Retention of Older Workers Essay

Age discrimination has long been present in society due to the rapid development happening around us. According to Farney, Aday & Breault (2006), this era of ageism is defined as "discrimination against any age group", but it often is pointed to age discrimination among adults which is slowly causing a negative effect for them in the workplace. In the workplace, adults with more experience and longer history behind them are targets of this ageism belief that companies and employers tend to have (Farney, Aday, & Breault, 2006). They are shunned and even fired in favor of accepting new and fresh faces for the company they have worked for. Unknown to most companies and employers, this notion of favoring the young and banishing the old can

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967 was created to “promote employment of older persons based on their ability rather than age; to prohibit arbitrary age discrimination in employment; and to help employers and workers find ways of meeting problems arising from the impact of age on employment” (as cited in Rothenberg & Gardner, 2011, p. 10). The act was intended to help the older workforce stay employed and prevent employers from discriminating against employee because of his/ her age. Also, a study showed that “between the years of 2000 and 2010, the number of employees over the age of fifty-five increased by over 11 million and the number of age discrimination cases reported to the Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC) also increased by over 8,000 during those same years” (Tauro, 2014, p. 256). Therefore, these statics prove that

The differences that men and women experience in their senior years are also covered. In the workplace, many older people are able to perform at outstanding levels well passed age 65, but can feel affect from ageism at a very early age of 40. A segment about issues faced by older workers in the workplace will be included. Our world is becoming more connected and understanding how other cultures view their elders also seems appropriate. Perhaps these few perspectives will bring understanding and recognition to an important issue.

One of the challenges of organizations having diverse working environment is gerontology. Managers concerns with workers being older is that they do not have ability to learn and adjust to new policies and methods. In the public organizations, age is a challenge because

The older worker is a forceful business opportunity for all types of workplaces based on the result of research. Age discrimination, therefore, needs to be avoided in companies. Everyone should be working in a harmonious environment. This is making a better outlook, such as increase job opportunities and open willingness for hiring different people with different ability. Also, in terms of their value or cost to an organization it fits government policies and not merely for the company’s financial condition. (Ryan, S

Indeed, older workers have plenty of experience with the clear understanding in organizations. Therefore, they have the capacities to make good decision quickly and less mistakes. Refer to the book of Lois Lowry, people in the community always ask the Giver for advice since he has the memories that is consider as wisdom (130). Similarly, that critical thinking and wisdom have gained through the years in jobs lets older workers delivery top quality as well as helps companies avoid the repetition of mistakes. In tough marketplaces, it is important to realize that older workers are the source that bring profits to companies because after working for a long time, they have built good relationships as powerful strings to connect loyal and potential customers with companies. Under those circumstances, older workers ' productivity is much more or at least on par with younger workers.

The first and foremost point to be taken into consideration is that, the older an employee is, the more his experience is, and the experience is a crucial factor that determines the growth of an organisation. Newbees surely have a better hand when it comes to technology but that does not imply that older people should be overlooked in terms of their experience along with the learning they have.

Assigning elder workers a bigger role in workplace decisions, such as how the workplace is designed, is another measure that may help to reduce ageism. The design of the workplace has been shown to influence the productivity of workers and older workers are rarely consulted on this matter (Erlich & Bechard, 2008). Therefore, incorporating the needs of older workers into management decisions will increase the productivity and motivation of older workers, which will be economically beneficial to companies.

Employment programs for seniors will be my area of focus to foster significant roles and add to the quality of life for older adults. Indeed, older adults possess many skills and abilities qualifying them as being valuable to business and agencies, however, finding a job is still made difficult. Contributing factors are those desiring to work are ill prepared due to technological advancement or lack of training. Agencies and businesses are now demanding necessary training making it vitally important to make oneself marketable as the job market is competitive.

Old people in the workplace are normally stereotyped as incompetent and slow (Blaine, 178). The common myth is that as people get old they lose motivation because their tenure of service is

1. The aging labor force affects Human Resources by the department needs to take the time to motivate employees who are older to push themselves, start planning for retirement and manage the cost health care. In today’s society, many older people do not plan on retiring anytime soon or do not have enough money to retire. From this, some older workers are cutting down hours, working on temporary assignments, and or working from home. This allows older generations to mentor younger generations with work ethics and other aspects of the business. While this also gives the younger generations to mentor older generations with the latest technology and new ways of thinking. Human Resource management might run into different issues with the different generations such as the silent generation values job security and income. Baby Boomers value job opportunities and time management. on the other hand, Generation X is self-managed and can be pragmatic and Generation Y is good with technology and respect the hard work of older generations.

The world has come to a place where society thinks that any type of age will always have one type of “weakness” that will make them incapable to do a certain activity. The article called Age Discrimination by Gale Encyclopedia discusses how older people have it the hard way because they do not have an opportunity to keep their job . “Not only is it harder for an older worker to keep a job, it becomes harder for an older worker to find a job…..” (Encyclopedia, p.g 2) This certain situation discourages further people to look for other jobs, if they got fired because they start to lose hope. Not only is it harder for elderly people to find a job, but it gets difficult for a non experienced worker to adapt into their new environment. Younger workers

Many researchers have shifted the focus of aging research from the older generation to a process of greater human development throughout the course of their life. This point of view underscores an unmistakable yet perfect conceptualization of the productive aging:

I believe the article, “John Glenn, One of the Many Productive Older People,” proves that many older people live productive, fulfilling lives and are in great condition physically and mentally. John Glynn was productive throughout his life, even in his later years, again proving that the common negative idea that older adults aren’t productive is false. In addition, I feel that Glynn is a great example of how to stay productive as you age. For instance, according to Zastrow et. al., (2013), at the age of 53, Glynn was elected to the United States Senate, where he served until he retired at the age of 78, he then volunteered to go on a nine-day space shuttle mission to allow scientists to study the effects of space travel on an older person, he spent 500 hours of training and lastly at the age of 77 he became a space pioneer (p. 693). This proves that many older people are energetic, physically fit, mentally stable and still able to learn. In addition, I presume that

Aging population can be used as an advantage to increase economic rates growth by keeping them employed as long as possible (Nankervis et al. 2006, p.55). People who are working in a knowledge fields may increase their performance with age, however for more physical positions there is an opposite possibility of low performance with increasing age (Patrickson & Ranzijn, 2006). Consequently, specific jobs may have lack of professional employees. For example by separating workers and using older workers as experience type that can teach and train young employees, as well as use their knowledge will benefit organization in different departments. Also by using younger workers as routine workers or in more physical positions that are hard to perform for older employees will give them opportunity to earn more experience and will keep older employees working as well (Patrickson & Ranzijn, 2006). It is necessary for human resources to distribute their workforce accordingly and to provide required training for their young and old employees.