally fit than really they’ve ever been, you know, the working population rather than the other actually. So I’d put myself in the working population and I feel very fit. I feel very able to do a lot of things and my husband, you know, we’re both very able. We both go out cycling. We both do lots of things and we also know people that are a lot younger than us that are not physically fit and you know, have just gone into decline completely. But, an employer won’t see that at all, I don’t think they will. (Full time employed female) Majority had not personally experienced age discrimination at work but were aware of others who had

Changing Perspectives Recognition from some that employers were starting to view older workers more positively, most notably in the voluntary and retail sectors of the labour market. I think possibly that now employers are coming to realise that older people have a lot to offer in the sense that they’re steadier, they’re probably overall hardworking and more likely to stay in the job. (Retired Male)

Self Imposed Barriers Negative perceptions of own ability – Lack of confidence – Inability to cope with changes – Declining physical and mental health I think a large proportion of people approaching 55/60 have developed a negative perception of their own potential in the workplace so it’s almost a self fulfilling prophecy, there’s almost I’ve got no chance of doing that. (Retired male)

Self Imposed Barriers Resistance to change I actually left … I actually took early retirement because of all the new things that were coming in and all the hassle that it was … it was the hassle that I left because of, not because I couldn’t do the job or the job was too much … well it was because all the new things were coming in, the new curriculum, all the things, the forms you have to fill in, and I didn’t go into teaching to do that, I went into teaching to teach children. …Well I do actually because I think that’s why I left teaching because I wasn’t prepared to take on board the new ideas because I didn’t agree with them. So perhaps that, you know, well I was … the way I taught for 30 years got the results so I couldn’t see the point of changing them… It’s the best job in the world teaching, the best job in the world, if the powers that be would just let you get on with it. (Retired female)

Health Acknowledge that health can deteriorate with age Poor health restricts employment opportunities and keeps older workers from re- entering labour market Now if you’re not a fit person and a well person then it can present you problems with your employment can’t it. Because if you can’t maintain a good employment record…. Fitness has definitely got a bearing on your employment capability shall we say, both physical fitness and mental fitness. And if you’ve got a good, if you can demonstrate and show the people when you’re making applications for employment at an age, so not to be disadvantaged, if you can show good attendance records then it’s a plus (self employed male)

Restricted Opportunities Consensus that opportunities post 50 are ‘few and far between’ The days of progressing to what I progressed at with my level of education when I started at XXX have gone. There is no way I would imagine I could go as a 15 year old lad, getting employed ……. . and then in 30 years time be a Senior Manager there with no formal qualifications. It just wouldn’t happen. Whereas you had the opportunity then. (PT employed male)

Restricted Opportunities Self – imposed selectiveness – Unwillingness to compromise Inferior jobs available: low status / low pay – Changing aspirations Part-time work Less physically demanding Less pressurised More flexible

To overcome barriers… Attributes of older workers need to be taken on board – Less formally qualified / Health issues /Less IT skilled – Valuable experience / strong work ethic Work preferences need to be accommodated Need attitudinal and cultural changes Need a clearer definition of age discrimination