UK Careers Coach Says More Needs to be Done to Support Later Life Change

While employees today are fortunate to have a number of helpful resources available to them to make a change, career and confidence coach Kate Bishop believes that there is less support being offered for those seeking a new path later in life. Bishop, who works closely with individuals to improve confidence and identify suitable career pathways, is calling upon business leaders and managers to do more to encourage and assist older workers as they adjust their own goals.

Bishop has spoken out following recent reports which show that 13% of over 55s are considering changing their career. However, of this 13%, nearly half are held back from taking action by a fear of feeling too old to do something new. Bishop believes that leaders and managers are key to developing a solution to this problem, which is anticipated to become increasingly apparent as the number of Brits retiring after 70 continues to grow. In 2010, just17% of over 70s remained in the workforce, rising to 33% in 2018.

“What we know is that older workers are very open to the idea of a career change, but lack the confidence of their younger counterparts to make the leap,” said Kate Bishop. “We have to acknowledge that the over 55s grew up in a landscape where it was common to stay in one job for many, many years and the idea of jumping from job to job as we do now was a completely foreign concept, so we do need to do more to support later life change”.

Bishop believes that the secret to a successful change isn’t to start over from scratch, but for employers to introduce change in a different way. “Many businesses don’t want to lose their older workers who exhibit knowledge and wisdom that comes simply through life experience, so rather than losing great people to change, business leaders should be looking to embrace an employee’s desire for change and find new ways to utilise their unique skills”.

Through her own experience working with businesses during times of change, one recommendation is to offer older workers an opportunity to act as mentors, alongside their day-to-day roles, to oversee the development of the future workforce. Alternatively, Bishop advises against offering direct promotions, and instead working with older workers to identify their unique skill sets and determine where in the organisation these skills could be put to good use.

This advice comes at a time when organisational structure is changing, with less focus on job titles and on-paper roles and more focus on identifying unique skills and talents and placing these skills and talents in the right part of the company. While this is often discussed in relation to new hires, it is a strategy that can easily be applied to older workers, helping businesses to ensure they are deriving the most value from their employees and supporting older workers as they discover what it is they really want to achieve.

To find out more about Kate Bishop, visit www.kate-bishop.co.uk