Older workers as a source of wisdom capital: broadening perspectives

Abstract

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to pinpoint some key variables that help shape the notion of older workers as a source of organizational wisdom capital. Design/methodology/approach-Toward that end, the paper reviews a selective bibliography in order to support its arguments. Findings-The evidence garnered throughout this paperfundamentally through different lens of analysissuggests that older workers may be considered as valuable assets. Furthermore, a sizeable number of members of this cohort continue, even in the latter stages of their careers, to be willing, well-equipped, and able to enhance, if properly utilized, companies to achieve other patterns of performance. Accordingly, it is advocated here that their knowledge and expertise constitutes an authentic source of organizational wisdom capital that deserves careful attention from organizations to maintain by means of suitable incentives and training. Research limitations/implications-This paper highlights other aspects that should not be disdained by organizations such as career-ending, work characteristics, and mastery-avoidance goals. Thus, companies that are interested in keeping older talents must be attuned to their wishes and aspirations, as well as being proactive by offering tailor-made job-products to them. Social implications-Given the trend of aging workforce, it is likely that organizations will be increasingly impacted by societal demands and public policies toward benefiting and respecting older talents. Originality/value-This paper advocates that older workers are usually living memories of organizational life. Rather, they tend to keep in their minds those failures and successful ideas, projects, initiatives, and leaderships, which added or not value throughout their trajectories, as well as things that worked out or not. Fundamentally, they are able to provide answers to vital questions.

Age Management: What Can we Learn from High-End Luxury Fashion Designer with More than 50 Years of Working Experience?

“…Authors Lundberg and Marshallsay (2007) claim that older workers themselves typically argue that the most effective training methods are in-service, in-house, one-on-one and practically oriented training methodologies, preferably establishing older workers as role models and mentors. Vasconcelos (2018) endorses the opinion that older workers can be seen as valuable organizational assets. Moreover, their knowledge and expertise are part of organizational wisdom capital that requires careful attention from organizations and their managers in terms of appropriate incentives and training in order for them to remain productive within the organization.…”

“…Older workers typically possess meaningful knowledge and extremely important experience that enables organizations to perform better and even attract new young talents. Vasconcelos (2018) further reports that in his research participants acknowledged knowledge and experience as one of the most important benefits of older workers. Similarly, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (2006) reports that many organizations already realize that professional and social skills of older employees accumulated through their working career represent a special asset.…”

Bridging the Generational Gap in the Hospitality Industry: Reverse Mentoring—An Innovative Talent Management Practice for Present and Future Generations of Employees

“…Such high-touch skills of older employees are related to: anger management, interpersonal face-to-face communication, time management, ethics, problem solving, politics, power structure, internal best practice, company's goals and strategy, spirituality, intuition, good taste in dressing, consistency, loyalty, the history of client relations, etc. [24,46,73,[84][85][86]. Millennials' offerings can share their high-tech skills related to the Internet, social media, mobile technology, different apps, new electronics, SEO (search engine optimization) etc.…”

“…High-touch skills [21,81,84,85] Respect and empowerment from older employees [83] Continuous learning through meaningful relationships [3,87] The opportunity to make a difference [78] Meaningful work, feeling that their work is valuable [15,73,78,87] Feedback from their employers [54] Understanding of roles within a company [54] Professional and personal development [15,79] Change of generational misconceptions [3,79] Finding multiple mentors with different backgrounds Self-confidence [3,73,79] The feeling that the company values their uniqueness [15,73] Career development [54,79] Contribution to decision-making [79] Gaining experience The possibility to know more about the reality of the working place [3,54,87] Leadership development [54,78,79,82,87,88] Relational learning [15,82,87] Discovering similarities with older employees Access to key positions [54] Help Millennials see and understand their weaknesses-for example they can see that technology has limitations [89] High-tech skills [46,73,…”

Promotion of human rights by providing equal employment opportunities for the disadvantaged workers in ASEAN

“…Nevertheless, the challenges brought about by ageing population in ASEAN should not be seen as a burden to the economy and organisation. While old age does not necessarily mean frailty and passive dependency, older people are a valuable asset as they have skills, experiences, wisdoms and knowledge which can be put to use for economic benefit through their continuous participation in the labour market (Vasconcelos, 2018). Despite older people's potentials and their contribution to the economy, however, in many ASEAN countries, this segment of society still tends to be excluded from the labour market.…”