Busting Myths of Employees Over 50 [Staffing Tech and Media]

Busting the myths of hiring someone over 50.

It's not a new story. That hard working employee dedicates years to career at a corporation and walks in one day to the news of being laid off. Position eliminated. The wrinkle here is this former employee has crossed over an invisible barrier. He's over 50 and is now hearing "over qualified" and "not a fit for their corporate culture".

What changed? He's older and discrimination by age is more common than you may think, or like to admit. It took me several months of beating myself up, what am I doing wrong, ignoring what others were saying before admitting people really do discriminate based on the number of birthday candles on the cake.

Every generation has this age issue-back in the 1960s, it was "Don't trust anyone over 30" and now all those people are in their 60s or older. Who do they trust?

Why pay more for experienced workers when someone in their 20s will take the job for 60% less? 

Ageism?

Your boss calls you "grandma" or "old man," asks you about your retirement plans, says that they want a younger image, or says that your best days are behind you.

A younger employee gets the best assignments and equipment.

Older employees excluded from key meetings, or the boss only socializes with younger employees.

Your company hires only younger employees, or if you are turned down for a position that you apply for and see it given to a less-qualified younger employee.

You turn 50 and suddenly get negative performance reviews and write-ups.

You're called names due to your age.

Myths of age, busted.

Data shows no significant difference between the hours worked by younger and older workers. The average workweek has hovered around 40 hours for decades. Fast-paced work environments are also nothing new. Older workers keep up the pace in tech, agriculture, construction and so on, up until the day they retired, or were no longer able to do the work at all.

This surprised some: Older workers have more motivation and engagement than younger workers. Older workers are more motivated to exceed expectations than their younger counterparts regardless of their length of employment and lends weight to the capability of older workers to function in demanding work environments.

Older staff won't share knowledge? A highly collaborative workplace makes it pretty tough to hoard information. Older workers are exceptionally effective at sharing information and guiding younger colleagues, I personally take pride in helping younger workers grow in the industry.

What about cost?  The higher pay of older workers reflects extensive work experience. Ongoing training and professional development costs are minimal but are not considered. The economic value and contribution of higher paid, older workers is often overlooked. Companies focus on compensation cost and ignore economic value of older workers.

And then there's Healthcare Benefits - Healthcare claims progress at a moderate pace in line with age. Studies show that there are only modest differences in individual claims until age 50 and then again at age 65 when chronic condition care may be needed. Individual employers report that older employers actually cost less.

Older employees typically has individual or two-person coverage, rather than more expensive family coverage. Combine employer health initiatives, fitness programs and healthy meals - older workers are in far better shape than in the past.

The average employment life of a worker 25 to 39 years old is 18 months, no long enough to benefit from the cost onboarding and knowledge transfer.

Loyalty. Older workers have a lower turnover, stay with an employer considerably longer than younger individuals and possess the accumulated knowledge and skills of a lifetime.

Source: Staffing Tech and Media http://bit.ly/st50yo