People aged 50 and above offer a lifetime’s worth of experience for your business and you can bet they’ve got a huge range of contacts, too.
The Australian Government is campaigning about the value such workers offer, and is offering employers a Restart wage subsidy of up to $10,000 to hire mature age workers to see for themselves the experience they can bring to a business.
Putting the spycam to work
A great example of the benefits of hiring mature aged workers is evident when actors were given spyglasses to check out how mature age workers were fitting into their new jobs. See the vids yourself on the jobactive YouTube channel.
Drew, 54, upskilled to improve her employability, learning to drive a bus for her tour guide job at Wavelength Reef Services. Her great customer service won her a Tourism Tropical North Queensland Award.
Meanwhile, Stan worked in food manufacturing, and at age 52 became a real estate agent. Three years later he works for Scott Banks Real Estate and is a natural in the profession. Can age impact the contribution a worker makes to their job? Former UK banker and logistics worker, Kevin, now 56, runs operations at Melbourne’s tallest attraction, the Star Observation Wheel. His warmth instils confidence in passengers.
That’s how those mature-age workers defy negative stereotypes.
Why businesses hire mature-age workers
Hiring a mature worker through the jobactive Restart wage subsidy made good business sense for Colin Johns, Managing Director of Transformer Services.
“When someone’s been employed and they’re 50 years old, and they find themselves unemployed, they tend to grasp a new start. They tend to be loyal, keen and they’re good trainers for young guys.
“The $10,000 [wage subsidy] is an incentive, but you take people that aren’t skilled in your industry and reskill them. From an employer perspective they are definitely work a look.”
Colin has hired several mature-age workers for his business, which refurbishes and installs high voltage power transformers.
More than just an age
Maturity is something that Vicki, 64, sees as a drawcard for her role working in Telstra’s services and complaints department.
“I have a lot of people at work come to me and ask ‘what would you do in that situation?’. That’s one reason why Telstra have employed my services. They value me as a mentor,” says Vicki, who’s also getting mentored by a younger worker about tech gadgets.
Expand your pool of would-be workers
Get in touch with your local jobactive provider about the Restart wage subsidy. They’re based in more than 1,700 locations across Australia. Through them your business can tap into a free list of job-ready candidates – screened to match your industry and business needs. You’ll be getting professional end-to-end recruitment services and they cover all industries. Check out the jobactive YouTube channel about how mature-age workers can bring a lifetime of experience to your business.
Margaret Paton, Journalist/Copywriter, Communications: Keeping It Real
