In a recent article, I highlighted how the Covid pandemic heralded an exodus from the labor market by older workers, with this making a significant contribution to the labor shortages seen across the economy today. It’s a problem that is likely to continue in the coming years, with an estimated 75 million Baby Boomers retiring by 2030.
The departure of the second-largest generation from the labor market promises to leave an enormous hole, both in the labor market and in public finances. As a result, there are widespread attempts to keep people economically active for as long as possible.
Investing in workers
Research from the University of Florida suggests that investing in older workers could pay rich dividends in terms of their longevity of tenure, with retention particularly likely among those workers who are most motivated to develop new skills and grow at work. The researchers found that when such people are given the opportunity to do so, then they’re much more likely to stay at the organization even after they become eligible for retirement.
“We used to think that older workers choose to stay with an organization mainly out of socioemotional reasons. Once reaching the retirement age, however, older workers can also choose to exit the workforce and engage in social activities outside the workplace,” they explain. “Thus, to retain retirement-eligible workers, organizations would need to move beyond creating pleasant social experiences and make efforts to facilitate recharging or investing in those workers in order to motivate them to stay.”
The likelihood of remaining in the workforce was further enhanced when older employees were given an age-inclusive work environment, with employees treated equally regardless of their age.
“Older workers sometimes face age stereotypes that discourage them to participate in training activities,” the researchers explain. “For example, some people may think older workers are less motivated to learn and training opportunities should be targeted at or tailored to younger workers, despite the lack of empirical evidence supporting such stereotypes. An age-inclusive work environment treats employees of different ages in an equal and inclusive manner, mitigating such stereotypes and removing barriers for older workers to participate in training programs.”
The right environment
It’s vital, therefore, that the right environment is provided so that older workers can learn successfully, and a recent study from Curtin University highlights the crucial role work design can play. It’s something that the researchers believe is especially important given the changing demographics in western society.
“We have a huge amount of population aging in Western countries and it’s really important to have a workforce that is still functioning and learning. Good work design can help our cognitive functioning,” they explain.
The researchers outline five distinct factors that help to support our cognitive health at work:
- Autonomy, including the freedom to make decisions, the opportunity to choose work hours, and the independence to choose the method for getting the job done.
- Feedback, such as input from clients, customers, and peers, as well as performance appraisals.
- Complexity, defined as job demands on workers that require aptitude, skills, training, thought, creativity, and judgment.
- Relational aspects, such as social contact, support, dependence on teammates to accomplish tasks, and interaction outside organizations.
- Psychosocial demands, including workloads and emotional demands of the job.
The researchers analyzed the connection between work design and cognition and were able to identify key factors, such as feedback, autonomy, and complexity. When these factors are present in the workplace, they create more opportunities for people to learn.
Work design
Three distinct profiles were created for three hypothetical salespeople, each with a unique work design.
- A salesperson is exposed to chronic levels of low control and high demands, contributing to a heart attack in middle age that results in a loss of cognitive function.
- A salesperson regularly engages in complex tasks during her career. As a result, she has preserved her ability to function, reducing the amount of cognitive decline she experiences at age 60.
- A salesperson works for many years in an autonomous, enriched job with positive relational and psychosocial aspects. As a result, he acquires deep expertise, which leads to more autonomy and feedback that promotes greater knowledge and wisdom. At age 65, he mentors junior salespeople on how to manage complex projects.
The authors find that job crafting is a particularly effective method for providing employees with more autonomy over their work. Employees can also strive to obtain positions or projects that give them a more enriched work design.
“Managers should aim to design and structure work in a way that can minimize job stressors, boredom, and fatigue and to provide instrumental and social support to employees when possible to help alleviate or buffer potential stressors. Avoiding overprescribed work procedures and excessively standardized protocols, such as increasingly prevalent in knowledge work (teachers being required to follow highly prescribed lesson plans), is one example of how organizational practices need to be altered to foster greater job autonomy and its associated cognitive benefits,” the authors say.
They believe that policymakers should also be interested in work design and introduce national policies to promote things such as health and safety, job security, and automation, with the cognitive wellbeing of society at the forefront throughout. For example, if people are given more control over their work hours, this could allow them to better allocate tasks according to their available cognitive resources.
“Enriched work designs—high in autonomy, feedback, complexity, and support—enhance workers’ work experiences, and thereby, in the longer term, accelerate and maintain mature workers’ development of wisdom and deep expertise,” the researchers conclude.
