Debunking myths of the older worker

Age is just a number. And it’s a number that’s ever-increasing in many ways. In 1990, the ratio of active workers to retirees was approximately 6:1. In the very soon-to-come years, that ratio will plummet to 2:1. This number weighs too heavily on the economy. It’s not sustainable, so something must be done to alleviate it. The most likely solution is to increase the retirement age and keep older people at work.

In fact, this trend is already in motion and, by the year 2050, our estimated retirement age could be 70 or even older. So, for young people just entering the workforce, there’s no need to make retirement plans any time soon! And for those of us already firmly rooted in the working world, this means we’ll be seeing more and more older employees remaining longer in our organisations.

Stop with the stereotyping!

As the proportion of older workers rises, it’s important to address a few misconceptions about them as their image has become somewhat tethered to unhelpful stereotypes.

As is the case with stereotyping, we automatically attribute defects and, less often, qualities to individuals before we’ve even met them. This is why older people are often overlooked in hiring processes, and aren’t given the same opportunities for learning and development as their younger counterparts.

So, what exactly are the misconceptions?

A now-classic study by Ng and Feldman sought to gather up the most prevalent stereotypes attributed to older workers and test just how true they were.

They identified and combined 418 different studies on age stereotyping research, amassing over 200,000 participants, and re-examined all the data together. Compared to their younger co-workers, older workers were stereotypically seen as:

1. Less motivated

2. Less willing to participate in training and career development

3. More resistant and less willing to change

4. Less trusting

5. Less healthy

6. More vulnerable to work/family imbalance

Out of these six, only the second statement ,‘Less willing to participate in training and career development’ turned out to be true. Every other stereotype was debunked.

In fact, the research found that older people were actually ‘more motivated, less resistant and more willing to change, more trusting, healthier, and less vulnerable to work/family imbalance’ than younger workers.

What’s more, the researchers deduced that one of the reasons why older workers may be ‘less willing to participate in training and career development’ is because, as we mentioned earlier, they aren’t given the same opportunities for learning and development as their younger colleagues.

It’s important we keep this piece of research in mind as we welcome, or retain, older employees in the workplace because, at some point we’ll be one of them too.