Hiring older workers for high-performance businesses

Generational diversity, reliability, interpersonal skills, and loyalty for the win

Five people standing in a circle. Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

Generational diversity, like all types of diversity, strengthens organizations. The benefits of generational diversity in the workplace include:

• Cognitive diversity — each generation has its own way of approaching problems and understanding solutions
• Increased innovation — teams composed of like-minded members tend to maintain their status quo, while diverse teams question assumptions
• Broader customer base — diverse communication styles appeal to a broad customer base.

As Ryan Jenkins notes in his article for Inc. Magazine, “a team that benefits from generational diversity will be able to communicate with the confidence of a Baby Boomer, the experience of Generation X, and the velocity of a Millennial.”

Around the world, people are living longer and working longer. A worker hired at age 50 may give 20 or more years of service. In fact, the Washington Post reports that more Americans age 85 and older are employed than ever before.

The terms “mature” and “experienced” should be attractive to employers. But older workers have been negatively stereotyped in America, and…