Carina Roth, 31, is the co-founder of WisR, an Austrian online platform that helps match retirees with companies looking for qualified workers. Since its founding in 2017, the start-up has grown tremendously: It\u2019s brought about 3,000 retirees and over 200 companies together. \u201cEvery person, despite their age, can do anything,\u201d says Roth. \u201cAge does not define who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Roth grew up in the Austrian countryside. After finishing her MBA, she began working as a commodities trader. After three years, she wanted to start her own business. \u201cI wanted to do something more purposeful,\u201d she says now. \u201cI did have an impact with my job, but not enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So Roth went looking for co-founders in the start-up scene. In Vienna, she met entrepreneur Klaudia Bachinger, who was looking for a business person in her team. Bachinger wanted to build a platform where retirees could find a job. \u201cWhat I liked about the idea of WisR, was that it would serve a real need and problem. This would be something long lasting and sustainable,\u201d Roth says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The platform helps address a global workforce crisis caused by ageing populations. It also serves a social function. \u201cWork provides social contact,\u201d says Roth, something researchers have shown keeps people healthy and happy in their old age. It offers a way to help maintain the expertise and experience of retirees and reduce poverty in places where retirees are seeing their benefits get cut. In Germany for example, 50% of people retiring in 2020 will need to make up a shortfall of 700 euro per month to maintain their standards of living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBy 2030 there will be a worldwide labour shortage, because of demographic ageing\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n But why should companies hire elderly? \u201cThey have technical knowledge,\u201d says Roth. retirees often have twenty, thirty or forty years of experience in their field of expertise. Recently, the company matched a retired technical drawer with somebody who creates an exoskeleton. \u201cHe really helped this young company with their product development,\u201d says Roth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, present-day retirees are a very loyal generation. According to Roth, they are less likely to jump around and switch positions. Besides, this group of older people are highly motivated. \u201cThey are already done working,\u201d says Roth. \u201cThey don\u2019t have to work, they want to work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the retirees, WisR is free. Companies, on the other hand, pay for access to the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The founders of WisR have international ambitions. There are plans to move the platform to several European countries, the United States, and Asia. \u201cBy 2030 there will be a worldwide labour shortage, because of demographic ageing,\u201d says Roth. \u201cWe could go country after country, but we could also create a global platform\u201d. In the last case, people in one country could be matched with companies in another country. Roth: \u201cEverything is possible\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWhat I liked about the idea … was that it would serve a real need and problem. This would be something long lasting and sustainable.\u201d \u2013 Carina Roth (31): co-founder of WisR Carina Roth, 31, is the co-founder of WisR, an Austrian online platform that helps match retirees with companies looking for qualified workers. Since […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":2168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[65],"class_list":["post-2167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insights"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"acf":[],"featured_image_urls_v2":{"full":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/carina-roth-web.jpg",960,1440,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/carina-roth-web-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/carina-roth-web-200x300.jpg",200,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/carina-roth-web-768x1152.jpg",768,1152,true],"large":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/carina-roth-web-683x1024.jpg",683,1024,true],"xl":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/carina-roth-web.jpg",960,1440,false],"xxl":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/carina-roth-web.jpg",960,1440,false],"xxxl":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/carina-roth-web.jpg",960,1440,false],"xxxxl":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/carina-roth-web.jpg",960,1440,false],"xxxxxl":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/carina-roth-web.jpg",960,1440,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/carina-roth-web-1024x1536.jpg",1024,1536,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/carina-roth-web-1365x2048.jpg",1365,2048,true]},"post_excerpt_stackable_v2":" \u201cWhat I liked about the idea … was that it would serve a real need and problem. This would be something long lasting and sustainable.\u201d \u2013 Carina Roth (31): co-founder of WisR Carina Roth, 31, is the co-founder of WisR, an Austrian online platform that helps match retirees with companies looking for qualified workers. Since its founding in 2017, the start-up has grown tremendously: It\u2019s brought about 3,000 retirees and over 200 companies together. \u201cEvery person, despite their age, can do anything,\u201d says Roth. \u201cAge does not define who we are.\u201d Roth grew up in the Austrian countryside. After finishing…<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"INSIGHTS<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"wordpress@weitblick-online.ch","url":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/author\/wordpressweitblick-online-ch\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","authors":[{"term_id":65,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"julia-koster","display_name":"Julia Koster","avatar_url":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/gravatars\/762b22de4bf1bf3924204e9b02554eaa","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2167"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3066,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2167\/revisions\/3066"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2167"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}