Week Starting 25th August

40+ Limited Celebrates 1st Anniversary

After just 12 months in operation, 40+ Limited has been able to chalk up some notable successes. It has managed to place 120 clients into fulltime employment and has a further 12 clients waiting to hear the outcome of recent job interviews.

Based in Liverpool, this specialist recruitment agency (and TAEN member) has been helping people aged over 40 find work in a part of Merseyside notorious for its high level of unemployment.

Simon Chadwick, General Manager of 40+ Limited, comments “There are definite barriers and discrimination in employment against those aged over 40. We find that our clients often feel intimidated by young people trying to find them work or passing on advice and guidance.

A high proportion of the people we’ve helped have had issues with literacy and numeracy and many don’t find any advantage to come off benefits to work in low paid jobs. Having said that, we have handled a broad range of clients from former Directors of large financial institutions to women returners, people with disabilities, people who have been made redundant, those who are unemployed and those want to diversify and change jobs. Our oldest client is 72 years old and we’ve just helped someone who has been out of work for 21 years into a job”

40+ Limited who were initially given 12 months funding from the Merseyside Regeneration Fund, recently learned they will receive an additional 6 months funding.

“We are helping people from all over the North West although we only receive funding for one small area in Merseyside,” says Simon. “To continue and spread our services wider we need to find long term funding to provide a more stable platform from which to work.”

40+ Limited can be contacted on 0151 222 0371.

Firms Backing Away From Internet Recruitment

The popularity of recruiting via the internet has been falling this year. Only 50% of firms are placing their recruitment ads on either their own or on commercial internet recruitment sites.

However those firms who are convinced of its usefulness are relying more on their own corporate sites to advertise their vacancies. Companies such as B&Q now do all screening of staff online. These companies say it is more cost effective, easier to use for candidates and it opens up a wider pool of potential applicants.

Of the companies who have stopped using commercial internet recruitment sites, 6 out of 10 said they did so because they received unsuitable candidates, had experienced low response rates and found the exercise was not cost effective.

The findings are contained in the latest Recruitment Confidence Index from Cranfield University and the Daily Telegraph.

Public Sector Offering More Flexible Benefits

Jobseekers looking for more flexible benefits such as flexi-time, working from home or time off in lieu are more likely to find them in the public sector. A new study by Manpower of 3,500 public and private sector employers reveals that 70% of public sector organisations claim to offer benefits designed to attract a wider range of candidates, compared with 48% of employers in the service sector and 40% of manufacturing employers.

A spokesperson for Manpower (a TAEN member) said, “The public sector tops work-life balance policies offered in other sectors…. As a result, the public sector continues to be attractive to work in, not only for the increasing number of jobs becoming available through rising government investment, but because of the special attention it pays to the needs of its employees.”

He might have added, but didn’t, that its also one of the few sectors where new employees stand a good chance of having the opportunity to join a final salary pension scheme.

Week Starting 18th August

Older Professional Changing Sectors To Find Jobs

Over eight out of ten (81%) ‘mature’ professionals/managers need to switch industries if they want to stay in work. The figure for ‘Baby Boomers’ was 75%.

The findings come from a new survey from DBM – a global HR Consultancy – which analysed the job outcomes of nearly 13,600 professionals and managers seeking work in 27 countries. DBM segmented them into three different categories:- ‘Mature Workers’ those aged 57+, ‘Baby Boomers’ those aged 38-56 and ‘Generation Xers’ those aged 21-37.

Other key findings from its research were that :-

25% of Older Workers Delaying Retirement Plans

A survey of 4,500 older workers has found that 1 in 4 are delaying their retirement plans. The survey, from consultants Watson Wyatt, found a quarter of workers aged over 50 are planning to delay their retirement plans by 2 years. 70% of them blaming it on the impact of poor stock market performance on their pension pots.

The Pru Claims an Extra Million Pensioners Returning To Work

Whilst the Office of National Statistics (ONS) puts the number of people over state pension age working at just under a million (9% of the total), Prudential Assurance claims the figure is double that. The Pru says that more than 2 million pensioners have gone back to work to make ends meet, combat boredom or do something for their community.

The latest Prudential Retirement Index survey reveals that 20% of the UKs 10 million pensioners are struggling to meet their financial commitments and that 2% of them
(200,000) have resorted to crime – or considered doing so – as a way of supplementing their income.

Women are finding it tougher to meet their financial commitments (24%) versus 15% of men and almost half (47%) of pensioners have had to cut back on overall spending in the last three months since the latest round of Council Tax increases.

Of the 20% of pensioners it claims have returned to work, over a quarter (27%) have done it because they need the extra income, 7% have returned to work because they enjoy it and 7% are involved in voluntary work. .

The survey also found that nearly two thirds (62%) of people who are not yet retired do want to work on longer into later life.

Substantial Majority of Employers Yet To Embrace Age Diversity

New research conducted by IRS Employment Review shows that 2 out of 3 employers still have no formal written policy on age diversity or age discrimination within their organisations. It also found that 6 out of 10 employers claim they do not formally set either minimum or maximum ages for new recruits.

We would suggest the survey (which was conducted with the HR departments of 83 private and public sector employers) massively understates the size of the issue. The majority of UK employers are not large enough to have a dedicated, professional HR department. Smaller businesses and organisations deal with things on a ‘needs must’ basis. With draft age discrimination regulations at least 6 months away and the legislation not due for implementation until October 2006, it is a fair assumption that many (if not most) employers will feel they have plenty of time to prepare at some point in the future. That is assuming they even know that legislation is due to be implemented.

Even in those organisations which do have formal Equal Opportunities/Age Diversity policies, there is strong evidence of problems with senior and line managers honouring them and putting them into practice. This is compounded by not bothering to monitor and measure the effectiveness of the policies.

Janet Egan, the IRS report’s author, commented “Almost every organisation in the IRS study claimed it did not discriminate against older workers in recruitment, promotion, training or redundancy selection. But, in practice, it is widely acknowledged that older applicants frequently fall at the first hurdle – obtaining a job interview – if they admit (or give enough clues, such as dates of attending school or college) to their age on the application form.

“As yet employers appear to have done very little development work on age diversity policy and practice. As the deadline approaches and the country’s workforce ages, employers will have to address this area of discrimination. From now on, age will matter to employers.”

Skills For Life

The BBC is running a special ‘Skills For Life’ fortnight to help improve the nation’s literacy, numeracy and computer skills. It is aimed at adults who are keen to brush up their skills and also those who want to help them to do so. There are also programmes encouraging older people to get online and gain the best from the worldwide web.

The programmes will be broadcast Monday to Friday starting 25th August between 5 - 6 a.m. They will be repeated at the same time during the following week (starting 1st September) for those who forgot to programme their video, slept in or who were away on holiday during the first week.

For further details visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone

Week Starting 11th August

Experience Corps Defiant About Its Future

In a ‘rumours of our death are greatly exaggerated’ type statement this week, the Experience Corps remained adamant it would survive – despite the fact the Home Office has said it can no longer guarantee its funding beyond next March. (See story below).

The Experience Corps is the Government’s flagship organisation set up to promote volunteering by the over 50s. A spokesperson for the Corps said that not having its funding guaranteed was not the same as saying it would receive no more public funding . It accepted that like virtually all other voluntary organisations, it would need to rely on a ‘cocktail’ of funding in future – possibly including National Lottery and ESF money.

In the meantime no doubt, the Corps can be expected to review its organisation, cost structure and operations to see what savings can be made.

Job Market Gets Tougher For Interim Managers

Time was when firms looking to reduce management headcount and fixed costs would turn to interim managers as part of the solution. However, despite widespread ongoing organisational restructuring/job losses and low levels of business confidence, it appears that interim managers are also finding times have been getting tougher.

A new survey of 1200 interims shows that only 40% were on an assignment compared with nearly 50% in December 2002. Part of the reason appears to be an increase in the number of people trying to find work as interim managers.

The survey found that the average age of interims is 51 and that those aged 40+ can expect to earn more than their younger counterparts. Average daily rates have gone up from £480 to £505 per day and there has been a swing towards part-time assignments.

Week Starting 4th August

Volunteering Organisations Battling For Future Funding

The Home Office has thrown the future of four organisations promoting volunteering into doubt. It has announced it cannot guarantee the four, which includes the Experience Corps, will receive any further Government funding after next March. However they will be free to bid against other organisations for public money in future.

The Experience Corps was announced in March 2000 as part of the Government’s grand plan to increase the number of over 50s volunteering to do unpaid work in the community. Its formation had been one of the recommendations contained in the ‘Winning The Generation Game’ report .

By March 2004 the Experience Corps will have received £20 million of taxpayers’ money. It has no other sources of funding. The Corps was targeted to recruit 250,000 people aged over 50 as volunteers but so far has only managed to get 130,000 signed up.

Margaret Semple, Chief Executive of the Experience Corps said she was disappointed by the decision and wanted clarification on what the Government’s overall strategy for people participating in their communities now is.

Demand For Staff Shows Slight Pick-up Although Job Losses Predicted

According to the latest Recruitment and Employment Confederation / Deloitte and Touche Report on Jobs the demand for both permanent and temporary staff grew slightly during July. The figures suggest that some employers are taking tentative steps back into the jobs market, however, demand at the top end/executive level remained subdued.

The report says demand for permanent staff is growing at its fastest since the start of this year.

Meanwhile the latest Regional Trends report from the CBI and Experian Business Strategies predicts 38,000 jobs will be lost over the next 3 months. Business confidence fell in 10 out of the UK’s 12 regions last quarter but there are signs of a modest recovery in optimism. For the first time in 15 months, more than half of the UK’s regions expect export orders to rise and 5 regions expect both total orders and output to rise in the next 3 months.

New LSC Chief Named

Mark Haysom has been named as the new Chief Executive of the Learning & Skills Council. His current job is managing director of national newspapers at Trinity Mirror Group.

His appointment comes at a difficult time for the LSC which is responsible all post-16 education – apart from HE colleges and universities. Ministers are said to be impatient with the lack of apparent impact the LSC is having on tackling both the skills gaps in the economy and the basic skills deficits in the workforce. Mr Haysom’s brief is to improve business backing for the organisation and its programmes. He commented , “The measure of success is not the LSC’s profile. Its going to be whether it makes a major improvement in the skills of the country.”

The LSC which has 47 local organisations and an annual budget of nearly £9 billion is currently being ‘reshaped’ (a.k.a. reorganised/restructured/downsized).

Third Age Challenge Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Late last month, Third Age Challenge Ltd (TAC) in Swindon celebrated its 10th anniversary of helping those aged 40+ to re-engage, or remain engaged, with the labour market.

TAC (a TAEN member) offers one-to-one information, advice and guidance in job search and career change. They offer IT training and ‘dealing with change’ and job-search skills workshops. Their sister organisation’ Back on Track’ offers a suite of motivational training and NLP–based courses and TAC provides the secretariat of the Older Workers Local Strategy (OWLS) Forum in Swindon.

The OWLS forum consists of local employers, government and other organisations whose aim is to promote the issues regarding age and employment. OWLS recently published the second edition of their Directory of Age Friendly Employers in Swindon – an essential guide for any local job-seeker.