“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter” Mark Twain
Sadly, for most older people in work in the UK, it does matter … but perhaps not always to them. The age for retirement is increasing, and it feels like it is creeping higher every year. This is creating a workforce across the UK, in all sectors, where people are staying in the workplace longer than perhaps they ever envisaged they would. This is sometimes described as the “ticking timebomb” because of the retirement costs, but it ought to be treated like a “goldmine”.
Ageing poses challenges for the workers and also their management. For some employees, working until “age of retirement” and extending beyond that formal date is a source of joy, friendship, stimulation, reassurance and sometimes even of personal identity. For others, it feels like a millstone, stuck in a job managed by people half their age, who don’t understand them and treat them like a geriatric. I caricature these extremes to make the point, although recent academic research* shows that these attitudes are still depressingly common all over Europe.
For employers and management, an ageing workfoce is a reality, but one which amazingly few organisations are actually doing anything to address (other than the age-old restructuring ploy). The majority really are missing a huge trick. They have a wealth of experience and skills, the result often of years of their organisation’s investment, within their teams, but for a range of reasons (some not so savoury), that experience and those skills don’t always balance out the perceived downside of having older people in the workforce. Sure it can mean that you have staff who may not be able to perform physically demanding roles into their 60’s and beyond, but does that really mean you can’t use their skills elsewhere, doing something to keep their abilities, and all that investment, inside your business? It won’t be long before the UK workforce age profile will have shifted to a level where the average is over 40 years of age (the Office for National Statistics says the average is 39.7 at the moment). This will have a profound and costly effect on UK employers if they don’t prepare for it, but it could just hold the key to market advantage if they do.
Coaching can maintain motivation and focus for older employees. It can also help managers to understand and use more flexibly the skill set at their disposal. By understanding the options involved, being focused on performance goals for staff and management alike, and by sharing a commitment to involve older workers in the future success of organisations, coaching can underpin how to get the best out of people at all levels. It can bring fresh and innovative thinking, it can restore missing “corporate memory” and it can improve productivity by making best possible use of all the skills and resources available. Most of all, it helps organisations to recognise their employees as individuals, all of whom have huge potential and value, no matter their age.
If your organisation has an older workforce, and this blog makes you stop and think, then great. Congratulations! You just made it into the wise minority. The next step is to contact an experienced organisational coach to discuss how best to make use of the fantastic staff resource you have at your disposal. You will be amazed and delighted by the successes that your workforce will bring to your organisation … just set them free with coaching and a positive corporate approach to their value.
You won’t regret it. Get in touch to discuss how I can help you with that.
* The academic study to which I refer: Richard Ennals & Robert H. Salomon (eds.) Older Workers in a Sustainable Society ISSN 1861-647X I SBN 978-3-631-61480-8 © Peter Lang GmbH
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