10 Mar FEL Talks to Reuters / Telegraph on the Need for Older Workers

A Reuters article titled: ‘Britain’s early retired resist calls to work, despite higher living costs’ discusses the economic need for retirees to leave the golf course and re-enter the world of work to help boost the UK’s coffers. Published on the 9th March 2023 and compiled by David Milliken, Fashion-Enter Ltd is featured in the article with machinist Yasemin Mehmet, 68, returning to the factory floor and CEO Jenny Holloway discussing the issue.

The article reviews both sides of the story with retirees saying they are happy to remain out of the workforce, while employers state that they are experiencing a serious skilled worker shortage. According to the article, Britain is the only one of the world’s seven largest advanced economies to still be smaller than it was before the pandemic, and economists see a link to the smaller workforce.

Talking to Jenny Holloway about the issue she said: “Older workers are the ones that have got the skills – we don’t find young people with the skills that we need. So it’s very important to retain them.”

The article introduces Yasemin Mehmet, 68, she returned to Fashion-Enter last year after briefly retiring in late 2021 to care for her daughter and grandson, who were in poor health. As she machine-sewed a wedding dress, Mehmet said money was part of the reason she returned, but that she still enjoyed creating clothes, more than half a century after starting work as a 14-year-old girl. “I made it up. I created it. That’s always given me pleasure,” she said.

Jenny told Reuters that she has increased pay a bit and offered flexible job roles and shifts to make the apparel company more appealing. A skilled stitcher can earn £20 pounds ($24) an hour, – well above the British average – but it takes years for a new worker to reach that standard.

Research by the Trades Union Congress suggests that for lower-paid Britons aged 50-64, ill health is a more common reason to leave work than early retirement. While Business groups and researchers agree that acting on childcare would do more to unlock greater economic growth.

To read the full article tap here

Segments from this article were also featured in The Telegraph. The two articles are highlighting the importance of training and retaining the workforce for all companies in the fashion sector today and a further video was created to support the importance of skills within the sector: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRe9xuZSFBc

As part of the Social Value Matrix FEL undertakes a host of press and promotional activities that results in added coverage for the FC Designer Workspace, this is part of the Public Relations that is undertaken within the Toms set by Islington Council.