Why hire older workers

Welcome to this series on Seniors. I hope you enjoy this thought-provoking and inspiring reading.

During the economic recession, companies had smaller budgets, which led to “many people [getting] promoted into management positions with little experience. However, a good worker doesn’t equate to an effective manager, and some promotions hurt office morale and led to high turnover,”

As the economy improves, Companies are now looking to hire people with robust management experience, which means older workers are now in demand.

Companies need to try to attract and retain older workers to stay competitive in today’s workforce. NIH was recently ranked as having the best retirement program in the USA. 47% of its workers are older than 50. The company regularly hosts training courses and job fairs aimed specifically at attracting older, more experienced talent.

Approximately 25% of the workforce in the USA are 55 or older.

Here are a few key advantages to older workers:

2. Good leadership skills. Older workers often have stronger communication skills. They remember a time when communication wasn’t dominated by e-mail, instant messaging, texting, or social media. As a result, they have advanced communication and people skills … face-to-face communication is an essential skill in the business world and one that junior staff sometimes struggles with.
3. Focused. Older people have been working their entire lives and are often not searching for the next opportunity like younger workers. They know exactly what they want to do and are focused on getting the work done.

Older workers tend to be more interested in stability whereas a recent college graduate might be most concerned about moving up the corporate ladder as quickly as possible.

According to a survey, 54% of workers older than 65 in the USA, are still employed because they want to be — not because they need the money.

The survey also found that 54% of workers aged 65 and older say they are “completely satisfied” with their jobs, compared with just 29% of workers ages 16 to 64.

3. Loyal. Since older workers are typically more satisfied with their jobs, they tend to stay longer.

Companies invest countless man-hours and financial resources into screening, hiring, and training new employees, only to find that many employees leave for ‘greener pastures after a few months as they ascend their career path.

The length of time a worker remains with the same employer increases with the age at which the worker began the job.

4. Good work ethic. Nearly six in 10 respondents cited work ethic as one of the big differences between young and old. Asked who has the better work ethic, about three-fourths of respondents said that older people do.

90% of the older respondents said that being “ethical” is “extremely important” to workplace culture.

5. Strong networks. Older workers have been in the workforce longer and they’ve had more time to meet people and network along the way. 46.3% of employer respondents said that their older employees have stronger professional networks and client networks compared to 30% who said the same about their younger workers

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Nick Thorne is the founder of Nick’s Digital Solutions Limited. He lives in Levin, New Zealand.