The Older Worker

2072 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: age in the workplace challenges

The Older Worker

The workplace for older adults is becoming a dynamic space rather than a unidirectional journey leading to retirement. Work life for older adults is situated in a dynamic pattern of periods of active employment, temporary disengagement from the workplace, and reentry into the same or a new career. The new older worker is developing a third stage of working life, the period beyond the traditional retirement age and final disengagement from the work role. The third age of life has been associated with choice, personal fulfillment, and liberation (Soulsby 2000). Using this idea, we posit a third stage of working life where older workers are active agents negotiating various roles within the workspace. The actions, depending on life circumstances, might include the decision to remain in, retire from, or return to periods of part-time, full-time, or part-season work. Thus, although workplaces are searching for ways to increase productivity, older workers are asking for increased career development opportunities and yet are still neglected by most workplaces. This publication discusses some of the misconceptions about older workers and the reality of a more active and involved older adult work force.

There Is an Age When One Becomes an Older Worker: The Age Myth

There appears to be considerable variation in the concept of older worker as defined by age alone. The term older worker extends from 40 to 75 years of age. When workers at age 40 are referred to as older workers, age is linked to beginning thoughts about retirement decisions (Rosen and Jerdee 1986), the decline in training opportunities (Cooke 1995), the dispelling of myths about the productivity of an aging work force (Kaeter 1995a), or the need for ...

... middle of paper ...

... Express Their Views.” Generations 22, no. 1 (Spring 1998): 34-39.

Salomon, A. “A Trainer’s Guide to Retirement Planning.” Training 19, no. 8 (August 1982): 42, 47.

Soulsby, J. Learning in the Fourth Age. Leicester, England: National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, 2000.

Stalker, P. “Wiser Policies for Older Workers.” World of Work no. 12 (May-June 1995): 22-23.

Sterns, H., and Miklos, S. “The Aging Worker in a Changing Environment.” Journal of Vocational Behavior 47, no. 3 (December 1995): 248-268.

Sullivan, S., and Duplaga, E. “Recruiting and Retaining Older Workers for the New Millennium.” Business Horizons 40, no. 6 (November-December 1997): 65-69.

Yeatts, D.; Folts, W.; and Knapp, J. “Older Workers Adaptation to a Changing Workplace: Employment Issues for the 21st Century.” Educational Gerontology 25, no. 4 (June 1999): 338-347.

Show More
Related

  • Patrick Henry Led Early America with his speeches

    734 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ican. Henry made great effort to constantly put God first in not only his life, but in the messages that he shared with people. Amongst this, he loved his nation, especially the people of Virginia. The opinions he had regarding the Revolutionary war, were vividly explained in this speech. Mr. Henry was passionate about peace, and the love that God had for the world. He had a very strong faith, and never hesitated to express what he had learned in his Bible studies. Specifically in this message, Henry used several different Biblical themes as a way to draw in his audience. In using his knowledge of the Bible he was able to precisely get the point a crossed that he was trying to make clear. Henry believed in the freedom of the people just as God had intended it to be. If this would mean to fight for that right, then he was ready to put forth everything that he had.

    Read More

  • Comparison Of Disliking Books And Gerald Graff

    822 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...hat of a father. The high level of sophistication and education in his teachers (factors he considers missing in his parents) makes him respect them much. The scholarship boy wishes his parents were exactly like the teachers (Rodriguez 16). Graff, on the other hand, critiques teachers. In his opinion, many literature teachers have lost touch with the passion for literature and are obsessed with professionalism, their journy to advance their careers and their fascination with analysis and theory (Graff 26).

    Read More

  • The True Cause of the Civil War

    330 Words  | 1 Pages

    Between the economic, political, and social quarrels that evolved throughout the 1850's, the North and the South underwent many changes that led to the start of the Civil War. The most attributing factor to this war was that of a moral dispute between two sections who both wanted different things. Slavery became the issue that spread across the nation and was disputed back and forth between the North and South sections of the country.

    Read More

  • Ageism In American Culture

    1108 Words  | 3 Pages

    (Bendick, Brown & Wall, 1999). A new awareness of older workers has emerged as retiring

    Read More

  • John Erikson's Stages Of Psychosocial Development

    1377 Words  | 3 Pages

    Erik Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development consist of eight stages. Stages six, seven, and eight are characterized as young adulthood, adulthood, and old age, in that order. According to John Cavanaugh and Fredda Blachard-Fields (2011), authors of Adult Development and Aging, “During young adulthood, the major developmental task, achieving intimacy versus isolation, involves establishing a fully intimate relationship with another. With the advent of middle age, the focus shifts from intimacy to concern for the next generation, expressed as generativity versus stagnation. Finally, in old age, individuals must resolve the struggle between ego integrity and despair. This last stage begins with a growing awareness of the nearness of the

    Read More

  • Erik Erikson Analysis

    852 Words  | 2 Pages

    Erikson’s theory of human development helped provide ideas and information on the development of these eight stages affects the confidence levels of other individuals. These ideas can help parents to teach their children. His theory can help future psychologist research how events in certain ages can influence the way people look at life.

    Read More

  • Erikson's Eight Stages Of Human Development

    222 Words  | 1 Pages

    Erikson’s work emphasized each person’s relationship to the social environment –psychosocial human development and proposed eight stages of human development with crisis in each stage to be resolved. Individuals must go through all the stages in a lifetime, whether they resolve the conflict in each stage successfully or not. You must resolve each stage before moving to the next stages in life.

    Read More

  • Root Cause Of Civil War

    401 Words  | 1 Pages

    What was the root cause of the Civil War? First, what was the Civil War? The Civil War was a war between the North (Union) and the South (Confederacy), which started from 1861 through 1865. This war was the most deadliest, most destructive war in American history, taking away 600,000 lives. The northerners viewed this war as a revolution while the southerners viewed this war as a War of Rebellion or War for Southern Independence. Slavery was the root cause of the Civil War. Slavery also influenced many factors such as territorial expansion, economic tensions, and political alignments.

    Read More

  • Age Discrimination

    1328 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stossel and Mastropolo’s thesis did not come until at the middle of the article when they talked about how Murray Schwartz is convinced “that older people can do the job just as well as younger people and believes that employment age discrimination laws are a crucial protection for older workers” (paragraph 11). With this issue, there are two sides of argument in this article: one is from the corporate as to why it is a necessity to fire people when they come of age, and the second one is from the workers being affected at this age discrimination. There are several people applying for jobs these days and a company attempts to fill that job with the best qualified person. If a per...

    Read More

  • Cause of the American Civil War

    1747 Words  | 4 Pages

    The cause of the American Civil War has been a politicized subject for the past 152 years. There are many different theories for what the main cause is, however the best answer is an all of the above approach. The cause of the war that divided the nation cannot be narrowly defined into a single issue but each cause is affected and tied together. The main causes that resulted in the Civil War were the issue of nullification, tariffs, but most importantly just an overall difference in their ways of life. Yes, slavery was a cause of the war, but that was not one of the central causes that popular belief has engrained in us all, however, the role that slavery had will be discussed. These reasons all-fed off each other, which eventually resulted in the bloodiest war in American history and affected almost every single American family.

    Read More

  • Erikson's Psychosocial Stages and Adopted Children

    1280 Words  | 3 Pages

    Erikson believed that people develop in psychosocial stages. He emphasized developmental change throughout the human life span. In Erikson's theory, eight stages of development result as we go through the life span. Each stage consists of a crisis that must be faced. According to Erikson, this crisis is not a catastrophe but a turning point. The more an individual resolves the crises successfully, the healthier development will be.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Causes Of American Civil War

    985 Words  | 2 Pages

    The biggest cause of the civil war is that the north and south have too many economic and social differences between Americans (Kelly). The society in the north was completely different than the society in the south. The north was more industrialized than the south was. Northerners worked in the factories and lived in the bigger cities like New York City. Northerners wanted to develop industry in the south to expand the American economy. Southerners did not agree with the northern ways. The south was mostly all plantation owners. In the south, they pushed slavery. Slavery was southerner’s way of life. That’s how families made their money. They grew cotton, or some kind of food and sold it to the market. Plantation owners had slaves to help them pick all there product. Most plantation owners had anywhere from five to ten slaves per plantation (United States History). Along with that, the majority of the southern states were all slave states, and the north was mostly Free states.

    Read More

  • Causes of the Civil War

    664 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many causes led to the Civil War. This all happened around the mid 1800s. It was a conflict between the Northern and Southern states. Both sides had their own view on slavery, and their separate views caused contentions between the two. Both had different views on whether to expand or stop slavery growth to the West, or have slavery at all.

    Read More

  • Workforce Diversity In The 21st Century

    2357 Words  | 5 Pages

    This strategy aims to employ workers from different backgrounds to provide tangible and intangible benefits for the business. The employers are the ones who control everything from the wage, promotions, incentives and the termination of the older counterparts. They are increasingly concerned about updated skills, physical demands, early retirement, and the cost of maintaining an older worker. Despite how employers may feel, companies cannot afford to neglect talent at any age. The employer should take advantage of the skills that the older employee posses, and carefully position them in jobs that matches their skill level as well as the job to be done. “Regardless of the change organizations make in the structure and functioning of the workplace of the future, it appears likely that older workers will play a crucial role (Hedge,Borman,& Lammlein, 2006). Different acts and laws are governed to respond to any discrimination against older employees in the workforce. Employment agencies, labor unions, local, state and Federal government are bound by these laws such as: Older Workers Benefits Protection Act (OWBPA); The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Older Americans Act (OAA), to name a few. Funds for service by the Congress are provided in forms of grants for various programs yearly. States, counties, and cities recognize the value of the servicing and are generous in providing additional funds, benefits and in-kind economic benefits too. Because area and state agencies on aging are doing very little in a way to use mass media to promote themselves, the aging network is probably missing a large number of disadvantage people who should be receiving services but who are unaware of them. Much more emphasis has been placed on tying together the federal services for the older workers, but it should not have taken a federal initiative to make states see

    Read More

  • Age Discrimination in the Workplace

    1823 Words  | 4 Pages

    The issue at hand constitutes that companies are not willing to look beyond their aging workforce, choosing instead to push them out of the technological loop rather than attempting to incorporate them as valuable assets. "There is enough research that says older workers are dependable, they can change, they can learn. What we haven' t come to grips with is that research and management practice are not always related" (Capowski, 1994, p. 10).

    Read More

More about The Older Worker

Open Document