2022 has been incredibly volatile for the job market. The first half of the year saw more job vacancies than people unemployed for the first time ever, amid a labour shortage; on the flipside, the past few months have seen many businesses crumble, due to rising energy prices, inflation, and a cost-of-living crisis, which has resulted in a flood of candidates seeking new positions.
We’ve been living in unprecedented times since 2020. But, with every new challenge comes creative, unique solutions. One is the number of retirees returning to work—a phenomenon that’s growing.
There are many factors why a retiree might think about going back to work. For some retired women, their return to the job market might be to get away from their infuriating husbands!
A recent study discovered that women experience higher stress levels after retiring, especially if their husbands have also stopped work. Spending so much time together after a lifetime of leading independent lives and only spending time together on evenings and weekends can drive some women up the wall and see them gagging to go back to their old lives.
‘Retired Husband Syndrome’ is when women, hoping that when they retire from work they can enjoy some me-time and opportunities to indulge their hobbies, etc., become so annoyed at their husbands that they return to work for some relief. In some situations, women have stopped working only to put in as many hours at home running around after their lazy husbands and doing all the housework. When spending all their time together, some couples find they simply have little to talk about, where previously, they would natter, gossip or vent about their working day.
After decades of working, retirement takes away a person’s structure and routine and some struggle to adapt. Single, divorced or widowed retirees might also decide to return to the workplace to combat loneliness. In addition, the current cost-of-living crisis has meant that belts have had to be tightened and pennies counted; some retirees are finding that their pensions don’t stretch as far as they’d like and they’ve returned to the workplace to increase their income.
A lot of retirees deal with their change of purpose and altered routine with old/new hobbies, volunteering, and ramping up their social network; however, for those who have worked all their lives, going back to a job might feel like the most normal and comfortable thing to do.
To deal with their labour shortages, some recruiters and UK companies are specifically targeting older jobseekers to fill vacant roles. For example, Halfords are aiming to hire 1,000 retirees over the next 12 months and EasyJet are urging over-45s to join their cabin crew.
The challenge for recruiters is knowing where and how to entice these people to apply for such roles. If the primary reason behind a retiree’s return to work is not financial, they effectively have the freedom to choose the job they want based on other factors, such as the role’s duties, their potential work-life balance, flexible hours, and other ‘perks’. They might also have had enough of the sector they worked in before and wish to train within another industry.
Retired jobseekers will be looking for compromise from potential employers. If businesses really want to tackle their labour shortages, they must be prepared to take a chance on retired candidates, and older applicants from other industries who are willing to retrain. It might become outdated to ask a retiree to explain their employment gaps, as non-linear or ‘squiggly’ career types become the norm.
Looking back on the events of the past year, predictions for the recruitment market in 2023 are incredibly difficult to make. The only definite is that nothing can ever be certain, and it will do recruiters no harm to prepare for every eventuality. That includes widening their pool of potential candidates to include boomerang retirees and empty nesters returning to the workplace.
Is your website easy to navigate? Older candidates returning to the workplace may not be as tech savvy as their younger counterparts and accessibility issues may be more prominent. As recruitment web design, we can combat these issues and ensure your site offers the same ‘easy-to-use and explore’ experience for everyone; call us for a friendly chat on 01302 288591.
To all our clients of Christmas past, present and future, enjoy the festivities and we’ll see you in the New Year—Merry Christmas from all of us at Fast Recruitment Websites.
