The Adaptable and Innovative Older Worker
How often have we heard that older workers have a reputation for being set in their ways, technologically illiterate, have little interest in developing new skills, are past their creative best and as well lack entrepreneurial ambition. Just to add to this glowing assessment, Mark Zuckerberg of META and Vinod Khosla a co-founder of Sun Microsystems have both remarked that people under 35 are the people who make change happen whilst those over 45 are no longer capable of generating new ideas.
Yet, there is a large gap between the perception of older workers as stuck in an ‘ancient world’ and the reality of their change capabilities and behaviours. Once more empirical research is helping paint a far more accurate picture of the older worker which is a world away from the change-resistant myth dragging down their workforce reputation.
Busting some Misconceptions
1: Older Workers Are Comfortable with Technology
Research evidence demonstrates that the stereotype of older workers as computer illiterate and unwilling to embrace digital technology is nothing more than a hoary old chestnut at odds with the current reality.
In Australia, most workers over 50 are computer literate and 46% of people over 65 are active users of the Internet.
Australians aged 55-64 are the fastest-growing users of information technology.
In the US the share of workers using computers at home is now identical for older and younger workers at 84 percent.
Older workers in the US are rapidly catching up to younger workers on several other key measures of technology usage, including ownership of smartphones and tablets and use of social media.
Between 2011 and 2018, the percentage of Baby Boomers in the US with a smartphone surged from 25 percent to 67 percent.
A 2010 study of adults ages 65 to 85 found that the majority of participants had a positive attitude toward using technology.
2: Older Workers Want to Learn New Skills
Older workers, according to research are no less motivated than their younger colleagues to acquire new skills and in fact do learn new skills, even if it might take them longer to learn them. Older workers though remain both creative and innovative contributors to the workplace.
A 2013 meta-analysis of 98 studies demonstrated that older workers are just as capable of innovation and creativity as younger workers. On complex task typical of clerical and higher-level occupations, the experience of older workers mitigates effects of reduced information processing speed and performance.
Older workers, particularly those over 55 years old usually generate more and better suggestion box ideas than do their younger colleagues.
Neuroscience research indicates middle aged people in comparison to younger people are more likely to cling to the status quo, with people over 60 more open to changing outlooks in response to fresh information. Evidence is increasing that growing older rewires the brain with the possibility of further strengthening of creativity.
In the United States the average age for filing a patent application is 47 years of age, with the highest value ones often coming from those inventors over 55 years old.
3: Older Workers Embrace Risk
The research evidence reveals not only are older workers comfortable with new technology, happy to learn new skills, remain creative and innovative but in another rebuff to their change resistance stereotype and the age discrimination they are experiencing with large organisations are now embracing risk and entrepreneurialism in ever increasing numbers.
Surveys conducted in 104 countries by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor suggest the age group most willing to risk starting a new business are the 65 – 80-year-olds.
A 2013 OECD report highlighted significant increases in self-employment by workers aged 55 to 64 years across developed economies with Australia recording higher rates than the average. In 2014, 590,000 small to medium sized Australian businesses were owned by people over the age of 55.
In USA those between 55 and 65 will be 65% more likely to start-up companies than those between 20 and 34.
A US study concluded the best entrepreneurs are middle-aged – a 50-year-old entrepreneur was 1.8x more likely to create a highly successful startup than a 30-year-old founder.
In Britain 40% of new founders are over 50, and almost 60% of the over 70s who are still working are self-employed
Why do these Misconceptions Persist?
Leaders understanding older workers as change resistant are mistaken to believe the ageing process is the sole reason preventing people remaining adaptable or continuing to grow. In an organisation setting, labelling older workers as change resistant can be associated with a management belief that older workers may not be compliant with unilateral company dictates.
Research indicates that many managers remain suspicious that older workers are less compliant and more judgemental of their employers and more likely to question superiors than younger worker. Anyone who questions or voices reservation about strategy or planned innovations seems automatically to be labelled ‘change resistant’ irrespective of age.
Another critical factor feeding into the change resistant older worker myth is the low training and development participation issue of older workers relative to their younger colleagues. Research suggests three possible explanations:
Employers believe an investment payback will not eventuate during an older worker’s remaining time with the organisation.
Older workers are too discouraged to want to actively participate in ongoing development
They are made to feel ‘dumb’ and therefore don’t want to embarrass themselves or confirm their worst fears of themselves.
They are demotivated by a perception of embedded organisation ageism
Overturning Misconceptions in Your Organisation
The evidence shows that continuing to perpetuate the attitude of the older worker as change resistant is contributing to sub-optimal workforce productivity and financially penalising companies who sustain this belief. Try the following quick quiz ( answer yes or no)
Our company ensures all employees have equal access to training and development opportunities?
Our company provides appropriate training in a supportive environment to assist older workers effectively learn new technology applications?
Our leadership team has a genuine commitment to employees asking questions and providing feedback on proposed business initiatives as a way of building stronger plans to tackle competitiveness issues?
If you answered “Yes” to each of the questions, then you are well on the way to busting The Change Resistance Misconception.
If you answered “No” to any of the questions, then give us a call. We’re really keen to help bust The Change Resistance Myth so that organisations can access the tangible financial upsides of employing and retaining older workers.
A final word:
The evidence shows that idea that older workers as change resistant, technology adverse and incapable and uninterested in learning new skills, is either greatly exaggerated or completely wrong.
References
The Business Case for Older Workers https://crr.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/The-Business-Case-for-Older-Workers.pdf
Butler, M. (2015). Advanced Australia: The Politics of Ageing. Melbourne University Press. Australia
Chesters, J., Ryan, C. & Sinning, M. (2013). Older Australians and the take-up of new technologies. National Vocational Education Training Research Research Report. Adelaide.
The Economist (2017). “Footloose and Fancy Free: The recently retired may have a promising future as entrepreneurs and giggers” (July 8th)
Edgar, P. (2014). Older generation more than paying its way. The Age (May 26).
https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/older-generation-more-than-paying-its-way-20140526-zrocl.html
Edgar, P. & Edgar, D. (2017). Peak: Reinventing Middle Age. The Text Publishing Company. Australia
Farrell, C. (2014). Unretirement: How baby boomers are changing the way we think about work, community and the good life. New York: Bloomsbury Press.
Honore, C. (2018). Bolder: Making the most of our longer lives. Simon & Schuster. Great Britain.
Kanfer, R., & and Ackerman, P. L. (2004). Aging, Adult Development, and Work Motivation. The Academy of Management Review, 29(3), 440-458
Kelley, C.P., Soboroff, S.D. & Lovaglia, M.J. (2017) The Status Value of Age. Social Science Research 66, 22-31
Rosenblatt, L. (2017). Bias in the Internet age; Many older workers are struggling with new forms of age discrimination. Los Angeles Times (26 June)
https://www.pressreader.com/usa/los-angeles-times/20170626/281616715376762
Taylor, P., Brooke, L., McLoughlin, C., & Di Biase, T. (2010). Older workers and organizational change: memory versus potentiality. International Journal of Manpower, 31(3), 374 - 386.
Thomas, R., Hardy, C., Cutcher, L., & Ainsworth, S. (2014). What's age got to do with it? On the critical analysis of age and organizations. Organization Studies, 35(11), 1569-1584.
Verwarn, B. (2009). Does age have an impact on having ideas? An analysis of the quantity and quality of ideas submitted to a suggestion system. Creativity and Innovation Management, 18, 433-43
Walsh, J.P. (2009). Who invents? Evidence from the Japan-US inventor survey.
