Retirement: how to increase the employment rate of seniors?

Employment among seniors is a complex subject. There are many profiles. Some have a job they like and are invested in their work. Others are unemployed and unfortunately cannot find a job. Still others engage in a professional retraining process to find the activity that best suits them.

According to DARES, the employment rate of French seniors is capped at 56%, i.e. 6 points below the European average. If this figure seems impressive, there are various reasons that can explain it.

The ChooseMyCompany institute questioned 48,000 employees, including 2,810 over the age of 53, about their motivation at work, their vision of their role in the company, but also their feelings about the CSR initiatives carried out by their employer.

For Celica Thellier, the organization’s founder, “high unemployment is explained in particular by the current context and regulations: first of all, employees are put on early retirement from the age of 55 and, then, their retirement is legally set at 62, while many of them obviously thrive when they continue to work.”

Companies prefer to bet on young people who have more advantages in their eyes. Conversely, seniors have an image of employees who are too expensive and not very adaptable.

However, Celica Thellier believes that seniors have certain skills that are unique to them and that should be better recognized by companies.

Seniors are quality workers with extensive experience. “As soon as seniors are welcomed into a company, this makes them motivated employees, who understand working life, believes the founder of ChooseMyCompany, they know professionalism and have a perspective on all the path already traveled to improve well-being and motivation within companies.

These employees have solid skills that allow them to have added value within companies. “They are very good promoters of the company’s products and services, of which they are proud because they know them well and have seen them evolve over time,” explains Celica Thellier.

In addition to these undeniable qualities, these employees are generally among the most motivated to work.

According to the study carried out by ChooseMyCompany, 64% of employees aged 53 to 65 claim to be happy and engaged in their work. This score is due to several factors. They are 63% to estimate that their company works in an innovative way and “they appreciate the modernity of the tools made available to them to work remotely in a fluid way, and have been able to appropriate these tools”, can we read on the report. . In addition, 71% of them are satisfied with the balance between their personal and professional life.

Finally, the study reveals that 79% of seniors find meaning in their work. This is 3 points above the average, which proves their motivation to continue.

For Celica Thellier, “it is a benefit both for the companies in which they work and for the seniors themselves: this motivation and this “resilient” commitment allow us to hope for a continued increase in the employment rate of seniors. French in the future. It has already increased significantly in recent years, rising from 37% in 2003 to 56% in 2021, according to Dares.