Older and wiser?

There"s a growing recognition of the important role that "senior" staff can play in the workplace - but are they fully equipped, or even inclined, to rise to the challenge? Dr Liz Alexander investigates

At a recent Women in Leadership conference, Shelley Kendrick, Founder and Director of HR and recruitment firm Kendrick Rose, noticed that the organisers had adorned the walls with pictures of inspiring and successful women, including Joan Collins (81), Judi Dench (79), and Helen Mirren (68). Mirren, you may remember, played a former CIA operative alongside fellow "seniors" Bruce Willis (59), John Malkovitz (60), and Morgan Freeman (77), in the 2010 and 2013 movies RED (Retired, Extremely Dangerous) and RED 2.

In one scene in the first movie, Mirren"s character Victoria is asked about her transition to retirement, with its routine of baking and flower arranging, to which she replies: “Well, I do get a bit restless sometimes. I take the odd contract on the side. I just can"t stop.“

The same is true for many over-50s who either delay retirement or, after a short break, go back to work. For some it"s for personal reasons, for others it"s economic need.

“Many people have found that their pensions are not sufficient to see them through retirement. They may still have mortgages, elderly relatives and children that they feel responsible for and so still have to work to meet those commitments,” says Kendrick. “Others want to maintain a sense of purpose and belonging that comes from working, but need more flexible arrangements such as zero hours contracts - working week to week on an ad hoc basis - consultancy projects, or non-executive directorships (NEDs) that better fit an older person"s lifestyle.”

Rather than stealing jobs from the young, these older workers are helping to stem a skills shortage. As HR magazine"s article "Older Workers Key to Managing Skills Shortage" reports: “During the next decade there will be 13.5 million job vacancies in the UK, but only seven million school and college leavers - leaving a gap that immigration cannot plug.”

While debating the issue of managing an ageing workforce on a podcast for the Chartered Institute of Professional Development (CIPD), the professional body for HR and people development, Andrew Harrop, Head of Policy at Age UK, said: “If we carry on with just having a fixed number of people retiring at the age of 60 or 65, as was the case in the past, there won"t be enough workers.”

Valuable assets

Shelley Kendrick found this to be true when her firm elected to use social media to try and fill two positions for a high-profile equity firm that was offering attractive salaries and benefits to candidates in their mid-twenties. Despite 350 clicks and "likes", only two people matching the criteria applied. The positions remain unfilled.

Some experts question whether business and government take this skills shortfall seriously enough. Countries like Norway and Finland have well-established programmes to address the specific needs of older workers, reports Professor Richard Ennals of Kingston University. He is currently involved with the WORKAGE project, investigating the health of older workers and ways to keep them from retiring unnecessarily.

“The key difference is between regarding older workers as a medical problem or as a vital resource with invaluable experience, skill and tacit knowledge that are lost to employers when they leave the workplace,” Ennals explains.

B&Q and Tesco are well known for hiring older workers. Nationwide says it was the first major UK company to change the rules in 2005, so employees could work to age 75 - and they removed the retirement age completely in 2011, in line with the UK government"s decision to scrap the default retirement age.

Brave new world

But many senior people, even with their decades of experience, aren"t performing as well at competency interviews as they should, says Rosy Dessain, Managing Director of executive recruitment firm Thomas & Dessain. “The mistake senior people make is to talk all the time and not listen. I"ve seen a number of very capable people get turned down because a panel found them to be cocky and act as if they knew everything. Employers couldn"t see them fitting in with their culture.

“Companies are very risk-averse when it comes to hiring these days. Having a track record of strong technical skills is important, but so is the ability to use technology appropriately, be up-to-date with industry legislation, and demonstrate that you can hit the ground running in a high-pressured, stressful work environment with both energy and flexibility.”

While the Equality Act 2010 outlawed age discrimination in the workplace, nevertheless some stereotypical notions about older workers persist. Nationwide"s Older Worker Poll, taken in January 2014, shows many of these are myths, such as resistance to learning new technologies, taking more sick days, and not working well alongside younger workers.

This is in line with the experience of Steve Gilroy, Chief Executive of Vistage UK , who says: “Mature staff can bring real value to an organisation. If they remain active, energetic and curious, and combine this with the wisdom of experience, their contribution often adds more value and impact than that of their younger colleagues. They bring a different perspective and a "whole-world" view.”

However, older individuals will continue to miss out on opportunities to continue working for as long as they want to if they fail to honour certain obligations, says Chairman and NED of RJD Technology, David Thomsett, another contributor to the CIPD podcast "Managing the Ageing Workforce". These include personal communication skills, the ability to work in a multi-aged team, and being a lifetime learner who actually likes gaining knowledge.

Gina Le Provost, Chief Executive of global finance recruiters AP Executive, believes that within the next decade today"s "mature workers" will be known as "mid-career workers" as the ages when people start working and retire continue to shift upwards. In the meantime, she says, companies should seize the chance to employ them: “Because they are the ones with solid, proven, hands-on work experience, common sense, and have most likely reached their own career goals so they pose no threat to younger workers still trying to achieve theirs.” 

Dr Liz Alexander is an author, educator, business strategist, and Founder of business consultancy Leading Thought