2024 考研英语阅读理解练习试题 In 2024 a French foodcompany wanted to buy a familyowned firm in India. The patriarch was 72, andthe French firm wanted to send someone of similar experience to talk to him. Butbecause of its youthful corporate culturemost people are pushed out of the door in their mid40sit had no one to send. In the end, through Experconnect, anemployment agency in Paris which places retired people, it found a 58yearoldformer head of a European consumergoods firm, and sent him out to Mumbai. France has a poorrecord when it comes to keeping older people in the workforce. The retirementage is 60, not 65 as in most developed countries. In 2024 only 37.8% of peopleaged between 55 and 64 had jobs, versus 56.8% in Britain and 44.9% in Germany.The main reason is that in the 1980s, when there was high unemployment, thegovernment promoted early retirement. That entrenched the idea that olderworkers were less productive, says Caroline Young, Experconnects founder. Now companies areworried about losing their most skilled workers, especially as the babyboomgeneration nears retirement. Areva, a nuclearpower group, recently launched ascheme to address the needs of older employees, and plans to use about 100retired people a year through Experconnect. Because nuclear power was unpopularfor decades, Areva stopped training engineers, so that much of its expertiselies with its oldest staff. Now it is taking much more interest in them. We have to bring about a revolution in opinion, says Jean Cassingena, its humanresources strategist. Unlike otherrecruitment agencies, Experconnect keeps its workers on its own books, so theycan carry on drawing their pensions. They tend to work parttime on oneoffprojects. En...
