Every year for the last five years, StatsCanada has noted an increase in workers aged 65 and over. There are a number of reasons for why this trend persists. Some older adults are coming out of retirement and seeking meaningful ways to spend their time. But over half of our ageing population are still working out of necessity.
Yet, despite this trend, so many seniors are struggling to find work as a result of ageism in the workplace. More often than not, seniors are overlooked under the assumption that they won’t be productive workers, that they aren’t capable of keeping up with new technologies, that they’ll cost businesses money in the long run.
This couldn’t be further from the truth! Older adults are a valuable resource that so many employers are overlooking.
Keep reading to learn our top 3 reasons to hire older adults!
#1 Valuable Insights
Older adults have got decades of lived experience — and often in a specific industry — to bring to the workplace. Their knowledge can include information on best practices within a given company, familiarity with a specific customer base, as well as skills and experiences that support the onboarding of newer employees.
When these competencies are incorporated into the workplace, the following 4 areas can see dramatic improvements:
- Ability to adapt to changing work environments
- Higher productivity and efficiency
- More innovation
- Greater motivation resulting in lower staff turnover
#2 Higher Staff Retention and Greater Results
An underrated value to older workers is that they are less likely to jump from job to job. According to the American Association for Retired Persons (AARP), only about 29% of workers over 50 years old say they’re open to starting a new job, compared to 49% of their younger counterparts.
Having these older, long-term employees on your staff creates a sense of stability and continuity for the organization, and positively impacts younger employees! Older workers can impart wisdom on navigating the workplace and dealing with turbulent times without packing up and finding greener pastures.
Multigenerational teams (and, more generally, teams made up of people from diverse backgrounds) tend to perform better. They report higher revenues and profit margins that are 9% higher than companies with below average diversity. This is largely due to the variety of perspectives, which can prompt innovative problem solving
#3: Emotional Maturity
By virtue of having lived longer and learned more, older adults bring an increased emotional maturity to the workplace. In a pool of participants aged 18 to 85, research shows that older adults have
- greater ability to understand other peoples’ perspectives
- better moral reasoning
- greater resistance to the sunk-cost fallacy
- better decision making skills
- better cognitive flexibility
This can create a more supportive and creative workplace, and can even create a space where workers help each other more regularly, and genuinely enjoy doing so!
Case Study
Still skeptical about the benefits of hiring older workers? Well, take B&Q as an example.
Back in the ‘80s, after realizing that their staff didn’t adequately reflect their customer base, British retailer B&Q tried staffing one of their locations entirely with people over 50 years old. They conducted a survey in 1991 and found that
- profits were 18% higher
- staff turnover was 6 times lower
- absenteeism had reduced by 39%
Additionally, they discovered that there was an overall improved perception of customer service as well as an increase in their staff’s skills base.
With an increase in life expectancy and an ever-increasing cost of living, more people are working for longer than ever before. Though stereotypes generally present seniors as poor workers, the truth is that your workplace will greatly benefit from hiring and retaining more older adults.
Are you an older adult currently seeking work? Reach out to us via email at info@o55.ca or call us at (519) 438-1111 to learn about our associates program.