According to the latest Opinion Way survey for Indeed, two thirds of French employees surveyed also attribute companies’ recruitment difficulties to this discrimination against older candidates.
The president of the Pensions Advisory Council, Gilbert Cette, stated on BFM Business last Friday: an increase in the French employment rate is essential to reduce the deficit in the pension system in the long term. And the head of the COR is targeting three categories of population to increase this employment rate, namely young people, the low-skilled and, of course, seniors.
However, although older employees seem to be appreciated by their colleagues, the latter believe that candidates aged 45-50 or over are victims of discrimination when it comes to hiring by recruiters. According to the latest study by the Opinion Way firm for the Indeed website, 68% of the approximately 1,000 employees surveyed made this observation and almost as many (67%) believe that companies’ recruitment difficulties are partly linked to this targeted discrimination, beyond the often-deplored lack of manpower.
French employees are therefore fully aware of the difficulties faced by seniors on the job market. More than 70% feel that it is difficult to find a job from the age of 45-50 and more than 60% believe that beyond this age, people looking for work must accept jobs below their level of skills.
Recruitment that employees no longer consider “relevant” beyond the age of 59
However, a very large majority (94%) of French employees in private companies with 20 or more employees work alongside employees aged 45-50 or over. While 78% of respondents note that their company recruits seniors, they are just as likely to want to see an increase in the recruitment of these profiles, which they perceive as necessary for their company. This desire increases with the age of the employees surveyed (81% of employees aged 50 or over compared to 73% of those under 35) and if they already work alongside senior colleagues (80% when this is the case instead of 56% in the opposite situation).
On the other hand, this benevolence of employees towards older people seems to have a limit which is around 59 years old. From this age, they tend to consider that the recruitment of the employee is no longer relevant for their team. Employees even reduce this “pivot age” to 58 years old. “From 45-50 years old, workers are perceived as high-risk candidates, despite their wealth of skills. This established discrimination, which begins well before retirement age, reflects a worrying paradox: seniors are celebrated in theory but excluded in practice”, regrets Indeed, which calls in particular for government initiatives.
