The Future of work is Grey!
Date: 7th Wednesday, February, 2018
Whether we like it or not most of us will need or have to work for longer before we can retire. The old concept of retirement with final salary pensions is a thing of the past. In two years’ time women will gain equal legal rights to retire at the same age as men when ‘clickety click’ 66 becomes the new threshold rising to 67 between 2026 and 2028. No doubt this trend will continue upwards to mirror life expectancy as we all set our sights on living into our 100’s. We’re all doing rather better than our predecessors by living longer and generally experiencing healthier lives – but this comes at a price. With more people forced to remain in employment, the dynamics of the UK’s workforce are changing. Employers will have more choice and may benefit from an expanding pool of people to dip into who have experience and skills to address demand whilst younger people may face a future of increasing competition.
According to Government figures, over 50s form 27% of the current workforce and by 2020 this could rise to 30%. We live in a time of high employment in the UK and the fear is we may be running out of workers! This sounds incredulous, but it is a distinct possibility. Employers reckon we will need 13.5 million people to fill job vacancies in the next decade, but only seven million young people will leave school and college. The Government also forecasts that immigration will not fill the employment gap. Net annual immigration has dropped to around 200,000 and the impact of Brexit may also contribute to lowering this further.
For employers, the obvious group to tap into is older people and their numbers are growing. So too, is their willingness to keep working, earning and learning. Motivation is also taken from the knowledge that pensions will not provide the standard of living that many would like to retain. The upshot of this inevitable trend is an army of grey workers that will support the temporary worker industry by offering flexibility, maturity with a splash of wisdom!
