PEGS has committed to an age-friendly approach to employment by signing up to a national pledge.

The Age-friendly Employer Pledge has been launched by the Centre for Ageing Better in a bid to ensure those in their 50s and 60s don’t face barriers when it comes to getting back into or continuing their career.

The Centre for Ageing Better is a charitable foundation funded by the National Lottery Community Fund which focuses on ensuring the reality of ageing is better for everyone – looking at everything from challenging ageism to ensuring the UK’s homes are suitable for the growing older population.

As part of this, they’ve conducted research into the job market, finding that – despite there being a real skill and labour shortage right now – older workers are still being overlooked and many feel they face prejudice.

In fact, more than a third of 50 to 70 year olds (36%) feel at a disadvantage applying for jobs due to their age – even though they make up a third of England’s entire workforce (nearly 9 million workers are 50 or over).

Being part of the nationwide programme means we will be actively looking at ways to improve the recruitment, retention and development of staff aged 50 or over. This means ensuring job adverts are worded to be inclusive of everyone regardless of their age, our diversity and inclusion policies take age into account, and that we recognise older workers may be disadvantaged when it comes to searching for a job if they have to detail every job they’ve had since leaving school.

The Centre for Ageing Better also encourages employers to recognise just how beneficial having older workers within their team can be – not only has research shown this can improve productivity, but there are also benefits surrounding intergenerational sharing of skills and knowledge.

You can find out more about the pledge here.