From now on, start hiring year of experience, skills and attitude, not the year of birth!

Nowadays many companies prefer to hire young people without experience but with motivation and language skills. It’s true that the future is the world and we all have to keep learning and keep our mind open and fresh. Additionally, in this «fast world» that is waiting for Millennials, we can’t forget about people with many years of experience, great attitude, and skills which are missing in many business environments. Yes, we should include seniors in our corporate life because thanks to them we get a chance to learn and see the work life balance from a different perspective.

If you still have doubts on why you should hire older workers with more experience and positive attitude, please have a look at these 8 Benefits of Hiring Older Workers:

1. Dedicated workers produce higher quality work, which can result in a significant cost saving for you. Stories abound of highly committed older workers finding others’ potentially costly mistakes regarding everything from misspelling of client names to pricing errors and accounting mistakes.
2. Punctuality seems to be a given for older workers. Most of them look forward to going to work each day, so they’re likely to arrive on time and be ready to work.
3. Honesty is common among older workers, whose values as a group include personal integrity and a devotion to the truth.
4. Detail-oriented, focused and attentive workers add an intangible value that rubs off on all employees and can save your business thousands of dollars. One business owner I know once told me that one of his older workers saved his company more than $50,000 on one large mailing job. The 75-year-old clerical worker recognized that all the ZIP codes were off by one digit. Neither the owner’s mailing house nor his degreed and highly paid marketing manager had noticed it.
5. Good listeners make great employees because they’re easier to train – older employees only have to be told once what to do.
6. Efficiency and the confidence to share their recommendations and ideas make older workers ideal employees. Their years of experience in the workplace give them a superior understanding of how jobs can be done more efficiently, which saves companies money. Their confidence, built up through the years, means they won’t hesitate to share their ideas with management.
7. Maturity comes from years of life and work experience and makes for workers who get less «rattled» when problems occur.
8. Reduced labour costs are a huge benefit when hiring older workers. Most already have insurance plans from prior employers or have an additional source of income and are willing to take a little less to get the job they want. They understand that working for a company can be about much more than just collecting a pay check.

Any business owner who’s hesitant to hire an older worker should consider these 8 benefits. Older workers’ unique skills and values – and the potential savings to your company in time and money–make hiring them a simple matter of rethinking the costs of high turnover in a more youthful workforce vs. the benefits of experience and mature standards older workers bring to the mix. You simply do not have the time or resources to deal with high employee turnover. The next time you need to make a hiring decision, you should seriously consider older workers: Their contribution to your company could positively impact your bottom line for years to come.

Additionally, it is always very important to keep your employees motivated, even if they are older.

REFERENCES

1. Fraser, L., McKenna, K., Turpin, M., Allen, S., Liddle, J. (2009). Older workers: an exploration of the benefits, barriers and adaptations for older people in the workforce. Work, 33, 261- 1
2. Opis dobrych praktyk dotyczących zarządzania wiekiem w przedsiębiorstwach polskich oraz innych krajów UE Jacek Liwiński, raport w ramach projektu „Z wiekiem na plus – szkolenia dla przedsiębiorstw, Warszawa, czerwiec 2010.