Peter Sheppard – Mature Age Employment Success Story
Peter Sheppard Footwear is renowned for its quality customer service. It is also renowned for its employment of mature age Australians.
‘Our clients are looking for a unique and customised service – both in terms of the product and service,’ company CEO Chris Sheppard said. ‘They expect our staff to be very well informed about the products and take a genuine interest in helping them find the right product.
‘We realised very soon after we established our business that we needed a mature age recruitment strategy that was specific to our business model and that a generic approach would not work for us.’
Chris said mature age workers contributed to less staff turnover, exceptional service and business growth through return customers.

ACCOR scores with mature age recruitment strategy
ACCOR’s mature age recruitment strategy in Canberra has provided its hotels with employees with a sought after skillset— and demonstrated how collaborative employment pathways can benefit the community.
‘We recognised that many mature age people are well suited to work with our guests because of their high order interpersonal skills, confidence, life experience, and high levels of emotional intelligence,’ Senior Talent and Culture Manager – Canberra Hotels Kelly Small said.
Much of ACCOR’s workforce is seasonal which makes it challenging to attract and retain staff, other than university students. ACCOR needed a steady pool of employees who already had an in-depth understanding of customer relations and maturity to deal with changing situations.