AN employee of a city firm is stressing there is no best before date for workers.

Safety Media Ltd in St Asaph is showing its support for a Welsh Government campaign designed to challenge stereotypes and encourage employers to build a multigenerational workforce across Wales.

By 2022, one-in-three people of working age in Wales will be age 50 and over.

Despite this, 28 per cent of people aged 50-64 years in the UK are not actually in work.

The ‘People Don’t Have a Best Before Date’ campaign highlights the valuable contribution older workers bring to businesses across Wales as well as the wider economy, while also encouraging employers to recruit, retain and train their employees who are over the age of 50.

When award-winning software company Safety Media met Louise Taylor at interview they offered her the job on the spot embracing her skills and experience as the perfect fit for the role of customer success manager.

She was given the chance to remould the customer support model, manage product launches and train staff.

Her job now, says 51-year-old Louise, is all about offering technical support and training to the firm’s larger corporate customers – proactively making sure they feel valued and engage with the software they’ve purchased.

Louise had been thinking of early retirement after over 20 years with banking group HSBC, but redundancy in her 40s cut short the position and her plans.

Now she loves the new job so much that retirement has gone off the radar.

“At HSBC I was implementation and training manager for the global internet banking system covering the North West of the UK.

"While Safety Media is a smaller company, I am using a lot of the same skills, whilst supporting customers across the UK and across the globe,” she said.

But Louise has brought more than software skills to Safety Media.

Louise said: “I do think it’s tempting for employers to look to young people for IT jobs, expecting them to be more software-savvy.

“We have some really switched-on graduates in this company who’ve taught me a lot, but in a role like mine I not only offer the knowledge of IT and the software we’re selling, but years of customer service experience too.

"The stuff that gives you collaborative, conversational skills; an understanding of how to support people in different roles, with varying degrees of or even very little IT knowledge.

“I’ve become a go-to person when the younger members of the team need support with those skills.

“It's the stuff you don’t learn at university but really need – and you learn by working with others."

General manager Chris Chappell added: "I think companies can underestimate how crucial soft skills are in a company like ours and how employees with experience bring them into a business.

"The way we recruit, and the culture we've built, has created the greatest dynamic.

"People can share their experience and knowledge with each other and we all benefit as a result."

"Age doesn’t separate us, in fact I feel like it brings us together and helps make the company stronger," says Louise.

Minister for economy, transport and North Wales Ken Skates AM said: “For business in Wales, there is an overwhelming case for investing in the skills of their workforce, especially those aged 50 and over who make a significant contribution to our economy.

“In only two years’ time, it’s likely one in three workers in Wales will be aged 50 and over.

"Businesses have a great opportunity to benefit from their skills, knowledge and experience to pass on to younger people entering the workplace.

“This campaign challenges ageist stereotypes about older workers and shines a light on the need for Welsh businesses to take action when it comes to future-proofing their workforce and celebrating the difference employees 50 and over make. This is particularly the case for SMEs, for whom losing the valuable skills and experience of older workers can have much more of an impact.

“Employers need to assess, monitor and consider the needs of their more experienced workers, as the role they play in businesses across Wales is critical to the success and prosperity of the Welsh economy.”

The Welsh Government has partnered with the Learning and Work Institute, Business in the Community (BITC) Cymru, the Older People’s Commission, Ageing Well in Wales, the Federation for Small Businesses and Chwarae Teg on this campaign to challenge stereotypes, demonstrate the value of a multi-generational workforce and encourage employers to invest in skills throughout their employees’ working lives.

For employers looking for more information on how they can invest in the skills of their older workers, go to https://businesswales.gov.wales/skillsgateway/