Practice makes perfect and other benefits of mature-aged workers

Recruiters must learn to value the experience and tacit knowledge of mature-age workers.

Australia, like many other nations, has a major workforce issue that has developed over the last decade and will continue to affect our labour force. Our workforce is getting older. 

The ageing population comes from the decrease in the birth rate.  When I was a child it was not unusual for some of my classmates to be in large families.  Many had families of over five children and at least two I remember were in families of ten.  This is not very common in later generations.  The outcome of this is that the average age of our workforce is gradually creeping higher.

Every year companies lose more and more tacit knowledge as senior, experienced employees retire.  These senior workers have for some time been encouraged to retire early, take voluntary redundancies, or scale down their workload.  The difficulty is that, as more and more of these experienced people retire, the numbers are not coming through the ranks to fill the gaps. 

Certainly technology and the greater efficiencies that it brings will fill some of the labour gaps but as the old saying goes, “there is no substitute for experience”.

There have been numerous studies that show the value of mature aged workers to companies. Some of the advantages listed are:

• Productivity – there is no evidence that productivity reduces with age, in fact experience often assists employees improve productivity.

• Quality of work -“Practice makes perfect”, so the experienced employee will generally make less mistakes and produce a higher quality of work.

• Corporate memory – this is the tacit knowledge that resides in the minds of long term employees.  This is knowledge of the requirements of the firm, and its relationships with suppliers and customers.

• Job turn over – mature workers tend to change jobs less often and are usually more stable in their careers.

• Recruitment costs – constant turnover increases costs of recruiting.

• Training costs – training is seen as a privilege by many mature aged workers.  They will also tend to use the gained knowledge to improve their existing jobs rather than use it to find a better or higher paying role.

• Absenteeism – studies have shown there is no difference in absenteeism.  Whilst it is true that mature aged workers may have more health issues, they also tend to take less “sickies” and find ways of attending work even if they are slightly unwell.

• Loyalty, work ethic and reliability – To most mature aged workers their job is a major part of their life and they show that with increased work ethic and loyalty.  Younger workers often have more emphasis on activities outside of work.

Clearly there are benefits to employing mature aged workers.  Yet remarkably mature aged workers are often shunned by companies and recruiters. 

Even the recommended method of presenting resumes discriminates against mature workers.  It is commonly recommended that you do not show more than fifteen years worth of work experience.  It is very difficult to show the extensive experience and variety of knowledge garnered over a twenty or thirty year career in a four page resume.

Mature aged workers now hesitate to put their age or photos in resumes for fear of being discriminated against because of age.  Recruiters will also use excuses like this role is too junior or that you are over experienced for the role. 

Employers must begin to realise that the experience gaps in their business need to be filled and that mature workers are an asset to their company.  They will then instruct recruiters to place more emphasis on the skills and experience of mature aged workers.

John Kirk recently graduated with a MBA from The University of New England and is currently studying for an MBA (advanced) in Corporate Sustainability with Southern Cross University. John has more than 30 years experience in the print industry, having acted as a representative at both state and national levels as a Director of ACFIPS Industry Training Advisory Board and as a member of the Sector Advisory Committee for Innovation Business Skills Australia. John is interested in  sustainability, corporate social responsibility, futurism, and developing people. For the last 7 years he has sat on the corporate social responsibility committee for a major corporation.