Myths and Facts About Older Workers

Myth The Facts Older Workers Are Slow, Less  Robert Half (employment agency) says Productive & Aren’t Quality older workers are more conscientious and hard Oriented working than younger workers.  Bureau Of Business Management rates older worker quality orientation “excellent” 82% of the time and rate their job performance “excellent” 71% of the time.  NCA survey found 97% of employers with older workers think they’re thorough and reliable.

Older Workers Are Sick More  NCA survey found 94% of employers with Often older workers say they didn’t miss work because of illness.  Andrus Gerontology Center found that older workers, over the age of 45, have a lower rate of “sick time” than workers between the ages of 17 - 44 years

Older Workers Quit More Often  NCA & National Association of Working Women found that mature men and women have an 88% lower turnover rate than younger workers.  BLS states that older workers stay on the job twice as long as workers between the ages of 25 - 34.

Older Workers Are Less  The average age for top spots in a company Competent has continued to increase over the past ten (10) years.  A SHRM survey rated older workers highly: 72% valuable employee - 68% more reliable 69% better work ethic - 77% more committed

Copyright 2005 – Experience Works, Inc. All Rights Reserved Myth The Facts Older Workers Are Less Capable  Time has forced older workers to Of Evaluating Information, “successfully” evaluate more information, Making Decisions & Solving solve tougher problems and make more critical Problems job related decisions than most younger workers.  Older workers tend to: -be more capable -make better decision -take less risk and are more cautious -be considered wiser than younger workers

Older Workers Are Less  Harvard Medical School points out that I.Q. Intelligent, Have Trouble doesn’t decline with age and the mind doesn’t Learning New Things And Are atrophy, unless you don’t use your brain. Weak In Computer Skills  Dr. Eleanor Simon points out older workers retain information longer and they tend to complete training at a higher rate than younger workers.  Older workers have better perception sets, higher motivation, good attention spans and broader knowledge  NCA survey found 81% of employers with older workers say they want to learn new things.

Older Workers Are Rigid &  One constant of the labor market is change. Inflexible And Have Trouble Older workers have had to accept job related Adapting To Change changes: -new coworkers - new supervisors -increased workloads - new technologies -new pay scales - new policies/rules -and much more.  NCA survey points out that 85% of employers, with older workers, say older workers are open to and adapt to change very well.

Older Workers Have Poor  Age isn’t directly linked to memory. Memories  Factors that normally affect memory are: -Poor nutrition, Emotional upsets -Poor health, Depression

Copyright 2005 – Experience Works, Inc. All Rights Reserved Myth The Facts Older Workers Are More  One survey states that older workers have Accident Prone fewer accidents and that the accidents they have are different than the accidents a younger worker has (example: the older worker has more trouble getting out of the way of flying objects).

Older Workers Cost More To  90% of the the Fortune 400 bosses feel that Pay & Cost More To Insure the ROI (return on investment) of hiring mature workers is high and their cost is offset by their quality, performance, retainability and other factors.  There’s some conflict with the information on insurance. Some studies show that the most costly person to insure is a 30 year old with two dependents. Another shows that 80% of mid/larger sized employers say there’s no significant difference in insurance costs.  Some other surveys show that smaller companies consider this a critical “negative” factor.

Older Workers Lack A Future  Most older workers are just as interested in Focus & Have Little Or No upward mobility, raises and promotions as Career Ambition. anyone else.  Older workers are thought to work just to keep busy. New data doesn’t support this. Most are working for the same reasons most younger workers work, they need money to pay the bills and improve the quality of their life.  Many older workers look for reduced work schedules.

Older Workers Have Difficulty  Nonsense! This is one of the most obvious With Younger Workers & Team myths about older workers, especially if Building they’ve had children.  Most older workers have lived through Demmings management model of using self- directed work teams and have learned the value of collaboration.