Six ways to be happier at work in your fifties
We live in a society obsessed with youth, but we also have a rapidly ageing population. By 2030, almost half of all employees in the UK workforce will be over 50, and now, in 2026, one in three workers are over 50. Yet, age is the “least scrutinised and most widely accepted form of discrimination in the UK”, according to the Centre for Ageing Better, with more than a third (36 per cent) of those between 50 and 69 believing that their age puts them at a disadvantage when they apply for jobs. For those already employed, things can be tough too, as mid-life can bring with it a feeling of invisibility and insecurity. The Age Without Limits study from 2024 shows that 37 per cent of workers between 51 to 70 felt badly treated in work because of their age.
Lyndsey Simpson is the author of The Age Rebellion, and founder of 55/Redefined, an organisation working to end ageism in the workplace. “Feeling insecure at work in your fifties?” she says. “Well, it’s not all in your head. Ageism is a very real thing, but it can be a shock when it happens to us. It’s one of those things we think only happens to other people, but not to us, because we’re good at our job. You could be the highest-performing person at work, you’ve had a headhunter tapping you on the shoulder your whole career and then all of a sudden you find yourself in your fifties, the phone stops ringing, opportunities stop presenting and you’re suddenly plateauing a bit. You’re thinking, ‘Hang on a minute. I’ve been doing everything right, haven’t I? I’ve been loyal, I’ve been delivering, I show up, even with a cold. And somehow, it’s not working.’
“However, it’s important to remember you as an individual are not the problem, it’s that our workplaces have run out of steam midway through our careers. There’s this assumption about being put out to pasture, and the workforce was not designed for older workers – but now that we’re living longer, and working longer, we have to challenge myths around ageing and remember that over-fifties are a crucial part of the workforce. While no individual can battle systemic, societal-wide ageism on their own, there are lots of ways to rethink your expectations about mid-life work. Here are six tips from Simpson on what to do – and what not to do – to make this period of work a happier, and more meaningful one.
Do: learn new skills – age is not a barrier
“When you hit mid-life,” says Simpson, “it’s easy to get onto the hamster wheel. Life’s busy, you’ve got caregiving responsibilities, things can be intense and you might stop thinking about what your career is going to look like in five, 10, 15 years. But here’s the thing; if you’re not liking work, it’s because you have an issue doing the job you’re doing – you’ve either been doing it for too long and you’ve got bored, or you’re not challenged enough. But the issue is not with the work, not your age. So, we have to start getting smarter about doing the same level of career planning and thoughtfulness into our fifties, as we would have put into our twenties.
“We might have decades of work in front of us, so how are we going to reskill? Where are our passions? Where can we earn money? What are the industries and rules where there is a constant demand for talent, but there’s not enough people coming through? It’s possible to reinvent yourself and see what you’re really good at. And start to have a plan for the future that is really interesting.”
Don’t: accept redundancy too quickly
“There’s a sure-fire way to jump off the cliff at work,” says Simpson. “And it’s accepting redundancy quickly, or targeting it. Your company has some voluntary redundancies going on, so you might put your hand up because you can get a payout and you’re not really loving what you’re doing. I can categorically tell you that it’s going to be so much harder to get back into work if you don’t have a plan before you take that leap.
“I see so many successful people think, ‘I’ve done well at work, I’m going to take that redundancy payout, or an extra-long sabbatical, and rethink what I want to do next.’ But ageism is real, so you’ve got to get the next thing lined up. It could be a job similar to what you’re already doing, or it could be that you’ve decided you want to set up your own business, or something entirely different. Whatever it is, do as much as you possibly can to get all of those things in place before you leap off the cliff. So many people are lemmings leaping into the unknown without a plan, and then they’re really struggling 18 months down the line, being in their late fifties, a good 10 years off of being able to access their pensions, and stuck in no man’s land.
Do: make it clear you’re not full-time childcare
“One of the things we hear a lot, particularly from women, is this: ‘How do I tell my adult children I don’t want to be a grandparent doing full-time childcare?’ People tell us their daughter, or son’s partner, is pregnant and the expectation is they’re going to be a major carer to the grandchild. But they, in fact, want to go back to university, or their career is just getting going, and they feel they’ve done their child-rearing, and want to simply be a weekend grandparent. But it’s so culturally taboo that they tell us they’ve never voiced this to another human being, and certainly not their loved ones. They often have huge guilt for even thinking it, let alone actioning it.
“My advice is not to wait until your child becomes pregnant to have this conversation, get in really early. Say, ‘You know, I’m thinking I’m going to be working for years to come, and I love what I’m doing, and am going to keep reinventing myself. Just so you know, when the time comes, I’m going to be here for you as a grandparent, but you’re going to need to think about childcare, because I’m not going to be able to do for you what my mum did for me.’ Have these conversations before the situation gets too emotionally charged.”
Do: embrace tech
“One of the laziest assumptions we make about older people, or ourselves as we age,” says Simpson, “is that we can’t pick up how to use new tech, because we’re not a ‘digital native’ – it’s a terrible phrase which is a load of nonsense. You give a 10-year-old a cassette player now, if they’ve never seen it before, and they have absolutely no idea how to use those machines. They don’t know how a cassette would work. They don’t know how to forward or rewind. And it’s not because they’re not quick to adapt, it’s because it’s a completely different way of serving up technology to what they’re used to. It’s the same with giving older people new tech. It’s actually about letting them get comfortable with the tech, and learning it. Give it a bit of time, and the knowledge will come.”
Do: ask yourself if you really need that pay rise
“Money is the most taboo subject of all for mid-life employees,” says Simpson. “The truth is that after 30 years in an industry, you’re likely to be expensive for the business, and you aren’t going to be able to compete with people 30 years younger than you who can do the same job but they cost the business less. So think carefully; do you need the extra money? Could you trade some of that money you earn, to work a bit less, and do more things you enjoy?
“For example, working four days a week, to spend one day volunteering at a charity you care about. Or have an unpaid week off every month. It’s worth having some adult conversations between employers and employees, because our research shows that purpose is so much more important than money in this stage of life. In fact, the salary we earn drops out of the top three reasons that people over 50 go to work.
“You may need your whole salary, yes. But if you don’t truly need that extra money, if you could earn a bit less, if this cycle of pay rises has become something that you’ve been attaching to your self-worth and your value to a company, then think of a negotiation that you can trade the money for. The things that we find are most important to people in this age group is time. They want to live more and work less. What they don’t want to do is either work 80 hours a week, or be retired and not work at all. There might well be something in the middle, you can figure out with your workplace.”
Don’t: retire too early
“Rushing into retirement can be a big mistake,” says Simpson. “Everybody thinks early retirement is the dream – that it’s all lying around, going on holiday, learning Spanish and seeing your mates, but the reality can be quite different. I’ve seen how retirement often makes people happier for the first year, and then once you’ve done up your house, seen all your mates, there can be loneliness, lack of purpose and a sense of invisibility. Men in particular can struggle because their social connections, and identity, can be very closely associated with their careers. I have men who are two years into their retirement in their early sixties saying, ‘Is this it? Am I now an unpaid taxi driver to my grandkids?’ They don’t have a sense of what they’ll do seven days a week, 24 hours a day, for decades to come. They may feel a huge desire to get back to work, but by that point, it’s really hard to reinvent yourself, to come back, and unretire.
“The reality is that anybody who is right now in their fifties or sixties, are pioneers,” says Simpson. “They are the first humans on the planet to have the benefit of these 30 years of extra life expectancy. They can’t look to their parents’ generation as a guide, as their parents didn’t have that gift. Often, mid-lifers are therefore a little bit lost, and they’re a little bit kind of scared, but also optimistic. They feel healthier and wealthier than they ever thought they’d imagine at this age. And there are ways to navigate this to make those years, and beyond, full of opportunity and meaning.”
The Age Rebellion by Lindsey Simpson, Hachette, £22
