{"id":1566,"date":"2025-05-15T00:36:29","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T22:36:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/intersearch.us\/?p=1566"},"modified":"2025-05-15T00:44:39","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T22:44:39","slug":"underemployment-of-seniors-were-all-responsible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intersearch.us\/es\/underemployment-of-seniors-were-all-responsible\/","title":{"rendered":"Underemployment of seniors\u2026 we\u2019re all responsible!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Article by Alban Azzopardi<\/a>, Chief Executive Officer of the French member of InterSearch Worldwide<\/a>, Grant Alexander.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between the highly sensitive issue of pay and that of generational breakdown, Alban Azzopardi looks at the reasons why older French people find it so difficult to find work or stay in work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the employment rate of 55\u201364-year-olds in France has risen significantly to 57%, it still lags behind the European average by more than 5 points, and even Denmark by almost 15 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few days ago, the French Minister of the Economy said he was in favour of lowering the duration of unemployment benefits for the over-55s to bring them into line with those of other unemployed workers. But will this really solve the problem?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a fact: on average, company directors and HR directors recruit a few older employees, often preferring younger profiles. Yet they say they have no objective reason to disadvantage them, and even recognize their many skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can we explain this paradox? Recruiters cite two main reasons. The first is the sensitive issue of remuneration. In fact, we seem to consider that advancing in age should automatically be accompanied by an increase in salary as if it were justified to remunerate experience rather than current added value. Similarly, a younger employee has no fewer needs than an older one. This is even truer in France than in other OECD countries: in France, the average salary of over-55s is 17% higher than that of 25\u201354-year-olds, compared with 11% in Germany and 3% in Denmark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breaking with this line of reasoning would mean, on a case-by-case basis, aligning a senior employee\u2019s remuneration with the tasks actually entrusted to him or her. Although possible and legitimate on a case-by-case basis, this solution cannot be applied across the board: it would be neither fair (higher salaries may also reflect, in part, greater productivity), nor even desirable given the decline in purchasing power. To preserve purchasing power, we would have to compensate for any reductions in remuneration with new exemptions from charges linked to age or type of contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second reason has to do with day-to-day corporate life. In the face of generational disruptions, linked to technological upheavals and societal changes, some people \u2013 wrongly \u2013 doubt that a senior employee can adapt to the profound and rapid evolution of the world of work, and integrate into younger teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which brings us to another question: what if the employment difficulties experienced by older people reflect our particular relationship to work, leisure and retirement? This is in a state of upheaval. On average, we\u2019ll be living and working longer and differently. Beyond a post-COVID effect, we\u2019re convinced that we\u2019re only at the beginning of a revolution that should push us all to evolve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as employees are concerned, the change is well underway, with the questioning of an approach that distinguishes between well-defined periods: studies, then employment (valuing the sacrosanct CDI and career advancement) and finally retirement, materialized by the psychological cut-off age of 60, which has changed little despite successive reforms. More and more working people \u2013 and not just young people \u2013 are planning to move back and forth between training, employment and career breaks, seeking a better balance between personal and family life, and changing companies and even professions more frequently. From this point of view, the last years of working life can be seen as a period of transition during which people wish to \u201ctake their foot off the accelerator\u201d while remaining active and giving their employer the benefit of their experience and skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, companies have a crucial role to play! It\u2019s not a question of encouraging them to \u201ctake the risk\u201d of recruiting a senior employee, but of helping them to profoundly change their approach to the issue. They need to integrate intergenerational skills into the company as an inescapable and beneficial fact and give their senior employees the right place, the one in which they will flourish most, in the interests of the whole company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether we act on remuneration or the content of the assignment, we won\u2019t be able to do without overhauling the professional framework, giving more space to agility, with, in particular, more short contracts linked to precise assignments, remunerated according to the work produced and not the CV of the holder. The fact that France is lagging behind in the employment of older workers reflects our psychological, organizational and legal rigidities. It is by tackling these issues without taboos that we will meet the challenge of a society where fulfillment can become a reality at any age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the <\/strong>French member of InterSearch Worldwide<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For over 30 years, Grant Alexander has been a partner in the performance of organisations and their leaders, providing them with comprehensive support for all their skills management and development needs, always with a tailor-made response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A multi-specialist HR consulting and services group, with 4 activities (Executive Search, Executive Interim, Leadership Development, HR & Organisation Transformation), it operates in all sectors, on all functions (managers\/experts \/rare profiles), throughout the world. It has several offices in France (Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Toulouse), an office in Abidjan for Africa, and is an active member of Intersearch, of which it is the exclusive partner in France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A socially committed player, Grant Alexander<\/a> is Lucie 26000 certified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our mission: \u201cWe are committed, every day, to enable organisations and their leaders to build an enthusiastic future by opening up new perspectives and helping them to develop their full potential.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Article by Alban Azzopardi, Chief Executive Officer of the French member of InterSearch Worldwide, Grant Alexander. Between the highly sensitive issue of […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diversity-inclusion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intersearch.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intersearch.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intersearch.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intersearch.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intersearch.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1566"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/intersearch.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1570,"href":"https:\/\/intersearch.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1566\/revisions\/1570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intersearch.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intersearch.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intersearch.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intersearch.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}