Sodexo brought together oil and gas industry leaders to discuss the talent opportunities arising from the increasing number of older workers in Scotland.

Scotland’s workforce has aged dramatically in the past 20 years with the number of people aged 45 to 64 having increased by 26% according to Scottish Government figures.

Although employment among this group is increasing, it is not growing fast enough to meet the needs of our economy or to accommodate real choice among employers and older workers.

Sodexo brought together senior executives from leading oil and gas companies to discuss and share best practice on how business can align their future talent pipeline to support people wishing to extend their working lives. 

Sodexo’s Susan Elston, SVP Offshore & Marine and Nathalie Brindeau, HR Director for Energy & Resources were was joined by Wendy Loretto, Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Dean of the University of Edinburgh Business School, as well as Sue Adlam-Hill and Susan Gordon from Age Scotland as speakers at the event.

Wendy Loretto, Dean of the University of Edinburgh Business School said: “We know the workforce is getting older and businesses need to take steps to address this as this group is our future talent pool. It is imperative that we avoid creating a two-tier workforce and increase the awareness of the benefits of flexible working for both the employer and the employee.”

Nathalie Brindeau, HR Director for Sodexo’s Energy & Resources in the UK and Ireland, role, company said: “Last year we began working with Age Scotland to help us address the age-related challenges we were coming across in our business. Together, we developed an action plan that includes training programmes to equip our managers with skills to manage employees wanting to work longer and to promote flexible working options to employees of all ages. We are also implementing initiatives to support employees in areas such as financial planning and health campaigns.”

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