Older workers 'keen to progress'

ALAN JONES
JUNE 09, 2015
AAP
LONDON – Older workers are just as keen and qualified as younger colleagues to become managers, but are being routinely overlooked for promotion, according to a new report.
A STUDY by the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) showed that over-50-year-olds have the knowledge and experience to fill a gap in leadership skills in British industry.
A survey of 1,400 managers found that many organisations wrongly assumed that older staff lacked the desire to progress into more senior roles.
Kate Cooper of the ILM said: “There is an inequality in Britain’s workforce that is contributing to a large and worrying leadership skills gap. We see that over-50s are typically not being given equal opportunity to apply their much-needed occupational skills, knowledge and customer focus within a leadership role.
“This is because older workers are wrongly assumed to lack the desire to learn and progress into more senior positions, when in fact we found they are just as keen, if not keener, than their younger colleagues to grow and develop.”
Minister for Pensions, Ros Altmann, said: “It is in the interests of both employers and the economy to ensure older workers are not overlooked, as they have a wealth of experience and valuable skills that benefit businesses.
“Ensuring mature applicants are considered on their merits rather than written off is vital, especially in our ageing population.
“People are not ‘old’ in their fifties and sixties, nor indeed necessarily at ages beyond that either. I hope employers will remain open-minded to recruiting and training older staff, as well as considering flexible working.”