"Third Age": How not to remain without work after fifty
Aegeism in the labor market, alas, still exists: Although age discrimination in employment is prohibited by law, in practice, applicants over 45 employers are often denied in favor of the younger, and in the vacancies can be found veiled age requirements (for example, the line "Young, friendly team"). According to a HeadHunter study, 19% of companies are not ready to hire people over 45 - almost half of them refer to the company's internal policy.
One of the projects that should fix the well-established system is “50 plus”: its employees are working to change the attitude of society towards older people, to help them live an active and interesting life, and they also hold an annual forum “50 plus. All the benefits of a mature age. " We talked with the leader of the new direction "50 plus" - All-Russian portal "Learn. Work. Earn" Maria Zakharova about the problems faced by candidates of mature age when looking for a job, and about ways to solve them.
Our readers are mostly younger than 50 years old - but we all have relatives and close relatives of the older generation. These are active people who would like to continue working, but the traditions and conditions prevailing in the labor market do not leave them any choice and force them to retire.
For six years we have been telling people at our events that after 50 life does not end, but, on the contrary, it only begins: children have grown, responsibilities have decreased, and you can change your lifestyle - stop doing what you need, and what was your hobby or hobby, make your main occupation.
The market already understands this trend, the population is growing demographically - this is happening all over the world, not only here. Yesterday, at a press conference, I cited figures: there are almost 46 million pensioners in Russia, 15 million of them work, and 18 million would like to work (they either faced age discrimination, or did not understand where to go, or are ready to change their specialty or retrain, but do not understand how). By 2025, the shortage of workers will be 10 million people. The structure of labor is changing, that is, the world will have to accept that it is necessary to learn how to work with people of mature age.
And how do you dude to change this situation?
We decided to create, it seems to us, a very relevant, important and timely project - a portal that consists of three areas: “Learn”, “Work” and “Earn”. In essence, this is a brokerage site: we provide a place where employers, educational institutions, courses, training centers leave their offers, and our users choose what interests them.
In the "Learn" section, for example, there is a search in three areas: what is offered by large and medium educational institutions, what is offered by private teachers (tutoring or mentoring), and requests for specific specialties. The section "Earn" is devoted to specific job openings, including one-time projects and orders: we tell people that it is not necessary to work full time - there are part-time jobs, and remote work, and one-time paid orders.
For some people from our target audience, for example, because of their income, their pension, their children's financial situation, they are not allowed to work, but they have the knowledge and experience. In the "Work" section, they can share their experiences, knowledge and skills at no cost. Relatively speaking, you will teach me knitting, and in return, I will teach you how to make cakes. We introduce the concept of companionship, unfamiliar to many people, we say that we can get a non-monetary reward for our services and work - that is, for example, if you and I are going on a trip, I pay you a ticket or accommodation, and you take me for a tour. This is not a monetary interaction, but it is profitable.
We will also have free consultations with a lawyer and a psychologist on our portal. We also make a forum - we believe that our portal is also a platform for communication, where people can discuss topical issues, problems, assess employers or educational institutions. As for the end users, they fill out a questionnaire, note in which section they provide their offers - what they want to do for money, and the services they are willing to share.
You are engaged in including education. What do older people want to learn the most?
The problem is that educational institutions or courses that offer training for older people, mainly offer classes in computer literacy, maybe language courses, handicraft or health-giving classes - qigong, yoga. And that's all. As if there are no other directions that may be interesting to people.
Now there are many district social organizations that work with retirees. They open courses, but it seems to me that this is "plugging holes." People simply study what they could not learn during their lives for a number of objective reasons. Now they are ready to learn, they have time for this, and therefore our task is to interest educational organizations in compiling their curriculum from diverse activities, satisfying this in-depth demand, and are not limited to common themes.
We talked to our colleagues from the training center, and they identified another problem. People are happy to learn, especially if it is inexpensive (as a rule, the courses try to give some subsidies or discounts on education, and people are willing to go on to study). But then they absolutely do not know how to apply this knowledge. For example, a person learned how to make soap — but what to do about it? How to sell the result of your work? How to tell about what he can do? Who will take it to work to make soap? For people of mature age, this is a big barrier and fear. In this direction, we are also going to involve our like-minded people, so that they may do several video lectures or a series of articles that will explain to people how they can apply their knowledge in life. In addition, it seems to us that the portal will be for people of mature age as an assistant not only in searching, but also in communication, in the implementation of their ideas.
Do older people often decide to do something radically new after they retire?
The process takes place from two sides: people who change their lives do so because the environment challenges them so much: they understand that they need to change and there is nothing wrong with that. These are not isolated cases, but a growing stream of people who are ready to change something in their lives.
We have a rewarding - festival-prize "50 plus". It involves people who send us their stories about how they changed their lives after 50. This happens in completely different areas - a person began to draw or, for example, was a military man, and began to breed chickens - there are many stories, and all of them more and more. Now the world is so open that it became clear that we should not conditionally work all our life at the plant. Soon, business will finally understand that the market will develop at the expense of people of mature age. This, for example, was realized by MTS: their coverage is growing due to the fact that “50 plus” people become users of phones and tablets. For several years they have been conducting training courses, telling how to work with gadgets, so that people do not get scared and buy these devices.
How do companies and employers treat older people?
The business has a problem in order to produce goods and services that meet the needs of people of mature age. And employers do not yet understand how they can work with older people. The work should be done from two sides: applicants do not need to "sell" (and companies need to demand from a job seeker) conditionally 35 years of work experience in accounting. Such an applicant should say, for example, that he can get out of any critical situation - say, that a tax came to his company 30 times, and he always coped.
Employers need to understand that energetic young people are enough to send to the right front of work, and they can give some basic, analytical work to people of more mature age, because those who are well-rounded have an eye full of hands. We talked, when discussing cooperation, with Jomart Aliev, the chairman of the Moscow International Higher Business School "Mirbis", that perhaps it is necessary to make training courses not only for people of the "third age", but also for employers to teach them correctly communicate with such workers.
For older people, work usually means office, full-time and standardized schedule. Is there an option for them to work from home - for example, for people with limited mobility?
We believe that the market is ready for remote work and part-time work, and workers will soon realize the beauty of it. In turn, we are conducting a survey among users on the portal, to which work schedule they are now more and ready. We will explain that there are other forms of interaction with the employer, and this should not frighten and embarrass people. Especially if a person knows how to handle a computer: he can use Skype or send his analytical reports or reviews by e-mail, and that will be enough. Someone will have one presence a day a week, someone three, and someone generally needs to come once a month to fly and discuss plans for the next month. In this sense, everything is very easy.
You work at the federal level. Are there any problems that are felt more acutely in the regions than in Moscow?
It seems to me that in the regions there can be only one aspect, which will be very different from Moscow, this is a choice. This applies not only to work: in many regions, for example, fewer shops, cinemas. Much depends on the region itself: if there is one budget-forming enterprise in it, as in Togliatti, then it is clear what residents will have the options: to make cars or cheat the sales of these cars. And, for example, in the Novosibirsk or Sverdlovsk region there are also science cities - there is a different choice and other possibilities. But again, due to the fact that you can both learn and work remotely, online, there is an opportunity to make a different choice. You can study in Moscow - to get an education in absentia. Not to mention the fact that there are areas in which a presence at the workplace is not needed - for example, in IT.
Do you think when working on a project about people who are not yet 50 years old? Are there any ways and measures to change the situation so that in the future they will not be held hostage to the same system?
For six years, we have seen such a trend: the composition of the guests of our annual exhibition is very rejuvenated. Now people come to us under the age of 40, older people who take with them someone from the family, or, conversely, young people who promise to bring their parents later. The exhibition has become so diverse that demand has appeared for the younger generation: on the one hand, they look at what they can offer their parents and how they can use it; on the other hand, when after some time they find themselves in this age category, they will know what to expect and where to direct their efforts to avoid age discrimination.
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