Businesses are being urged to to plug a talent drain by investing in upskilling older workers as new findings reveal that employees aged over 55 are not receiving workplace training.
Skills and standards specialist City & Guilds Group said that organisations faced productivity shortfalls during the Covid recovery period if they did not address the issue.
Its newly released research, published in its annual Skills Index, showed that more than a third (38%) of workers aged over 55 had not received any workplace training for at least decade, or never at all, and only about half (47%) of older workers think they have all the skills they needed to succeed in the workplace. At the same time 54% of employers said they could not get the skilled workers they required, but only 14% said they would consider recruiting or retraining older workers to solve skills shortages.
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People aged 55+ were the least likely to have undertaken formal workplace training in the last five years, with only half (53%) having done so. This compared to 67% of 35-54 year olds and 83% of 18-34 year olds.
Just one in seven (14%) businesses stated they would consider turning to recruiting or retraining older workers or retirees to tackle skills shortages.
City & Guilds warned that with many older workers made redundant by the pandemic there was a risk that their skill sets could become less relevant and individuals less employable.
However, turning the data around, the researchers said there was a “huge opportunity” to harness the experience of older workers to fill skills gaps in the post pandemic and Brexit world, but employers needed help to appreciate the opportunity.
Kirstie Donnelly, City & Guilds Group chief executive officer, said society needed to appreciate that people were living longer lives and far more would be working past the age of 70 to ensure they had enough saved to retire.
She added: “But with the pace of change in businesses only exacerbated by the pandemic – and the data painting a clear picture of chronic under-investment in training older, more experienced workers – 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.”
Kevin Rowan, head of organising services and learning at the Trade Union Congress (TUC), said the City & Guilds findings chimed fully with the TUC’s own. He said: “We called for more support to help workers who need or choose to work later in life to identify and get access to training or resources they need, and better rights to enable them to work flexibly.
“Access to learning opportunities are an important feature of good quality work and fulfilling lives, including maintaining good mental health. Older workers being disadvantaged or prevented from learning is both economically and socially damaging, short-sighted and counterproductive. We need genuine lifelong learning for all.”
City & Guilds works with education providers, employers and governments in over 100 countries shape skills systems and support skills development. It is made up of City & Guilds, ILM, Kineo, The Oxford Group, Gen2 and Intertrain, and sets the standard for professional and technical education and corporate learning and development around the world.
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