If we have made progress in terms of employment of seniors, we are still far from countries like Germany or Sweden. There, the employment rate for 60-64 year olds is 70%, whereas in France, only one in three workers of this age is at work. Why such a difference and why are companies reluctant to hire seniors? This is what the Indeed employment platform sought to find out.
Result: health problems and fatigue topped the list of reasons given. However, this is only a perception of recruiters, which is not confirmed by the field. To find out, see the Malakoff Humanis “Absenteeism” barometer, conducted every year since 2016. It tells us that absenteeism is much higher among young people than among those over fifty: 46% of Absenteeism among 18-34 year olds compared to 34% among seniors.
Among the other most common prejudices, seniors are suspected of having higher expectations in terms of remuneration and having more difficulty in appropriating digital tools. Other reproaches made to them: having difficulty getting used to new organizational methods and being reluctant to be led by managers younger than them.
However, the real brakes are elsewhere: they affect in particular the continuing education of seniors. Those over fifty have had four times less access to training leading to a diploma than those aged 30 to 44. On the other hand, they participate more than the youngest in non-degree courses.
If we played on this discrepancy, we could make seniors more desirable to recruiters and avoid being shelved. These shelving would concern 200,000 people and would cost the economy 10 billion each year, according to the latest note published by the Institut Montaigne.
Another track mentioned in the negotiations, that of a “senior index” for each company, as there is an index which follows the wage differences between men and women. A tool that has proven its effectiveness, but which Medef has already said it does not want in its “senior” version.