136 companies committed to supporting employees over 50.

Who wants to get involved in promoting the place and role of seniors in their company? 136 companies have already said yes by signing the Charter for the employment of over-50s. Details from Sarah Lemoine.

A charter for the employment of over-50s was created two years ago by the Landoy think tank and the L’Oréal group. 136 companies have already signed it. They are committed to promoting the place and role of seniors.

franceinfo: What does this charter consist of?

Sarah Lemoine: Bosses who sign this charter undertake to implement, in their company, a certain number of actions in favor of those over 50: raising awareness among employees and managers about age-related stereotypes. Continue to train seniors and allow them to progress.

Recruit people at all career stages. Do not brush certain health aspects, for example andropause and menopause, under the rug. Supporting helping employees. Or even promote transition mechanisms towards retirement.

The 136 private or public companies which have signed the charter range from large groups to small businesses. They employ 2 million people. Among them, around thirty companies in the Tech sector have just taken the plunge. And for good reason ! Last year, Tech created 36,000 positions. But only 1.4% of those recruited were over 45 years old. So this is a positive signal.

What are the results ?

The charter is not binding, but “the companies which sign it expose themselves publicly, in particular to their social body”, underlines the president of the Landoy Club. The latter, which claims “the policy of small steps”, lists 165 actions carried out. She cites, for example, a campaign to deconstruct the stereotypes of the insurer Axa, an internal retraining agreement for employees of Domus retirement homes, or the creation of a right to geographic mobility for caregivers, to get closer to the person being helped within the La Poste group.

How to measure the long-term impact?

To quantify progress, year after year, an index has just been created, with four indicators. The first measures the share of people over 50 in signatory companies. The second, the number of training hours allocated to them. The third, their internal mobility. The fourth, the share of over-50s in all recruitments.

“Creating this index was not easy, it aroused some reluctance,” says club president Landoy. In the end, 27 companies took part. The first results show the scale of the challenge, particularly in terms of hiring. Last year, out of 100 people recruited, only 11 positions were offered to people over 50, on average, in these companies.