UK firms 'target older workers'

Older workers can add real value, the CIPD says

More firms are trying to recruit older people to overcome a shortage of skilled workers, a study has said.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found that 70% of employers were actively looking to recruit people over the age of 55.

The study also said that 31% of organisations wanted to take on those already entitled to the state pension.

The report comes a few months before laws banning age discrimination come into force.

The CIPD's survey covered more than 800 employers in the public, private and voluntary sectors.

Adding value

"It is encouraging to see that so many organisations are introducing age diverse practices ahead of the new regulations in October," said the report's author Nicola Monson.

"This enables employers to tap into the relatively unused talent pool of older workers to overcome recruitment difficulties and help build an age diverse workforce that can add real value to business, not just in terms of older workers but all age groups."

The CIPD's report found that more than four in five employers were experiencing difficulties in recruiting staff, with skills shortages the main problem.

It said that 15% of employers were targeting migrant workers from EU accession states, and more than one in 10 was recruiting abroad to bring workers to the UK.

Online recruitment

The survey also looked at how employers were using the internet to recruit staff.

It found that nearly two-thirds of organisations were using online recruitment, mainly because it was cheaper, and 75% of employers were using their corporate websites to attract applicants.

However, despite nearly half of employers predicting that online recruitment will replace traditional paper-based applications in the future, the CIPD said that the same number also thought that recruiting online was increasing the number of unsuitable applicants.