The role of older workers in optical practices

While it might be too late for most people to retrain in later life as an optometrist, it does not mean that the older worker does not have a role to play in a practice. 

Restless.co.uk, a forum for the over-50s, posted a blog in March 2023 that named eight companies actively employing the older worker. Number two on the list was Boots, which the blog noted ‘offers a variety of positions in management roles, pharmacy positions, and administration roles… including in their opticians.’ 

Compulsory retirement at pension age, now 66, has not been legal since the abolition of the default retirement age in 2011, a point noted by Optician in February of that year. As a result, the profession still has a number of older workers.