With a third of the workforce expected to comprise workers over 50 by 2020, HR departments will need to hone their recruitment and engagement strategies in order to get the best out of them.
According to a survey among 1,004 employees, of which 190 were aged 55 and over, undertaken by talent consultancy Chiumento, a huge 77.4% of older workers said that they anticipated remaining with their current employer until they retired compared with only two out of five in the 18 to 54 age bracket.
Moreover, nearly twice as many over 55s (23.7%) rated their employers as ‘excellent compared with their younger counterparts (13.3%), while only 12.6% rated them as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ versus 17.7% of younger staff. This implies that older employees comprise the happiest chunk of the workforce.
But the report entitled ‘The Silver Revolution’ warned that loyalty should not be confused with engagement, not least because 7.5% of older workers did not intend to move jobs even though they gave their employers a negative assessment.
Instead because “many of the 55+ group may currently enjoy ‘legacy’ final salary schemes, there is a real risk that some workers are hanging on not because they are committed to the organisation but because they are motivated by maximising their pension pot”, the study warned.
Its author Ian Gooden said: “With the demise of the default retirement age, employers urgently need to consider how they motivate the army of older workers planning to stay on for the long-term. Being happy and being productive are not synonymous. Older workers plan to stay where they are so it’s vital for employers to inspire them to deliver their best.”
As a result, because the motivations and requirements of older employees are quite different to younger ones, HR will need to rethink their strategies to make the most of them.
For example, in recruitment terms, the 55 plus age group is unimpressed by concepts such as ‘brand’ and has little interest in the wider reputation, success, size and profile of the organisation.
Instead they place more value on issues such as a friendly working environment, work-life balance and overall job security. Messages about training and career prospects likewise have little impact and, throughout the recruitment process, they are more influenced by people than the overall organisation per se. This means that “reflecting their age group in your recruitment team might be an important first step”, the report said.
Once employed, however, older workers struggle more than younger ones with rigid, highly process-oriented roles, preferring to do their job in their own way. They like to do a good job and see this reflected in the service that the organisation provides to customers, which implies they could be “great champions of quality and customer service”, the study revealed.
Although there is little indication that they are more resistant to change than younger staff, they are more concerned about the human impact of change particularly on close co-workers. This means that HR professionals may need to think “much harder about issues such as survivor management”, the report indicated.
As for what drives engagement among this category, older workers want job security, a good work-life balance and a well-defined role. They are also keen to provide high quality work and need the opportunity to shape the way their job is structured.
But the fact that they value the social context of work – and the relationship with their immediate team and colleagues in particular – means that “motivation needs to be driven at the local level – which raises key issues for management training and leadership development,” the study said.
