Wednesday, September 08, 2010
(wharton) younger boss-older worker conundrum
f one looks at the research on older workers -- those who are at or close to retirement age -- one finds what Peter Cappelli, director of Wharton's Center for Human Resources, calls "an incredible amount of discrimination, bigger even than discrimination against race or gender." Older people, he says, often find it difficult to get a job, partly because relatively young supervisors are reluctant to hire and then manage employees who are decades older, even though these employees are the type of worker many employers say they want
an incredible amount of discrimination, bigger even than discrimination against race or gender." Older people, he says, often find it difficult to get a job, partly because relatively young supervisors are reluctant to hire and then manage employees who are decades older, even though these employees are the type of worker many employers say they want.
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re quite young to have some serious responsibility. As start-ups get a little bigger, for example, they have to reach out for talent -- such as marketing experts and chief operating officers -- who will help them reach the next level of growth. The founders don't want to hire a kid; they want to look for somebody who has done this before, such as an executive looking for a second career. You see that quite often.
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If you look at the research on older workers, you see an incredible amount of discrimination against them, bigger than race, bigger than gender. Older workers struggle to get hired. And yet these are individuals who are perfectly suited to what employers say they want -- somebody who can hit the ground running, who knows how to handle work-based problems, who is not interested in a long-term commitment from the company, and who is self-motivated and self-managing. All this exactly defines older workers. They are ideally suited for many of these jobs, and yet when push comes to shove, younger supervisors won't hire them.
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They can serve as mentors to younger employees. If older workers stay with the same company, they carry on the culture. They have tacit knowledge that you can't find in a book. And surprisingly, if you look at job performance data related to age, it turns out that older workers perform better on every dimension of job performance. They turn over less, are absent less, their performance appraisals are better and, contrary to prevailing assumptions, they don't cost employers more than younger workers. Wages are higher for experience, not seniority, and higher wages for experience reflects productivity advantages.
On the health care side, the assumption is that older people are sick a lot and will use the health care system more. That's true. But they don't have dependents. In most companies, the actual costs for employers are highly associated with an employee's dependents, not with the employee. So older workers may not even cost more for health care.
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In addition, smart companies know that older workers are less motivated by money, and more interested in meaningful work, social contacts, etc. So when you go down this list, the interesting thing is that older workers sound like younger workers -- those who say they don't want to make long-term commitments to an organization, who say they are motivated by the mission of the company and are looking for work-life balance, time to pursue interests outside of work, and so forth.... In some ways, the quirky part of this is that people in the middle of their careers are the unusual ones. They are stuck because they need money for mortgages, their kids' education and other commitments. They are the ones who can't move and can't be as flexible.
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To the extent they keep working in their company, it's as a consultant or as a part-time employee. That's the typical model.
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And in fact this book is written mainly from an employer's perspective. The goal is to point out the opportunities that hiring older workers provide, and to examine why these opportunities are not being taken up. We are suggesting ways that employers can take advantage of this opportunity. There are many surveys about what older workers want, but not about employers. So the bigger puzzle was on the employers' side
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The part of this book that is unique is that it calls attention to the whole issue of younger supervisors managing older workers. Awareness of the issue is a big point. We also go into ways to address this issue, which revolve around changing the ways that younger supervisors manage. For example, they can't boss older employees around based on their formal authority and expertise, because older workers will have more expertise than the supervisors. And you can't threaten or bribe them. The usual model is to say, "You have to do this or we will fire you." Older workers obviously don't want to be fired, but it is not as big a deal as it is for workers who are 40. Supervisors have to manage in a way that is more empowering. They have to say, "Here is a project; we want your ideas on how to get it done."
Another issue is that younger supervisors sometimes undermanage older workers because they are afraid of them. So they just don't deal with them, don't talk to them. That's a problem as well. We discuss these issues and how to solve them.
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Are some industries more hospitable to older workers than others?
Cappelli: Places where there are labor shortages, like health care, pay attention to this. In health care, a lot of employers are trying to keep older nurses and technicians around because they are in short supply. In more creative fields, there are increased efforts to retain research scientists -- in the pharmaceutical industry, for example. These are places where there are individual contributors who work independently. Some efforts are underway in some corporations to bring back expertise for consulting arrangements. Big companies realize they have gotten bad at managing knowledge. An example is a company that suddenly discovers nobody in its ranks has met any of the partners in its Japanese subsidiary because the only people who knew them have just retired. Or consider the power company that discovered there were only a few people who knew where all the underground lines were and they had just retired as well. They were brought back in as consultants. There are a lot of places out there that aren't thinking about these issues ahead of time.
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an incredible amount of discrimination, bigger even than discrimination against race or gender." Older people, he says, often find it difficult to get a job, partly because relatively young supervisors are reluctant to hire and then manage employees who are decades older, even though these employees are the type of worker many employers say they want.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
re quite young to have some serious responsibility. As start-ups get a little bigger, for example, they have to reach out for talent -- such as marketing experts and chief operating officers -- who will help them reach the next level of growth. The founders don't want to hire a kid; they want to look for somebody who has done this before, such as an executive looking for a second career. You see that quite often.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
If you look at the research on older workers, you see an incredible amount of discrimination against them, bigger than race, bigger than gender. Older workers struggle to get hired. And yet these are individuals who are perfectly suited to what employers say they want -- somebody who can hit the ground running, who knows how to handle work-based problems, who is not interested in a long-term commitment from the company, and who is self-motivated and self-managing. All this exactly defines older workers. They are ideally suited for many of these jobs, and yet when push comes to shove, younger supervisors won't hire them.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
They can serve as mentors to younger employees. If older workers stay with the same company, they carry on the culture. They have tacit knowledge that you can't find in a book. And surprisingly, if you look at job performance data related to age, it turns out that older workers perform better on every dimension of job performance. They turn over less, are absent less, their performance appraisals are better and, contrary to prevailing assumptions, they don't cost employers more than younger workers. Wages are higher for experience, not seniority, and higher wages for experience reflects productivity advantages.
On the health care side, the assumption is that older people are sick a lot and will use the health care system more. That's true. But they don't have dependents. In most companies, the actual costs for employers are highly associated with an employee's dependents, not with the employee. So older workers may not even cost more for health care.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
In addition, smart companies know that older workers are less motivated by money, and more interested in meaningful work, social contacts, etc. So when you go down this list, the interesting thing is that older workers sound like younger workers -- those who say they don't want to make long-term commitments to an organization, who say they are motivated by the mission of the company and are looking for work-life balance, time to pursue interests outside of work, and so forth.... In some ways, the quirky part of this is that people in the middle of their careers are the unusual ones. They are stuck because they need money for mortgages, their kids' education and other commitments. They are the ones who can't move and can't be as flexible.
--------------------------------------------------------------
To the extent they keep working in their company, it's as a consultant or as a part-time employee. That's the typical model.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
And in fact this book is written mainly from an employer's perspective. The goal is to point out the opportunities that hiring older workers provide, and to examine why these opportunities are not being taken up. We are suggesting ways that employers can take advantage of this opportunity. There are many surveys about what older workers want, but not about employers. So the bigger puzzle was on the employers' side
---------------------------------------------------------
The part of this book that is unique is that it calls attention to the whole issue of younger supervisors managing older workers. Awareness of the issue is a big point. We also go into ways to address this issue, which revolve around changing the ways that younger supervisors manage. For example, they can't boss older employees around based on their formal authority and expertise, because older workers will have more expertise than the supervisors. And you can't threaten or bribe them. The usual model is to say, "You have to do this or we will fire you." Older workers obviously don't want to be fired, but it is not as big a deal as it is for workers who are 40. Supervisors have to manage in a way that is more empowering. They have to say, "Here is a project; we want your ideas on how to get it done."
Another issue is that younger supervisors sometimes undermanage older workers because they are afraid of them. So they just don't deal with them, don't talk to them. That's a problem as well. We discuss these issues and how to solve them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Are some industries more hospitable to older workers than others?
Cappelli: Places where there are labor shortages, like health care, pay attention to this. In health care, a lot of employers are trying to keep older nurses and technicians around because they are in short supply. In more creative fields, there are increased efforts to retain research scientists -- in the pharmaceutical industry, for example. These are places where there are individual contributors who work independently. Some efforts are underway in some corporations to bring back expertise for consulting arrangements. Big companies realize they have gotten bad at managing knowledge. An example is a company that suddenly discovers nobody in its ranks has met any of the partners in its Japanese subsidiary because the only people who knew them have just retired. Or consider the power company that discovered there were only a few people who knew where all the underground lines were and they had just retired as well. They were brought back in as consultants. There are a lot of places out there that aren't thinking about these issues ahead of time.
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Labels: Knowledge at Wharton
