Older workers are huge plus in society

Older workers can bring their own positives to organisations that are ready to employ them and forego ageist attitudes.

The strengths of older workers include the type of creativity encountered in later life and the wisdom of older age, reports the Irish Times.

A new report, entitled Ageing, the Demographic Dividend and Work, reveals however that older workers face many obstacles to employment that reflect ageist attitudes embedded in society.

The report, by Prof Desmond O’Neill, Centre of Ageing, Neuroscience and the Humanities at Tallaght hospital states: "It is a sign of an ageist society that we nearly always assume that cognitive changes with ageing are all negative – in fact late-life creativity reminds us that there are positive cognitive changes with ageing – wisdom, strategic thinking, reasoning.."

Professor O'Neill maintains that societies with a large demographic of older people maintain a high standard of complexity and are more economically productive. He refutes many negative news headlines as he says there is growing evidence of a substantial demographic dividend for ageing.

The professor added: "By restricting recruitment to so-called ‘prime age’ workers, many organisations have prevented themselves from maximising their human resources potential.”

Encouragingly the report notes that research now confirms that you are never too old to acquire new technical skills.

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