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CHAPTER 7
Learning, work and later life in the UK: guidance needs of an ageing workforce 133

are now better than ever before, especially if they continue to do the same
job. Employers increasingly appear to recognise the value of the tacit skills
and experience they bring, and the costs and risks of recruiting new
replacement staff (McNair et al., 2007). It is probably these insiders who
account for the continuing rise in employment rates for older workers,
reinforced by the existence of internal labour markets within organisations.
For outsiders, who have left work through redundancy or through career
breaks, and who want to get back after 50, the situation does not appear to
have changed. For them, prejudices about older workers remain a powerful
barrier, employers continue to suspect that being unemployed indicates
incompetence or lack of motivation, and the very factor which makes insiders
employable – their tacit skills – is the one most difficult to demonstrate to a
potential employer.

7.7. Attitudes and expectations

Perhaps the key factor in determining retirement behaviour is the expectations
and aspirations of individuals, and the shifting balance of power in the
employment relationship as people approach normal retirement age, with the
choice to leave if they do not like the work. It has been increasingly clear since
surveys in the early 2000s began to examine the issue (McNair, 2006) that
most older people in work would be willing to work longer, although they may
only be willing to do this if it can be more flexible or less stressful (Smeaton
and Vegeris, 2009). Most recently, a survey by City and Guilds Development
found that around half of all economically active people are unconcerned about
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having to work longer, especially if the work can be flexible or part-time ( )
(City and Guilds Centre for Skills Development, 2011). However, faced with
the opportunity to retire and live on a pension (albeit a limited one) their
willingness to stay longer depends considerably on how they are managed,
and how far the work, and the working environment, meets their own needs.
The reasons why people choose to stay in work when they could retire can
be broadly grouped into intrinsic, social and financial. Intrinsic factors include
interest of the job, the chance to use oneʼs skills and knowledge, and the
status of being seen as a contributing member of society. Social factors involve
regular contact with other people, ranging from close relationships with
colleagues and more casual contact with customers, clients and the general

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( ) Most people working after 64 are part-time.