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Older Workers More Willing Than Young to Accept
Change, Says New Study
March 11, 2005 - Older
workers are more inclined and interested in making changes to benefit
the organization than younger workers, says a researcher at Louisiana
State University.
Conventional wisdom says
that technology is the province to the young and that older workers are
negatively affected by constant changes in the computerization of
business functions.
These stereotypes about
aging employees are simply not true and prevent companies from
benefiting from their knowledge and experience, says Dr. Tracey Rizzuto,
assistant professor of psychology.
There is some research
that shows older workers may not be as quick in learning new technology
skills as younger people, but this study shows the commitment and
willingness to learn is stronger among the older workers, Rizzuto said.
Workers are getting
older and within five years 20 percent of the workforce will be more
than 55, says the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
When the state of
Pennsylvania three years ago upgraded its computer systems to streamline
and standardize key business processes, Rizzuto wondered how older
workers would fare in adapting to the new technology.
Concentrating on the
states purchasing agents willingness to learn the new systems as well
as their motivation, commitment and satisfaction in accepting the
changes, Rizzuto found plenty of reasons to dispel some of the myths
about older workers. Of more than 360 people surveyed, nearly 60 percent
were 46 or older and ll percent were over 55.
Contrary to common belief, Rizzuto found that
older workers exhibited more willingness to learn the new technology
than their younger counterparts. That went against what I had
expected, she said, admitting that perhaps she held some stereotypes
about older workers. Sometimes the news is not in the expected, but
lies in the unexpected.
Veteran employees were
more fired up about the changes, Rizzuto observed, adding that most,
though not all, were supportive of the new systems.
She will be presenting
her findings at the 20th annual conference of the Society for Industrial
and Organizational Psychology April 15-17 in Los Angeles.
While there may be some
isolated examples of an older worker being resistant to change, this
study suggests that is not typical of most older workers surveyed, she
said. Older workers saw the value of the changes and felt an obligation
and loyalty to their co-workers to learn and implement the new
technology.
She suggested that
companies provide specialized training programs for older workers to
keep them current with new technological procedures.
Its a small price to
pay to retain a valuable segment of the workforce who are teachable and
adaptable and who will greatly benefit the organization, she added.
Another plus: older
workers tend to feel more devoted to organizational initiatives and
share similar values. Therefore, they are more likely to stay with the
company rather than change careers as their younger counterparts are
more prone to do.
The Society for
Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) is an international
group of 6,000 industrial-organizational psychologists whose members
study and apply scientific principles concerning people in the
workplace. For more information about SIOP, including Media Resources,
which lists nearly 2,000 experts in more than 100 topic areas, visit
http://www.siop.org
From April 15-17, SIOP
will be holding its annual meeting in Los Angeles, CA. More than 3,000
top workplace scientists and practitioners will attend and make some 800
presentations on emerging trends, developments and the way people
function in the workplace.
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