The prevailing stereotypes about senior employees often include unfounded notions of unproductivity, inflexibility, and reduced motivation. Despite lacking empirical support, these perceptions still hold sway over how senior employees view themselves and their place within the organization.

Consequently, such stereotypes serve as a significant determinant in the retirement decisions of many senior employees, as found by researchers from the University of Copenhagen in a recent study.

“In our study, we refer to the uncertainty that senior employees feel about their status as ‘the worn-out syndrome,’ which is similar to the well-known imposter syndrome that is associated with a feeling of inadequacy. But there is an important difference: the senior employees we have interviewed are confident about their own skills, and their colleagues are mostly positive about their contribution,” the researchers explain.

Internalizing stereotypes

“Senior employees thus seem to internalize the stereotypes that circulate in the labor market about older employees. In other words, the worn-out syndrome does not necessarily have anything to do with what colleagues think about a senior employee but rather with what the senior employee thinks the colleagues think about the senior employee. Combined with a latent fear of future decline, this uncertainty, unfortunately, leads to premature decisions about retirement,” they continue.

The researchers conducted an ethnographic study at eight small and medium-sized companies within Denmark’s finance and production sectors, involving 92 interviews with senior staff, managers, union representatives, and HR personnel.

The study uncovered noticeable variations in attitudes towards older employees and the impact of declining industries. While apprehension about decline was more palpable in the finance industry, the production sector also grappled with concerns regarding productivity and decline.

Complex interplay

The results illustrate the complex interplay of factors that influence perceptions of aging and retirement within various industries.

“In the production industry, there is an openness about being worn out which is typically equated with physical decline. This type of decline has been part and parcel of the public and political conversation for a good 100 years—and has led to a plethora of new pension schemes and policies. The worn-out body is, in other words, a matter of collective and political concern, whereas the worn-out mind is portrayed as an individual problem,” the researchers explain

“If we want to combat the stereotypes that inform the worn-out syndrome and senior employees’ untimely retirement decisions, senior employees and their colleagues and managers must find a way of discussing openly the fear and uncertainty that senior employees feel regarding their potential cognitive decline,” they conclude. “A political discussion about cognitive decline and mental health—like the one we have had about physical decline—would be an important first step in this regard.”