Over 55s Being ‘Locked Out’ Of Workplace Skills Training, Research Suggests

Experts warn older workers are subject to ‘ageist’ assumptions that they no longer have career ambitions and cannot adapt to new technology.

Older workers are being “locked out” of workplace skills training, research has found, prompting calls for employers to harness the talent and potential of their entire workforce, particularly when it comes to training digital skills. 

According to Corndel’s Workplace Training Report, more than half of over 55s had not received any management or leadership training in their current role, compared to two thirds (67 per cent) of workers in the 23-38 age bracket. 

More than half of over 55s (55 per cent) had not received any technical skills training on how to use digital tools and technologies, such as ChatGPT, from their employer in the past 12 months – more than twice the number of younger adults aged 18-25 (27 per cent) who had not received training in these areas in the past year. 

James Kelly, co-founder and chief executive of Corndel, warned that “without providing access to adequate training opportunities, we are not allowing this group of the workforce to thrive”.

“Businesses are potentially losing out on the huge value that this experienced group of the workforce can add if they have equal access to ongoing technical and management skills training,” he told People Management.

“In an era of the great ‘unretirement’, with thousands more over 55s working longer than ever before, alongside a time where both technology and working practices are evolving at lightning speed, people in all roles, at all levels of seniority and across all age groups should have the opportunity to enhance their skills and learn new skills to prosper in today’s workplace.”

When it came to people management skills, including mental health awareness and emotional intelligence, the over 55s were the least likely age group to have received training, with only 25 per cent having received training in these areas, compared to an average of 39 per cent across all age groups.

The research also found that one in five over 55s (19 per cent) did not feel confident enough in their current skillset to find new employment or pivot their career if they were to lose their current job, while less than one in 10 (8 per cent) under 55s felt the same way.

Meanwhile, more than half of over 55s (54 per cent) said professional development was an important factor in their decision to stay with an organisation.

The findings follow on the heels of a recent damning report by the Fabian Society, warning that the UK faces a “hidden poverty crisis” among 60 to 65 year olds, as a quarter of people in that age bracket – almost 1.2 million people – were living in poverty. The report attributed this, in part, to a “lack of support for older workers”.

Emily Andrews, deputy director for work at the Centre for Ageing Better, said many older workers were “the victims of ageist assumptions from employers that either assume they no longer have ambitions to grow and develop within their role or that they are not able to adapt to new technology”.

She said that with “far too many workers dropping out of the labour market in their 50s and 60s when they still have so much to contribute”, the findings were “bad news for these workers”.

But, Andrews told People Management, “it is also bad news for employers, [which] are missing out on the skills and experience of older workers at a time of skills and labour shortages.

“Evidence shows that the presence of older workers in a multigenerational workforce contributes to a more productive and innovative company.”

She added that “training doesn’t have to mean a course”, and workplaces should consider job shadowing, mentoring and reverse mentoring to help upskill older workers. 

Similarly, Claire McCartney, senior inclusion adviser at the CIPD, said businesses “can’t afford” to miss out on the valuable skills and experience of older workers, and “it’s important to invest in meaningful work that supports their financial security and is good for wellbeing and sense of purpose”. 

She said employers should improve the way they recruit, train and retain workers aged 50+ and offer a range of flexible working options to support retention and engagement.

Clare Walsh, director of education at the Institute of Analytics, warned organisations against overlooking older workers when it comes to digital and technical skills in particular. “There is a harmful and persistent myth that young people are better suited to data analytics, for example,” she told People Management. 

“Despite many attempts to find evidence that ‘digital natives’ – the millennials who grew up with the internet – have an inherently different relationship to digital skills than generation X, there is nothing to suggest this is true.” 

Sarah Gilchriest, chief people officer at QA, said: “The UK has to completely re-evaluate its relationship with skills training. “The reality is that many people in the workforce do not have the right skills to adapt to new technologies and ways of working. This has a direct impact on productivity, business resilience and innovation.

“This skills gap is even wider for many older people and those that have been out of the workforce for a number of years. Everyone in the workplace ought to be equipped with the information and support to constantly upskill to adapt to new technology or reskill, particularly if their profession is at risk of becoming obsolete. 

“Upskilling should be seen as a solution to retaining, or regaining, age-diverse talent. There are huge advantages to a programme of upskilling for returning, or more mature, workers, not just to the individual – whose skills become future-proofed, and whose self esteem is boosted – but also to the business more widely.”

Sophie Wahba, employment lawyer at Wright Hassall, warned businesses that failing to offer workers of all ages equal training opportunities could amount to discrimination. “If an individual can show that they have been treated less favourably than either a real or hypothetical comparator whose circumstances are not materially different to theirs, aside from their age, this could constitute direct age discrimination,” she said.

“When it comes to older workers not receiving technical training on digital tools unless the employer meets the legal test for objective justification, then failure to provide technical training to older workers compared to younger workers could absolutely constitute age discrimination.”

Read the CIPD’s bitesize research on retaining an older workforce

 

Originally published on People Management, https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/article/1870986/55s-locked-out-workplace-skills-training-research-suggests