Training the Older Worker

Older employees offer many benefits to the workplace, including experience, loyalty and a strong work ethic. But when it comes to training the older worker, employers may need to make some special considerations.

Claire A. Simmers, Ph.D., chair of the management department at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, conducts research focusing on generational differences in the workplace. She stressed that older workers should be valued for their depth of knowledge and experience.

“They've seen a lot,” she says. “In most cases, they've been around enough to understand the politics, the systems and the processes.”

On the other hand, she adds, older workers sometimes may be jaded about change or may not wish to participate in training, especially if they plan to retire within a few years. “You have to convince them that [training] is an important part of their current job,” she explains.

Older workers also might be more likely to assume they already know how to do something properly, or see no need to change how they may have been working for years. So how can trainers overcome this potential obstacle with older workers? The answer is simple: flexibility.

CHOICE AND FLEXIBILITY

Simmers suggests framing training as a way to improve the worker's job rather than just another task that must be completed. Above all else, allow those older workers to put their experience to use by involving them in the process.

“Ask their opinions,” she advises. “Offer options so they could either train on their own time, come to class or do it online in their office. Offering options lets them feel as though they have control of the time for the training.”

Scott Wallace, production manager for Summit Training Source, says trainers can persuade experienced, older workers to embrace the training by inviting them to help.

“You might want to involve them in the training so they're helping the class,” he explains. Creating this mentor situation not only will make older workers more engaged in the training, but they may have good insight to offer the class, as well. “If you're in a classroom setting, you can use that to the class's advantage by having older people participate in the discussion. They may have a lot of good input,” he says.

“In other words, use their expertise and don't just dictate from the top,” Simmers adds.

Complacency also can become an issue with older workers who feel they don't need training.

“One thing we find is that older workers may be more complacent. We have to help them not go into auto pilot,” explains Nancy Kondas, global leader, product development for Training Solutions, which is part of DuPont Sustainable Solutions. She says trainers must “help people realize that complacency is dangerous when it comes to safety, and that you have to be present and remember that everything you do and every choice you make through the workday can impact your safety and the safety of others.”

“One of the things we focus on for older workers is explaining why it matters to them. I don't know that they care about big theories; they want to know how this will affect their jobs. They're out to take training to apply it to their lives,” explains Kristen Loch, the interactive media director with Summit Training Source. “We show real people in real environments, real workers in the work force, so the older workers realize we're not listening to theory or possibility. We're watching actual people doing their jobs safely because we all want to go home healthy to our families.”

TRAINING TECHNOLOGY

If you employ a graying work force, don't assume that means these workers are unwilling or unable to use technology during the training process.

“The fastest growing group of users on Facebook is Baby Boomers and the older generation,” Simmers points out. “They are fairly savvy and using technology far more than people usually give [them] credit for.”