Given the encouraging economic environment that's emerged in the US recently, it is rather confounding that so many people with valuable experience are still unemployed. As companies reduced costs during the turbulence of the past five years, it's not surprising that there wasn't a high demand for hiring older employees during that time. But today, nearly forty percent of unemployed workers are over the age of forty-five, which is thirty percent higher compared to the 1980s, according to the Urban Institute.
Other facts and figures elicit further head-scratching concerning the present employment landscape. For instance, a report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that "the length of time a worker remains with the same employer increases with the age at which the worker began the job," adding that the average tenure for workers aged fifty-five to sixty-four with their current employer is 9.9 years, while tenure for workers aged forty-five to fifty-four is 7.6 years. In other words, these potential older employees, despite being proven to be more experienced and more loyal than the average worker, are the ones having the most difficulty finding work.
Middle market firms should do more than simply focus on the benefits of hiring older employees. They must also examine the internal prejudices they may have that are holding them back from considering this age group.
Benefits of Hiring Older, Experienced Employees
There are many online sources that provide a sizable list of advantages that come about from hiring and retaining employees older than age 45. These include articles from Entrepreneur Magazine, American Express Open Forum and Job Search Training Systems.
There are a number of benefits from hiring older workers that are widely referred to, including:
- Higher engagement levels, based on an ability to connect organizational objectives to day-to-day duties
- Greater personal accountability
- A deeper regard for ethics
- Less absenteeism
- Less inclination to leave based on compensation or career-advancement factors
Here's a few more interesting advantages from hiring older employees that may not be immediately apparent:
- Reduced risk of a bad hire. Older employees' work histories can be vetted in greater detail and through numerous former colleagues. This way, an older employee's duties can be matched up to their displayed talents and strengths so that the expectations of both employee and company are more likely to be fulfilled.
- Lengthy experience that tends to generate innovation based on evolved observational skills. Older employees can draw on their deep job history to make critiques of current company practices. Such a practical method of innovation is in contrast to — and often more effective than — the "blue sky" or "clean sheet" inspirations that younger employees tend to put forth.
- Deep experience in assessing and handling a variety of critical work situations. More experienced workers can gauge the right response, the proper means of communication, and the correct language to use. In other words, they bring discretion and poise to a team.
Older employees can also have a positive effect on younger employees, who may openly appreciate the mentoring they receive through day-to-day interaction. A study, recently conducted by Nationwide Building Society in the United Kingdom, backs up this notion. In essence, the research found that the adage "Good judgment comes from experience, while experience comes from bad judgment" is a lesson that younger employees don't have to learn through their own actions and at the expense of the company's performance. Furthermore, if these younger employees are exposed to solid mentoring, they could be more likely to stay with the company.
Fighting False Perceptions
Even with all of these benefits, there's still one critical factor that holds back many firms from hiring older employees: simple misperception. In a recent Associated Press report, Peter Cappelli, a University of Pennsylvania professor who co-authored the book Managing the Older Worker, noted that stereotypes still prevail whereby older applicants are assumed to offer a lower job performance, higher absenteeism and accident rates, and less of an ability to solve problems and adapt to changes. But Cappelli countered that recent research finds that older workers outpace younger ones in nearly every metric. "The evidence is overwhelming that they're better," Cappelli said. "But hiring managers are just going with their guts, and our guts are full of prejudice."
Hiring managers tend to hold incorrect assumptions about older employees in the following areas: personal vigor, technology and adaptability. All of these prejudices, however, can be argued against:
Personal vigor. According to a 2010 Pew Research Center survey, nearly six in 10 people under the age of 30 cited "work ethic" as one of the big differences between young and old. Asked who has the better work ethic, about three-fourths of these young respondents said that older people do.
Technology. There is some difference between younger and older workers — but the benefits go both ways. According to a Bloomberg Businessweek article, economists found through research that older employees tend to operate information technology more slowly but with fewer errors. They also found that what holds back older employees from mastering technology is more a lack of company training than it is the employees' lack of ability or desire. Lastly, with the emergence of technology-instruction websites such as lynda.com, a firm can lay out a learning plan for older employees that includes a healthy dose of self-directed technology training.
Adaptability. The plentiful work experience that older employees possess often provides clear proof that they are certainly able to adapt. Since the advent of network computing more than 20 years ago, corporate environments have seen almost constant change in hardware and software used by employees. Any older employees with long résumés surely have had to adapt at various times to new colleagues and managers, plus new corporate initiatives, directions, policies, and procedures.
Nonetheless, barriers to hiring older employees are still prevalent in many companies. The Society for Human Resource Management found that 59 percent of surveyed members don't actively recruit older workers, while 65 percent don't do anything specific to retain older workers.
It would be wise for middle market firms to increase their focus on this worker segment sooner rather than later. After all, the combination of demographic trends skewing older and the fact that people are staying in the workforce longer out of financial necessity has led the Urban Institute to predict that, by 2019, a full 35 percent of the workforce will be comprised of people age 50 and older.
Is expected compensation a key driving factor that causes companies to hire more young people? Let us know what you think by commenting below.
Rob Carey is an NCMM contributor and a features writer who has focused on the business-to-business niche since 1992. He spent his first 15 years at Nielsen Business Media, rising from editorial intern to editorial director. Since then, he has been the principal of New York-based Meetings & Hospitality Insight, working with large hospitality brands in addition to various media outlets. Circle him on Google+.