“Older workers are so slow. They don’t have any desire to learn new skills. And they’re 100% not motivated!”
Does this sound familiar to you? Maybe you’ve thought this yourself when you were in a meeting with your HR department.
The good news: Less and less people are thinking this way!
The idea of hiring pensioners is slowly gaining acceptance among HR managers. After all, the advantages that older employees bring to a company cannot be denied. This is why more and more companies are using headhunters to search for experienced retirees.
One thing is certain: Demographic change is taking place worldwide. We’re all getting older, but luckily, we’re also getting healthier!
By 2030, 44% of the population of Austria will be over 50
(Source: Statistics Austria).
This means that the number of potential workers will start to rapidly decline. Some industries are already experiencing a shortage of skilled workers. The Austrian Economic Chamber knows that this is a significant trend that will shape Austria and the rest of the world.
This trend has been noticed in the HR sector for a while now. In order to deal with this issue, it’s important not to overlook some of the most qualified candidates out there.
Here are the 5 best reasons why you should look for a retiree to fill a job vacancy!
1.) Experience
This point is as clear as day: the longer you do something, the more experience you have. But this doesn’t only apply to experts. All other life experience such as social competence, joie de vivre, charm, and common sense matter just as much. Also, older workers still know how to address an old-fashioned snail mail letter!
Expertise and life experience — these are the values that make older employees an important asset in any business.
2.) The essentials
You can also say it differently: when soft skills become hard skills. With every passing year, people become calmer. They’ve seen it all before: trends, fads, and the real hits. This sharpens a person’s ability to concentrate on the essentials and on what’s important. You’ll be surprised at how quickly an older employee can separate the wheat from the chaff.
Many startups use older and experienced industry professionals as mentors to sharpen their skills and products. It’s not really possible in this day and age to make it without mentors anymore!
3.) Learning ability
One of the worst stereotypes affecting older workers and senior citizens is the inability and unwillingness to learn new things. This is simply not true: Martin Korte, Biologist and Neuroscientist says : “Learning is generally not a question of age, but of the learning and developmental ability of each individual.” This is equally applicable to both 21-year-olds and 48-year-olds.
Company culture plays such an important role here: your employees could be regularly motivated to do lifelong learning through further training opportunities. This not only helps the individual but also secures value-adding knowledge for the company in the long-term.
4.) Motivation
Older employees are intrinsically motivated and like to do work that is appreciated. They love the feeling of being positively involved in a project.
Besides, the likelihood of getting into the coolest concerts (Depeche Mode, Joy Division, Rolling Stones…) gets really high, and that really impresses every young hipster all over the world!
This might sound like a joke, but shared moments like this are part of the glue that binds teams together, encourages respect, and makes your business the unique company it wants to be!
5.) It’s all about the mix: Every Junior needs a Senior!
Oh right. One last thing we should mention: Nobody’s demanding that a company only hire older employees from now on or to rely solely on retirees, pensioners, or silver agers. That makes no sense. Follow the golden rule as often as possible: diversity. Studies have shown that diverse teams have improved job performance and results. It’s the mix of the young and old that makes all the difference.
Originally published at growwisr.com.
