Work and Learning in Later Life: the role of training

1. Work and Learning in Later Life: the role of training Stephen McNair Associate Director (Older Learners) Director (CROW)

2. Outline • Why should we care about the older workforce? (50 yrs +) • What we know about the older workforce in the UK • The Learning and Work in Later Life study • Next steps – a research opportunity?

3. Why should we care about the older workforce?

4. Why should we care? • Demography – rising life expectancy and low fertility • Deteriorating old age support ratio (UK 3.9 now – 2.5 in 2041) • Loss of talent – experience is worth money • Legal changes - age discrimination law, abolition of mandatory retirement • Raising of State Pension Ages (66 in 2020, 67 in 2026) • More older people are working • Many older people have choice

5. What we know about the older workforce in the UK

6. The older workforce • The labour market “freezes” after 50 • It is becoming easier to stay longer in an existing job, but no easier to return after a break • Many organisations have no older workers • After 50 the workforce is increasingly: female, in large organisations, in the public sector • After 60 the workforce is • divided between high qualified professional, and elementary occupations , with s pronounced gender split • part time and self employed

7. Staying longer in work: attitudes and motivation • Most older people like work and want to stay longer • Many want flexibility, some want phased retirement • Some want progression and new challenges • Older people are motivated to work by: • Interest in the job • Status and respect from colleagues, employers and the wider community • Social engagement • Finance • A sense of purpose and structure to life

8. Returning to work • Those least likely to successfully return to work are: • Older • With lower qualifications • With a health problem or disability • With a partner/spouse not in employment • Worked previously in a declining industry or sector • High qualifications increase employability, • but the main benefit comes from qualifications gained in early career. • it is not clear that acquiring qualifications in later life produces similar returns.

9. The older workforce: two models • A dynamic force contributing to innovation and growth • A marginal group filling short term gaps in the labour supply

10. The learning and work in later life study

11. Training and work in later life: what do we need to know? • How does the nature of the labour market change with age? • Why does participation in training decline with age, and is this a problem? • Whose fault is it? • Do we need to encourage more training for older people? • What might change the current pattern?

12. What we did: the Learning & Work in Later Life study • review of relevant academic and policy literature • review of existing national datasets: • LFS, WERS, ELSA, SEPP, NALS, NIACE • national Omnibus survey (15,000 individuals 18+), to examine the relationship between individuals’ perceptions of skill, and their experience of training • secondary analysis of qualitative data from previous CROW projects • DTI, DWP, ESF/HE • secondary analysis of quantitative data collected as part of the DWP’s Survey of Employer Preferences and Practices relating to age. (2090 employers)

13. Is there a skills problem? • Most employers do not report a problem • Most older workers think that their skills are “about right”, especially women and full-timers • A third think that they are overqualified , especially more highly qualified, and in administration, sales, customer services, machine and plant operatives • The number reporting “very overqualified” rises from 50-70 yrs • Self-employed especially likely to report “very overqualified”

14. Who trains? • Participation is level from 25-55, then falls (a new pattern) • Decline is across all forms of learning • Age gap larger in private sector and low training sectors • Training more likely for women, highly qualified, high status occupations, higher social class, and full-time employees • Training more likely for the overskilled • Almost no one reports refusing training • The employers and older employees who train are positive about it • Average length of training falls with age, but volume of short training is constant • Employees and employers both prefer short, focused training

15. What organisations train older workers • Larger • Public sector • High concentration of professional/managerial staff • High proportion of female employees

16. Possible reasons for not training • Low return, perceived or real • Poor management; - “conspiracy to underperform” between workers and line managers • Overvaluing formal qualifications at the expense of experiential learning. • Underestimating of risk and future needs

17. Attitudes to training • Employers train to rectify performance and to prepare for promotion (both potentially age related) • Location of training decisions varies by sector • Employers more likely to support older workers than younger ones • Employee attitudes contradictory (encouraged to develop their skills, but believe that employers prioritise younger people) • Employers find long serving employees most resistant to training • Arrival of IT has changed attitudes to training generally • Few (employers or employees) think training helps older people to re-enter the labour market (though some employees think qualifications will help)

18. Training fits with motivation to work if it: • is intrinsically interesting, and makes the job more so; • strengthens the status of the individual with his or her workmates of the wider community; • increases the sense of control over one’s life; • builds social networks among learners, especially perhaps if there is some prospect of these relationships continuing beyond retirement; • builds bridges between the world of work and post-retirement life.

19. Training does not fit if it is • imposed by the employer (who features less in the individual’s long term plans as retirement approaches); • imposed by some external body on a worker who has been doing the job for a long time (especially if that body is seen as uninformed by real practice and years of experience); • seen as a criticism of the individual’s competence (especially for long serving employees who have not trained much in the past, or who have problems with basic skills) ; • likely to lead to isolation of lack of status in the workplace or the wider community.

20. Influences on training • Workplace culture • Perceived career stage • Past job mobility • Evident need • Cost effectiveness • Full-time status

21. How to change practice • Convince employees of the need to train • Promote the idea of career progression after 50 • Ensure access to training for part-time workers • Improve management, and especially review/appraisal

22. Key findings • Older workforce is distinct in profile and motivation, although individual diversity is great • Most older workers think their skills are adequate • Satisfaction with skills rises with age • With increasing age, a growing minority report that they are seriously overqualified • The decline in learning is real • In most cases, neither employers nor employees see a need to train • Employees and employers who train think it has benefits • There is strong resistance to long courses • The evidence is unclear on real demand for qualifications

23. Policy implications • Diversity not stereotypes • Promote positive models of career development • Raise awareness of career risk • Improve articulation of policy at national level – esp. DWP/BIS • Support research on costs and benefits • Support training for the lowest qualified in early 50s • Encourage better appraisal processes • Promote investment in older workers to employers

24. Some further research questions • Costs and benefits of investment in training older workers • Segmenting the older workforce • Understanding how older people manage work-life balance • Tailoring training and work experience for unemployed • Understanding communication/appraisal/review processes for older workers • Understanding flexible working options and strategies

25. Next Steps?

26. “Now you are 50, what are you going to do with the next 20 years” • Mid-life career review (around 50yrs) • Pilot, funded by Government • Target 2500 interviews , mainly through National Careers Service • Questions: • Is there demand? • What are the issues? • What are the best models for delivery? • An academic research opportunity?

27. NIACE: www.niace.org.uk CROW: www.olderworkforce.org.uk stephen.mcnair@niace.org.uk A sense of a futurehttp://shop.niace.org.uk/lwll-full-report.html Older People’s Learning in 2012: a survey http://shop.niace.org.uk/older-peoples-learning-2012.html