Older employees may not possess the same technology skills like their younger counterparts, but they do have their own set of skills that they are adept at utilizing with great dedication and focus at all times.

The pace at which global business is conducted in a highly connected and tech-savvy world has resulted in many employers looking for younger employees. As a result, older employees find themselves being replaced by the younger generation that is far more adept at acquiring and availing technology skills to their advantage in this environment. While employers spend millions in hiring and retaining young employees, they are grossly overlooking the older employees who come with their own set of advantages for the organization. And most of these skills cannot be taught in a classroom, they are acquired over time with hands-on experience and can turn the fortunes of a business if retained and applied wisely.

Leadership and organizational skills

Older employees often possess strong communication and leadership skills. They remember how things were done in a time when emails and smartphones did not dominate the business landscape. As a result, they do not have to rely on technology alone to get the job done. Moreover, statistics show that disorganization causes a loss of more than a million man-hours to be lost to unproductivity every year. With older employees, this can be reduced drastically as they are well aware of the organizational requirements of the business they have been in for a long time.

Dedication to work

Dedication to work is a great time and cost saver for any business. It results in a surprisingly higher rate of productivity for any organization. Even a small error like a misspelled client name or a minor accounting or pricing error can cost dearly for a business. Older employees, simply because they are dedicated to their work, can often spot potentially expensive errors that may otherwise go unnoticed in a rush to save time.

Attention to detail and focus

Unlike their younger counterparts, older employees have an unflinching focus towards the job at hand. They are usually not interested in looking for the next opportunity, and hence can divert their complete attention to every little detail of the business and thus act as a cost saver for the organization. Their prime focus is stability, and this often translates into a more stable, and mature work ethic that cannot be imitated by classroom lessons.

Confidence and efficiency

Older employees have witnessed a lot of ups and downs through the course of their careers, and as a result, possess the confidence to know which of their recommendations are suited for any given situation. The sheer weight of their experience lends an unequivocal comprehension of various situations and the possible solutions that can be applied to counter them. This, in turn, gives an added layer of efficiency to every job entrusted to them resulting in cost and time savings that cannot be matched by any other means.

Stronger networking

The time older employees would have spent on the job gives them a distinct advantage of having built a strong network of clients, industry peers, and experts over the course of their career. They are fully aware of how to use this network to their advantage and drive positive results for the organization at large. 

In conclusion

The value addition that older employees bring to the table for the organization is unmistakable. Not only does their experience add value to the core business, it also helps save costs and money at every level of the organizational structure. Business owners and leaders must acknowledge this distinct advantage that older employees possess and are highly adept at engaging it for their own as well as the organization’s benefit. After all, old is gold and gold is always good for business.