Life_ long_ learning_Age_management_rule #2
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Life Long Learning - Age Management Rule #2
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Older workers often have skills and qualifications that are difficult to obtain and that form a central element of the human resources of an organisation; despite this, skills deficits are frequently considered to be one of the employment risks associated with older employees. What is often overlooked is the self- fulfiling prophecy at work here. Such skills deficits develop primarily because of a lack of investment.
Does your organisation or business unit have low particpation rates for company or service organised education and training?
The economic importance of qualifications and skills is growing, while the workforce is getting older. In light of this on the job training which integrates older employees needs to be a prioirity task for any organisation.
Quick Fact
Proportion of women aged over 50 are taking up informal education greater than any other age group (ABS, 2009).
Boomers were in the workforce during the evolution of computers, email and the internet, and were the first to understand the value of technology. 82 percent of Boomers use the 'net and 64 percent have been online. Online activities include instant messaging, downloading music or movies, financial transactions and online gaming (AARP, 2004).
There is some good practice guidance in this area such as:
- the absence of age limits in determining access to in-house learning and training opportunities
- special efforts to motivate learners, establish methodologies and provide support
- specific provisions in providing leave
- analysing the skills needs of the organisation, matching these with the available skills and individual educational status of older employees and utilising them in the methodology and contents of training
- continual monitoring of an employee's educational status
- defining training opportunities as being an integral part of career planning and not solely as job specific
- linking training schemes to an individual's life course
- organising work so that it is conducive to learning and development - for instance, within the framework of mixed-age teams and groups
- using older employees and their particular qualifications both as facilitators of further education
- for older and younger employees, and as an organisational 'knowledge pool'
Benefits
- in-house training and further education of older employees helps raise the workforce's overall skills level and capacity for innovation;
- with older employees on the payroll, younger staff see greater potential for career development
- their motivation increases as a result, as does their respect for the performance of their older colleagues; this is especially true for schemes that involve different age groups, as these offer more potential for intergenerational knowledge transfer;
- improvements in the quality of an organisation's products and services;
- in many organisations, the involvement of older employers ensures the maintaining of skills levels and the potential for professional development and internal transfer;
- participating in on-the-job training boosts the employability of older workers: it makes the more motivated and flexible and predisposes them towards greater mobility, both vertical and horizontal;
Content from Naegele and Walker, 2006
Have you considered delivering your training online? What about capturing your experienced staff knowledge? Place it online, secure for all of your team access and share.
Happy Training - All the best,
Dave and the Team from BeNext
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