Leisure industry offers opportunities for older workers financially impacted by COVID-19

With over half of older workers in Australia have been financially impacted by COVID-19, Bruce MacKenzie, Managing Director and founder of workforce management software leader Humanforce, believes that older workers are now more open minded to different types of employment and are looking to explore opportunities within the leisure industry, with 41% open to casual employment and 39% open to any type of work.

MacKenzie’s comments are based on newly released Humanforce survey that revealed that as Australia’s unemployment rate rose to 6.9% in September amid the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, 42% of older workers said they had recently lost their job or had their hours reduced.

The survey also found that 52% of older workers in Australia had suffered financially due to the pandemic.

As a result of the challenges faced during COVID-19, MacKenzie stated “we know that COVID-19 is changing the face of work across the world, as unemployment rates continue to rise. Our research shows that one of the flow-on effects could be that older Australians who lose their job because of the pandemic will be transitioning into different types of work, including casual work in the leisure field. This means employers need to look closer at how to support older Australians as casual employees.”

Older Australian workers said the key factors they would look for in casual employment in the leisure industry would be a stable income (70%), a reliable number of days and hours (65%) and flexibility with days and hours (62%).

Mackenzie noted “a common misconception about older workers is that they aren’t open to learning new technologies or skills as part of their job.

“Yet the overwhelming majority of older workers we surveyed were supportive of casual jobs where automated technologies were used or where they could retrain or learn new skills.”

Almost three-quarters (73%) of older workers said they are open to using automated technologies and 85% are open to retraining or learning new skills in a new role. Most of them (65%) also said that the best way to support older workers in using technology at work would be through training provided by a manager or colleague.

Mackenzie added “Australian businesses are going to need casual workers to assist in their recovery from COVID-19. As older Australians become more open to casual work due to the pandemic, this is an opportunity for employers to also become more open minded about employing and supporting them in casual roles.”

Methodology
Sydney-based Humanforce Humanforce contracted Zoho Survey to survey 500 older worker respondents (workers of ages 45 and over) as part of this research project.

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Click here to contact Humanforce via their entry in the Australasian Leisure Management Supplier Directory.