We all know of the adage “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. When you stop to think about it, however, this is just plain silly. When it is applied to older people, and highly-experienced older workers in particular, however, it is just plain insulting.
It does, however, appear to feature in a leading school of thought, exemplified below in a quote from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. It suggests that older workers need to continuously update their knowledge and skills – the onus is on them.
“Demographic change as well as changes to the state pension age will increase labour supply. Individuals will compete on the basis of their skills, and older workers will need to continue learning and updating their skills. Employers will need to consider succession planning as people leave the labour force.” The Labour Market Story: Skills for the Future, The UK Commission for Employment and Skills, 2014.
This assumes that employing organisations are ready, willing and able to invest in this “upskilling” of their older workers. As you may have seen in my previous posts, this is far from the norm. I have argued elsewhere, and continue to do so, that this is simply bad business logic. There is a growing wealth of academic research to support this view, and I will pull on that in later posts.
The other school of thought, which may not be as high profile but which has some big names behind it (the International Labour Organization, for instance), is that organisations, and even countries, should put steps in place to create:
“Skills development to ensure adequate skills at all levels …” Green Jobs Progress Report, ILO, 2016.
This is where it gets really interesting. Note the title: “Green Jobs Progress Report“. One of the most necessary areas of industrial growth is in sustainability and energy efficiency. This applies globally, as we all share the rapid decline in our world environment. The ILO has been looking at employment, and employability, to support sustainable environments and economies, through itsGreen Jobs programme. In the Progress Report for 2016, it sets out an agreed set of guidelines for nations, which underline the need for a move towards sustainable economies in a way which is just and fair for all.
This interests me greatly. I am delighted to see the steps being put in place at the highest levels, to ensure sustainability is woven into the policy frameworks for nation states around the world. I am also delighted to see that it is acknowledged that this must benefit and involve everyone, and that people living in those nations should have the chance to take part in their national “greening”. As you may have worked out from previous posts, I am interested in workplace sustainability – this is part of a wider commitment to the pursuit of economic, social and environmental sustainability. I am also keen on knowledge transfer and the maintenance of “corporate memory”.
So, please look at the header image for this post. It shows an older engineer working on renewable technologies in a laboratory run by EDF, the energy company (I know their portfolio also emphasises nuclear – I am not going there in this post).
The point I seek to make is that there are many skills which older workers can acquire ably and willingly to support the spread of occupation in the very broad church that is “sustainable industries”. The trick is to ensure that these skills are passed on and that older workers receive support to acquire the skills. As a coach, I would say that, wouldn’t I? However, a supportive learning environment will ensure that new skills are embedded and the investment in training is secured. It all depends on how serious the employer is about keeping skills in their workplace and keeping hold of their investment in their people. If you don’t train and coach people, you won’t keep them and a competitor will snap them up because they are experienced, skilled and keen to learn. That said, you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find an online image of older engineers. Try it and see … women and young people and a wide variety of heritages abound. This was the ONLY older engineer I could find, other than in the fossil fuels industry, which felt like cheating…
There is another angle to this increasing realisation that sustainable workforces will be crucial to commercial competitiveness…which gives me the title for this post. There are some technical skills, particularly in engineering, which are not as freely available in new apprentices and recent graduates. Even in my local area (South Coast of the UK) I have heard of older workers being re-hired having been laid-off, because their employer had found it impossible to replace their specific technical expertise. And this is the rub – these “old tricks” are often lost from the workplace, and at what cost? The opportunity costs of this loss are huge: consultancy; recruitment; re-recruitment …. And for what good reason? Happily some businesses are realising that to keep the “old tricks” in their business and keep a competitive advantage, they need to keep the “old dogs” too. Forgive the use of an adage that I have already rubbished, but you take my point.
By keeping older workers with more traditional skills within an organisation, it makes knowledge transfer straightforward. Newly-qualified engineers (for instance) can learn specific techniques from more experienced colleagues, which will help the business to grow. This also keeps costs lower, because it permits the repair of machinery. A very First World problem this. In developing economies, the repair of existing legacy equipment is part and parcel of keeping a workplace sustainable, because, fairly obviously, it delays the need for expensive replacements and further consumption of goods and services. This is where the ILO report is so interesting, because it is preaching a potentially low-cost creed across its broach church. The guidelines themselves are worth a read, but the results in the report are inspiring too.
Any organisation seeking to “green” their workplace will face several challenges, but bringing their workforce with them shouldn’t be one of them. Coaching workers to share ideas, expertise and values will result in a happier workforce, and a more productive workplace. That has to be good for the bottom line. So if you want to discuss how to help your workforce get behind energy efficiency, sustainability in the workplace or even turning to offering new “green” products, please get in touch to find out how to make it work best for you, your employees and your customers.
Photo by Julen Garces from Pexels