Hiring Elderly Employees: Challenges & Benefits

This assignment delves into the topic of hiring elderly employees, examining both the challenges and benefits associated with this practice. It draws upon academic literature, news articles, and online resources to analyze various human resource management (HRM) perspectives related to age diversity in the workplace. The analysis considers factors such as employee performance, salary expectations, sleep problems, and the role of psychology in HRM.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
AND
PSYCHOLOGY
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................3
TASK 1.................................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Developing a robust business case why companies should adopt strategies to recruiting older
workers. Ensuring critically discussion of both the benefits and challenges associated with
having an older workforce...............................................................................................................3
TASK 2 ................................................................................................................................................8
2. Making recommendations as to the action organisations must consider in ensuring they they
have a ready supply of labour in the future.....................................................................................8
References..........................................................................................................................................10
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INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is used to detail formal system developed for the management
of resources within a entity. It is function which is developed to maximize employee performance
in service of an employer strategic aim. Human resource management involve dealing with different
kind of individuals with contrasting mindsets. Therefore, psychology plays important role in human
resource administration function. It further help in studying the mental features of the individuals
and its behaviour in the course of planning, direction, management and control of varied activities.
By understanding the psychology of the individuals employer can take different initiatives to
motivate them and attain the overall goals of business (Role of psychology in human resource
management. 2008). The human factor is regarded as the fundamental point in the psychology
management. In this report, various aspect of human resource management and psychology will be
studied in the context of provided case study. The learning will be shown regarding why entities
should adopt strategies to hire older workers. The benefits and challenges regarding the same will
be discussed. Thereafter, recommendation regarding the actions that company can take to assure
ready supply of labour in the future.
TASK 1
1.1 Developing a robust business case why companies should adopt strategies to recruiting older
workers. Ensuring critically discussion of both the benefits and challenges associated with
having an older workforce.
Case study overview
1) The Nationwide is the globe biggest building society. It appoints nearly 16000 individuals
and operate around 700 branches across the UK. By the year 2011, almost 14% of human
inventory were more than the age of 50. In order to assure the retention of maximum
employees company adopted various strategies like, increasing the retirement age for
assistance of individual who want to stay employed up to age of 75 (Wickens, Banbury and
Parasuraman, 2015). The adjustments were mad in workplace pension scheme which enable
the employees to withdraw their pension while continuing their job. In addition to this they
were provided flexibility in working which mean reduction in their working hours before
complete retirement. Further to assure that growing age does not have impact on the work
of employee, Nationwide assure proper performance appraisals. It help in identification of
the underperforming and effectively working employees.
2) The McDonald’s is the leading restaurant chain of hotel in the country with over 1200
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restaurants across the UK and appoints 85000 employees. The organization have around
1000 employees over 60 age . The entity states there is significant advantage to business of
developing the right mix of youth and experience in its human inventory. Thereafter case
study reveals that customer satisfaction in the restaurant having older staff is 20% more as
compared to other (Dries, 2013). The management believes that with the growth in the age
of individuals there contribution to business also improves. The older employee have higher
experience and efficiency in rendering customer satisfaction. In the support of elderly
workforce, McDonald’s further use flexible working which enable them to work with more
commitment. They further develop strong relationship with customers which help in
increasing their repetitive visits. The elderly workforce realize the assistance by company
towards them and thus they contribute more.
3) Lilian Faithful Homes is another registered charity which function 3 residential care homes.
They render effective nursing services to dementia and other patients. To maintain their
service standards company recruits effective staff with proper skills and ability to perform
their job irrespective of age. Further, company appointed nearly 11 individuals between age
50-65 on different roles. The benefits of recruiting elderly workforce further reflected in the
improved customer service (Wickens, Banbury and Parasuraman, 2015). Further Lilian
faithful homes assure flexible working for the convenience of its employees. The case stud y
reveals that t here are employees that never took a sick day leave despite of their growing
age.
4) From the provided case study of Brown coaches, it has been identified that it is family
owned business. They function 22 coaches, particularly 53 seats with 70 seater for journey
to schools and few vehicles with sitting capacity for 16. the organization holds human
inventory of 31 individuals. To provide assistance to older employees the entity ans staff
have flexible approach to work. The bendable working practices also help in assuring right
blend among full and part time workers. The elderly workforce have acquired many skills
over the period of time so they help in imparting same to young individual within the
company (Aswathappa, 2013). By retaining the old experienced staff,Brown coaches is able
to reduce the additional cost of recruitment and selection for new employees. The entity
believes that there is no replacement for experience and hence it assure proper support is
provided to elderly workforce so as to retain them for long run.
Overall from the aforementioned case study it has been identified that ageing workforce
have several benefits for the organization. The elderly employees tend to work with more
commitment and loyalty. Therefore, this results into reduction in the cost of staffing due to stability
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in workforce. The entities provide them flexibility in working which help in maintaining not only
productivity of staff but also assist in reducing sickness absence. The knowledge and skills of
elderly employees provides great help in enhancing customer satisfaction. Thereafter, experienced
employee tend to make less mistake and help in rendering best quality services based on their
expertise. Further, such employees have efficiency to maintain balance between their work and
social life leading to lower stress level resulting into their improved overall performance (Barrett,
2013).
Benefits of Having a older workforce
The employees are the life blood for every business and hence important role in its overall
operations and functioning. However, there are various studies that reveals that the older workforce
is add on to the worth of human resources in the business (Hendry, 2012). The older workforce may
lack in the tech savvy skills like the new individuals but possess experience which cannot be taught
or replaced. There are many successful entities that have shown fruitful results after having a older
workforce. Such as National Institute of Health believes that corporations must make strong
attempts in stimulating and retaining the older workforce. The cited company is recently positioned
as having the top-grade retirement program in the state, where 47% of its employees are elderly
than the 50 age (Advantages in Hiring Elderly employee. 2015). The National Institute of Health on
a regular basis organize training courses and job fairs intended generally at pull in older more
knowledgeable talent. Therefore, the several benefits associated with having older workforce is
listed down as follows:
 Reduction in recruitment cost: The main benefit of having elderly staff is that organization
is not required to incur more funds on the recruitment of new employees. Further, company
is also able to save time and efforts needed in developing the young individuals(SHAO,
WANG, X and ZHAO, 2016). The hiring older employees is beneficial for companies as
many of them possess insurance plans from previous employers or have extraneous source
of earning and are glad to take less pay for desired job.
 Higher quality: The experienced workers are more dedicated towards their job which help
in producing better quality of work. This help in reducing the chances of cost bearing
mistakes such as accounting mistake etc. therefore, entity can save considerable amount of
cost by having proper human inventory (Aswathappa, 2013).
 Punctuality: The experienced employees are more professional in their work and thus know
the value of following organizational policies. The statistics reveals that elderly employees
are more concerned about being punctual.
 Strong work ethics: As per the results of 2010 Pew Research Center Survey, more than half
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of their respondent stated that work ethics is among the leading differential factor among
young and elderly people. It was identified that elderly people have effective work ethics
and take their role and responsibilities more seriously.
 Strong networks: Te elderly employees possess valuable belonging in terms of strong
networks. The experienced individuals had extra time to greet people and network. This
network provide ultimate benefit to company (Koch, Späth and Strotmann, 2013).. As per
the survey performed by the Boston College at Center on Aging and Work, it was identified
that elderly workforce have powerful professional and customer networks compared to
young employees.
 High Loyalty and commitment: The elderly workforce are basically more contended with
their jobs and thus prefer to work for long run. Further, it has been ascertained by the report
publicized by BLS, the duration of time a worker stays with same employer rises with the
time of life at which the individual commenced the job. The report also discovered that
tenure for employees with their present employer was maximum for the oldest employees at
10.2 years. For those between the age of 64-55 the employee served for 9.9 years and those
45-54 worked for 7.6 years (Advantages in Hiring Elderly employee. 2015).
 Effective leadership skills: From the studies it has been identified that elderly workforce
have effective leadership skills as result of their communication ability than the new young
employees (Ratner and Pors, 2013). Further, they have experienced the period when
communication was controlled by letters, emails, texting, instant messaging and now to
social networking. Therefore, they have strong communication and interpersonal skills.
They further use their skills in leading the organizational members.
 Maturity: It takes years of life and professional experience to develop maturity. Therefore,
there is higher maturity among elderly employees which further help them in handling tough
situations with ease (Clegg, Kornberger and Pitsis, 2015). They further take wise decisions
considering both pros and cons of each situation. Therefore, strong critical thinking skills
among matured employees can help business in saving from major losses etc.
 Higher experience: The elderly workforce have experience and knowledge that reflects in
the quality of work performed by them. The other skills can be taught through training and
development sessions but experience and wisdom cannot be taught (Koch, Späth and
Strotmann, 2013). Higher confidence: The employees spending 20-30 years in same field possess more
confidence than young employees. This confidence help them in influencing their
subordinates, customers etc. and generate benefits for company (Shields and et.al., 2015) .
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Challenges of Having a older workforce
Despite many benefits of hiring a older workforce there are certain challenges for the same
which are highlighted as follows:
 Reduction in productivity: As per the report of 2015, Work Foundation, it has been
identified that, more than 40% of the individual with age 50 and above suffer from chronic
illness that further decrease their productivity. Therefore this may result into loss to
business. Also, due to health issues they are forced to take frequent leaves leading to
absence from work etc (Issues in Hiring Elderly employee).
 Resistance to change: The tendency of opposition during the change process is more in the
older employees. The main reason for this is that they are habitual of performing the same
function in identical manner and any change in it is not easily acceptable to them.
 Creativity Stagnancy: Due to hiring of older employees entity may face serious issues
related to stagnancy of innovative thinking. The business suffer loss in terms of innovative
ideas and new approaches towards working (Armstrongand Taylor, 2014).
 Outdated skills:In the present technical world, there is high need of employees that are able
to operate various processes and applications. The elderly workers have poor technical skills
and thus this impact the work ability.
 Expensive health benefits: The healthy advantages that are offered or demanded by
elderly workforce is more expensive as compared to young employees. This further increase
the cost for company and due to which it is forced to trim down expenses in other areas like
marketing etc (Aswathappa, 2013).
 Retirement expectation: The employers prefer to make less investment on the older
employees since they predict that they will discontinue soon resulting into wastage of funds
incurred on their training and development (Koch, Späth and Strotmann, 2013).
 Less energy and promptness: Since,its inception that older employee face several health
issues etc. due to this aspect, they have less energy and are slow as compared to their young
counterpart. Therefore, this prevent employers to hire aged people (Challenges in Hiring
Elderly employee. 2015).
 Lack of engagement with young employee: Due to age difference the older employee face
difficulties in mixing with new employees. This further impact the workplace environment
and communication level within the entity (SHAO, WANG, X and ZHAO, 2016).
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TASK 2
2. Making recommendations as to the action organisations must consider in ensuring they they have
a ready supply of labour in the future.
The statistics have revealed that more than 27% of the present human inventory is around 50
age by 2020 it will be a third. Therefore, there is highly crucial for companies to assure proper
availability of human resources so that work is not affected. The absence of employees will lead to
to loss in production and other areas (Clegg, Kornberger and Pitsis, 2015). Also,company will not
be able to complete their targets on time due to absence of employees. Further to attain strategic
aims and objectives, it is important for entity to assure proper human resource planning. Therefore,
it is suggested highly that significant actions mu st be taken by entity to assure ready supply of
human resources in the coming time. The recommendation are as follows:
Assessing the present HR capacity: It is important for organization these days to assess the
capacity of available human resources. With this aspect,i t will be able to know the gap between the
needed and actual human resources. Therefore, management will be able to plan different actions in
order to fill the gap. In case the number of needed employees are less than it can plan for
recruitment process.
Forecasting: it is important function that enable the company in assessing the future manpower
needs in company. Therefore, entity will be able to estimate the demand and supply of workforce.
Further, there are several factors that leads to increase in demand of workers. such as change in
technology may stimulate company to appoint more tech-savvy employees. Thereafter, increase
demand of products and services also cause rise in manpower requirement.
Training and development: it is important function that help in improvising the skills, knowledge
and talent of individual. It is significant process that help in preparing young employee for future
so as to facilitate succession. With help of internal staffing,company can meet the human resources
supply needs.
Developing the aged employees: The elderly employees are major untapped resources at present.
Therefore,company can use the elderly workforce in future to fill vacant position arising in the
company. Hence, they can be prepared to take up the job which will help in making optimum use
of their skills and experience. They can be supported by management of corporations by providing
flexible working conditions etc.
Tie up with colleges and University: In order to assure proper supply of high calibre and skilled
workforce in future,company can enter into agreement with top educational institutes etc. they will
further refer their best students to take up the jobs arising in the company.
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CONCLUSION
Summing up the entire report, it has been identified that human resource management is key
aspect that can be used for maintaining the effective workforce. From above report, it has been
identified that there are several benefits of hiring elderly workforce. These employee have more
experience,loyalty and dedication which turn into assets for business. Further aged employee stay
long run in company and help in saving cost incurred on recruitment and training of new personnels
. However, it further face various challenges such as elderly employee lack creativity, technical skill
and are more reluctant toward changes. Also,they face many health related issues that decline their
productivity. Further, it is identified that advanced planning must be done by company to assure
ready supply of labour in future. In this respect predication can be done regarding future needs of
employee etc.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Wickens, C.D., Banbury, S. and Parasuraman, R., 2015.Engineering psychology & human
performance. Psychology Press.
Dries, N., 2013. The psychology of talent management: A review and research agenda. Human
Resource Management Review. 23(4). pp.272-285.
Aswathappa, K., 2013. Human resource management: Text and cases. Tata McGraw-Hill
Education.
Barrett, R., 2013. The values-driven organization: Unleashing human potential for performance
and profit. Routledge.
Clegg, S.R., Kornberger, M. and Pitsis, T., 2015. Managing and organizations: An introduction to
theory and practice. Sage.
Shields, J., and et.al., 2015.Managing Employee Performance & Reward: Concepts, Practices,
Strategies. Cambridge University Press.
Brewster, C., Mayrhofer, W. and Morley, M. eds., 2016. New Challenges for European Resource
Management. Springer.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2012. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave
Macmillan.
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Koch, A., Späth, J. and Strotmann, H., 2013. The role of employees for post-entry firm
growth. Small Business Economics.41(3). pp.733-755.
Rahkonen, O., Lallukka, T., Kronholm, E., Vahtera, J., Lahelma, E. and Laaksonen, M., 2012. Sleep
problems and sickness absence among middle-aged employees. Scandinavian journal of
work, environment & health. pp.47-55.
SHAO, J.P., WANG, X. and ZHAO, Q., 2016. Research on the Compatibility Between the Ability
Levels of Differently Aged Employees and Salary Expectations. Journal of Lanzhou
University (Social Sciences). 1. p.024.
Hendry, C., 2012. Human resource management. Routledge.
Ratner, H. and Pors, J. G., 2013. Making invisible forces visible. Managing employees' values and
attitudes through transient emotions. International Journal of Management Concepts and
Philosophy. 7(3-4). pp.208-223.
Online
Role of psychology in human resource management. 2008. [Online]. Available
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through:<http://ejop.psychopen.eu/article/view/438/html>. [Accessed on 21
November 2016].
Challenges in Hiring Elderly employee. 2015. [Online]. Available
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older-workers>. [Accessed on 21 November 2016].
Issues in Hiring Elderly employee. 2015. [Online]. Available
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older-workers-cant-get-hired>. [Accessed on 21 November 2016].
Advantages in Hiring Elderly employee. 2015. [Online]. Available
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good-reasons-to-hire-older-workers/>. [Accessed on 21 November 2016].
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