To help with the expense of living crisis, a 78-year-old man has taken on a 40-hour-per-week call-center job.
Maurice Taylor of Cambridge, Peterborough, had retired in 2012 but felt forced to return to work in order to ‘future-proof my existence’ as energy costs continue to rise.
‘One of the benefits is that I’ll be kept warm by their heating cost rather than mine over the cold,’ he told the BBC.
Mr Taylor previously worked as a project manager for a company that provided furniture and other educational supplies.
He says he is looking forward to the social contact of the office, in addition to battling the cost of living.
And he has nothing but love for his new boss, Addison Lee, who he says was instrumental in his hiring, noting that his age was never an issue throughout the interview process.
‘I haven’t worked full time in ten years,’ Mr Taylor remarked.
‘I had what seemed like a reasonable pension ten years ago but it hasn’t kept pace with the rate of inflation.
‘Prices are going up for heating, gas and electricity. I’m alarmed by the further increases in the cost of fuel and petrol.
‘I know that we are told the current situation is temporary but prices will never go back to where they were before.
‘Rather than getting left behind by the situation – and we can’t predict how much more prices will go up – I decided to do something about it.
‘I’m not poor. I’m better off than a lot of pensioners but I wanted to future proof my finances. It’s my long term survival plan.’
Maurice began working at an insurance agency in 1961, when he was 17 years old, examining death claims.
Before retiring ten years ago, he worked in sales for a furniture company.
Maurice, on the other hand, applied for a customer service position at Addison Lee on May 10 and received a phone interview two days later.
On May 19, he went for an assessment and face-to-face interview and was offered the job the next day, which entails addressing client inquiries over the phone.
Maurice said: ‘They didn’t mention my age at all. I did tell them and they said that it doesn’t matter.
‘I’ve been a widower for 10 years and I spend a lot of time at home on my own.
‘The opportunity to be going to a workplace and mixing with colleagues day by day is really quite refreshing for me.
‘I will be the grandfather of the workplace.’
Addison Lee’s head of customer assistance, Sanj Gherra, stated the company supports diversity and inclusion.
‘The beautiful thing about Maurice is that he has a lot of experience engaging with clients, so coming to work for us here was a no-brainer,’ he said.
In recent months, the cost-of-living issue has impacted practically every aspect of household finances as Britons struggle to balance their accounts at home in the face of 9% inflation, skyrocketing energy bills, and rising food prices.
In April, a slew of bills were raised, including council tax hikes, a 1.25 percentage point increase in national insurance to assist pay for health and social care, and an increase in the energy price cap to a £1,971 average.