Mature Workers:
2. Myths and facts around older workers
Negative stereotypes and assumptions of a ‘use by date’ are significant barriers that older Australians face when they look for meaningful work.
With Australia’s workforce ageing at a rapid rate and some industries facing skills shortages, buying into these stereotypes will increasingly come at a heavy cost to employers.
That’s why it’s so important to separate the myths from the facts.
- Myth 1: Mature age workers will cost the business more for their
experience
- Myth 2: Mature age workers may be prone to health problems
- Myth 3: There is no long term benefit to training and developing mature
age workers
- Myth 4: Younger workers are better performers than mature age workers
- Myth 5: Mature age workers won’t be able to adapt to changes and
new technology
MYTH 1: Mature age workers will cost the business more for their experience.
FACT: Mature age employees can save costs to employers through increased rates of retention.
- Workers aged over 55 are five times less likely to change jobs compared with workers aged 20-24, reducing ongoing recruitment and training costs.[1]
- Mature workers deliver an average net benefit of $1,956 per year to their
employer compared to the rest of the workforce - a result of increased
retention, lower rates of absenteeism, decreased costs of recruitment and
greater investment returns on
training.[2]
FACT: Retention of mature age workers can help maintain corporate memory and save employers the cost of ‘re-inventing the wheel’.[3]
FACT: There is a strategic business advantage of having employees who reflect the diversity of the customer base as the Australian population ages.[4]
MYTH 2: Mature age workers may be prone to health problems.
FACT: Australians are living longer and are healthier.
- ABS reports show that the current life expectancy is 78 years for men and 83 years for women – a two and three year increase respectively since 1994.[5]
- A 2005 ABS survey found the proportion of Australians aged 55-64 reporting
their health as ‘good’, ‘very good’ or
‘excellent’ was 75.5% – an increase of four per cent since
1995.[6]
FACT: Mature age workers are less likely to take sick leave and experience work related injuries.
- A 2006 ABS survey found that mature workers were the least likely group to take days off due to their own illness or as a carer. In the two week period prior to the survey nearly half the number of mature workers had days off compared to workers aged 25-34.[7]
- ABS data indicates that mature age workers are less likely to experience
work-related injuries compared to younger
workers.[8]
MYTH 3: There is no long term benefit to training and developing mature age workers.
FACT: Australia’s ageing population means business will need to invest in mature age employees.
- Based on current trends the working age population will grow by just 125,000 for the entire decade from 2020 to 2029 – less than a tenth of current pace.
- Research of OECD countries shows that those countries that provide a higher
level of training to older workers have workers leaving the labour market at an
older age.[9]
MYTH 4: Younger workers are better performers than mature age workers.
FACT: Experience is a better indicator of productivity than age.
- A study of OECD nations concluded that verbal skills, communication and
intelligence remain unchanged as a person
ages.[10]
MYTH 5: Mature age workers won’t be able to adapt to changes and new technology.
FACT: Older people are the fastest growing users of technology.
- ABS data shows that Australians aged 55-64 are the fastest growing users of
information technology.[11]
FACT: Older people can be trained to use new technologies.
- International studies indicate that appropriate training provided in a supportive environment can greatly assist older workers to learn new technology systems.[12]
- A survey of employers showed they were more likely to recruit someone with
direct experience in the industry but with limited computing skills compared to
a person who is good with computers but has no industry
experience.[13]
[1] Australian Bureau of Statistics
(2006) Labour Mobility Survey, Cat. No.
6209.0.
[2] Business, Work and
Ageing (2000) Profiting from Maturity: The Social and Economic Costs of Mature
Age Unemployment.
[3] Australian
Government, Department of Health and Aged Care (2001) Population Ageing in
the Australian Economy, Access
Economics.
[4] ibid
[5] Australian Bureau of
Statistics, (2006) Measures of Australia's Progress, Cat. No.
1370.0.
[6] Australian Bureau of
Statistics (2006) National Health Survey: Summary of Results, 2004-05 Cat. No. 4364.0.
[7] ibid
[8]Australian Bureau of
Statistics (2006) Work-Related Injuries, Australia, Cat. No.
6324.0.
[9] Organisation for
Economic Cooperation and Development (2006) Live Longer Work Longer, OECD
Publishing, http://213.253.134.43/oecd/pdfs/browseit/8105111E.PDF,
accessed 27 August 2007.
[10] Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (2006) Live Longer Work
Longer, OECD Publishing, http://213.253.134.43/oecd/pdfs/browseit/8105111E.PDF,
accessed 27 August 2007.
[11] Australian Bureau of Statistics (2005) Year Book Australia, Cat. No.
1301.0.
[12] Research and Policy
Committee of Committee for Economic Development (1999) New Opportunities for
Older Workers
[13] Bittman,
M., Flick, M., & Rice, J. (2001) The recruitment of older Australian
workers – A survey of employers in high growth industry, Social Policy
Research Centre, University of NSW.
