Why Hiring Older Workers is Good Business Strategy

http://blog.quintcareers.com/why-hiring-older-workers-is-good-business-strategy/#

Diversity wins

Studies show that group performance improves when the backgrounds, perspectives, and demographics within the group are widely varied. Diversity across any line, including race, gender, professional history, and age, can contribute to better ideas, tighter team cohesion, fewer mistakes, and stronger forward motion. If every member of your team falls between the ages of 22 and 29, they’re being held back by blind spots that they don’t even know they have.

Older workers are tested and proven

Older workers are not a monolith, and of course they can’t be painted with a broad brush, but they all have one thing in common: life experience. And life experience usually leads to maturity, a strong work ethic, reliability, and communication skills. Simply by virtue of experience and seniority, older workers often display natural leadership skills and offer a steady, settled approach to the job that sets an example for younger employees.

Older workers aren’t always prohibitively expensive

Employers often shy away from the resumes of older workers because they assume that greater age means greater costs. But before you drop a glowing resume like a hot potato, pause and investigate. Candidates may be willing to negotiate or accept a lower salary in exchange for strong benefits and necessary perks. Not to mention, benefits packages themselves have changed, which means that companies are no longer obligated to support expensive pension schemes that increase in cost as employees age.

Most importantly though, older workers will likely offer skill sets that can’t be found in a younger population (like higher level project and budget management, team leadership, and long-term planning). In short, keep your workforce agile, innovative, and engaged by making sure your teams represent multiple age groups.