EMPLOYERS must become more flexible to save the economy, according to the boss of Guernsey’s best small business.

Kathy Tracey (pictured), managing director of The Learning Company, which won the best small business prize at the Awards for Achievement, spoke following the release of results from Commerce and Employment’s workforce participation survey.

It revealed that less than half of respondents had arrangements in place to employ people at or around retirement age.

‘Many people have got a lot of skills at that age and it is a shame we are losing them from the workforce,’ she said. ‘People need to be more open about looking at skills and talents rather than just age and making assumptions about what people can and want to do.’

She said the answer was to discuss the issue openly.

‘It’s about talking to employees, saying what are you motivated to do and seeing if it is good for the business.

‘We don’t have a compulsory retirement age and I would be very surprised if people I employ who are at that age would want to stop – I would be very happy to keep them on. They have the experience and are good at their jobs.’

Her concerns were echoed by Chamber of Commerce director Barry Cash, who said businesses would be stretched to find enough people if the current trend continued. ‘If you look at the ratio of people working to people who are dependent it is four to one, but in 25 years it will be more like two to one,’ he said.