Courtesy of the ageing workforce, over the next several decades Australian organisations are likely to have an increasing reliance on workers in the mid-to-later stages of their career, and to employ a growing proportion of workers aged 45 and over. In this context, organisations will need to understand how to maintain productivity and participation amongst older workers.

A good first step on the path to what the UK government has called an “Age Positive” workplace is to challenge some common myths about age and work.

Myth: You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

Fact: Most people are capable of life-long learning. Workers who use this capacity are unlikely to lose it as they age.

In fact mature-age workers are often eager to learn. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, for example, shows that Australians aged 55-64 are the fastest growing users of information technology.

Cognitive capacity certainly changes with age, but while some cognitive functions deteriorate, others improve.

Research conducted by the Office for an Ageing Australia has shown that mature workers do have the capacity to learn, and in fact retain information better than their younger colleagues.

OECD research backs this up by suggesting that high motivation is more important than age for successful learning, and that verbal skills, communication and intelligence remain unchanged over time.

However, like the body, the mind needs exercise. People who do not continue to learn throughout life may experience a diminishment of their cognitive capacities, including the capacity to learn.

Myth: Older workers can’t do physical work.

Fact: Physical capacity diminishes over the age of 45-50, but older workers use brains AND brawn.

Most people experience some degree of physical decline over the age of 45-50, including a reduction in aerobic power and capacity, as well as declining muscular strength and endurance. But older workers have the increased skill that comes with experience.

Older workers in physical industries may use their years of experience to “work smarter”, minimising the effort expended in performing work tasks.

In any case, strength and endurance are very specific to individuals and are influenced by a raft of factors other than age, including levels of physical activity and lifestyle choices such as smoking.

Individual performance, rather than age per se, is the best indication of what a worker is capable of.

Myth: Older workers have more workplace accidents.

Fact: It is likely that while some accident risks increase with age, others decrease, and in general older workers have LESS workplace accidents.

There is conflicting evidence about whether older or younger workers are more prone to workplace accidents.

On one hand, a report from the UK’s Health and Safety Laboratory says that while accident rates “vary in terms of a number of factors such as type of accident...in general younger workers have been found to have a higher accident risk.”

On the other hand, several mining industry studies in Australia have shown that older workers in specific workplaces had an increased risk of workplace accidents.

A 2009 report from America’s Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that in 2006, the incidence rates for injuries and illnesses that resulted in days away from work were highest for younger workers, and declined with age. However, “injuries and illnesses become more severe as age increases”.

Myth: Older workers take more time off work

Fact: Short term absence is lower in older workers

Older workers tend to have more medically certified / long-term absence than their younger counterparts.

However, many employers consider short term absence to be the most disruptive, and older worker tend to have lower levels of uncertified / short term absence than the young’uns.  

Research from the US suggests that both younger and older Americans believe that older workers have a superior work ethic—perhaps this is why they’re more likely to be at work, unless it is medically advised that they remain away.
 

Myth: Older workers are less productive and more expensive

Fact: “Experience is a better indicator of productivity than age.” (Australian Human Rights Commission)

Productivity is influenced by many factors, including absenteeism, skills, retention and engagement.

In addition to some of the strengths of older workers outlined above, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has found that workers aged over 55 are five times less likely  to change jobs that workers aged 20-24.

Not only are older people perceived to have a better work ethic, mature age workers are depositories of “corporate memory”, a significant value-add.

Resources

The Australian Human Rights Commission produces valuable info sheets.

The Hudson report on Australia's ageing population is also helpful.