Home-workers now say they will put off retirement
NEW YORK: COVID-19 is now also threatening to eschew the retirement plans of an entire generation.
Older Britons will delay their retirement if they can continue working from home after the pandemic, the Office for National Statistics has said.
An ONS survey found that 11 per cent of those older than 50 who were working entirely from home planned to retire late, compared with 5 per cent of those having to go to work. A similar result was found for older workers with long-term illnesses or disabilities.
The ONS said that a permanent shift to more remote working could boost the economy by bringing more older people into the labour market. If the employment rate of people aged 50 to 64 matched that of those aged 35 to 49, the size of the economy would be increased by about £88 billion, it estimated.
The survey found that working from home reduced sick days, for which absences are typically higher among those older than 50. “This could be because those working from home have less exposure to illnesses,” the ONS said. “Also, when unwell, those working from home may be more likely to feel able to work than those who travel to a workplace.”
Older workers also said they were more productive at home. The survey, conducted last summer but released yesterday, found that about three quarters of those over 50 who were working from home claimed to get the same amount or more done than before the pandemic, and only 25 per cent reported decreased productivity.
Many people over 50 leave work before the state pension age through choice or through illness. In 2019, 51.9 per cent of 64-year-olds were economically inactive.
More provisions to work from home would allow women especially to remain in the labour force. At the age of 50, 17.9 per cent of women were economically inactive in 2019 compared with 9.6 per cent of men. At 64, this was 58.6 per cent for women and 44.9 per cent for men.
Older workers have long been asking employers for greater flexibility. A poll in 2018 by Saga, the cruise and insurance group focused on those aged 50 and over, found that 78 per cent of its target clients wanted arrangements to work from home.
Remote working during the pandemic has changed perceptions of what is possible. Those with caring responsibilities or ill-health, the groups most likely to stop working before the pension age, would be most likely to benefit, the ONS said.
During lockdown 45 per cent of women and 38 per cent of men in their fifties switched to home working. Those in managerial and professional posts were most likely to work remotely.
Cheney Hamilton, chief executive of FindYourFlex, a flexible working recruiter in Darlington, Co Durham, said that older workers were seeking flexibility “to accommodate a better work-life balance”.
Helping employees to stay in the workforce can improve mental health and financial stability, the ONS said. It warned, however, that remote working was not for everyone.
“While it may help some older workers stay in the labour market for longer it may also entrench existing inequalities,” it said. “Those who were less likely to have been able to switch . . . are more likely to have poor health, to live in deprived areas, to have lower or no qualifications and to have lower wellbeing than those who did not.
“From the individual older worker’s perspective, their wellbeing and work-life balance improves, health issues, appear to be better accommodated and there is some evidence that working from home facilitates older workers to remain in the labour market for longer.”