The experience and knowledge older workers contain are often hugely undervalued, and therefore when they leave an organization to head into retirement, it can cause a considerable brain drain of expertise.  Research from Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business explores how organizations can encourage older workers to stick around long enough for that knowledge to be retained.

The analysis found that the type of work environment was key, with autonomy, information sharing, a range of developmental opportunities, involvement in decision-making, and good compensation and benefits typifying the kind of environment that appeals to older workers.

The findings emerged after speaking to over 750,000 workers from across the federal government.  It emerged that those with such high-quality work environments were most likely to delay their retirement.

“As people age, research shows that they have a stronger preference for autonomy and control in their jobs, they want to feel respected and listened to,” the researchers explain.  “Jobs like that may be especially appealing to those with less education and who don’t have managerial experience because they may feel the need to keep high-quality jobs more than others.”

Brain drain

Data suggests that high-quality work environments were effective at delaying retirements in the wake of the Great Recession in 2008.  The researchers believe such findings may be illustrative in the face of the so-called Great Resignation, with employers struggling to recruit or retain the talent they so desperately need.

“After the Great Recession, older employees were more interested in continuing to work, especially if they had a high-quality job, probably because they experienced more financial pressure and uncertainty surrounding their retirement plans,” they explain.  “The COVID-19 pandemic may have the same effect on workers.”

In addition to capturing various demographic information, the surveys asked participants to rate their employers to things such as the training opportunities and autonomy in their workplace, which were viewed as evidence that those workplaces were high quality.  The surveys also captured whether each participant was planning to retire within a year, between one and three years, between three and five years, or after five years.

Sticking around

The data found that those least likely to want to retire if they had good jobs were those with less education, especially if they were not in managerial roles.

“They often don’t have as many opportunities to retire early or pursue other options before retirement as those who are more educated and have managerial jobs,” the researchers suggest.  “But if they have a low-quality job, they seem to be more likely to want to retire from their current jobs, possibly to search for a ‘bridge job’ that can take them to retirement.”

The researchers believe that their findings are crucially important given the difficulty so many organizations are facing in terms of attracting and keeping the skills they need.

“Post-COVID, organizations may need to invest more in the high-involvement work practices that we found can retain older workers,” the researchers conclude.