Older workers increase productivity...

[Shannow]

Including the productivity of the younger workers around them...

http://www.wsj.com/articles/for-economy-aging-population-poses-double-whammy-1470249965

Quote:
Economists have long expected an aging population to hamper growth for the simple reason that it means a smaller labor force. But new research has identified a potentially more powerful impact: Rapid retirements deprive companies of critical experience and knowledge, which undermines productivity across the entire economy. Demographics may thus be a critical factor in why the current economic expansion, which began as the first baby boomers qualified for Social Security, is the weakest on record.


Quote:
The authors note: “An older worker’s experience increases not only his own productivity but also the productivity of those who work with him.” All else equal, experienced workers are more productive. One study found that productivity peaks at age 50, when productivity is 60% higher than for the average 20 year old.

 

[ZeeOSix]

20 year olds are too glued to their smart phones at work all day long to get anything productive done. The program I worked on actually fired a couple of people because they spent too much time on their phones and on the internet.

 

[Silk]

The young guys are more productive, because they do less - just smack the work out without covering all the bases...I waste time by doing all the extra stuff.

 

[opus1]

Someone needs to tell that to my employer, which is currently working very hard to eliminate us over-50 geezers...

 

[supton]

Not too surprising. After doing something for years, the brain can create pathways and make decisions without the person making conscience thought about it. "Gut decisions" based upon years of observation and pattern recognition.

 

[DBMaster]

Corporate America won't listed and will always be short sighted. Older workers make more money, generally, and are thus a liability to a corporation. That's the way of the world. Since I am in the purchasing field I see nothing but sloppiness and mistakes all over the place from my suppliers, who are large well-known companies. Much of the trouble has to do with having moved manufacturing to Mexico where the parent company then seems to lose control over its own plant. Overall, mistakes abound and doing anything in a corporate environment has become an exercise in futility.

 

[grampi]

Not all of them, but the vast majority of the younger generation in general has a poor work ethic...I think EVERYONE should serve 4 years in the military right out of high school. The military instills self discipline, which is a key factor in attaining a good work ethic...

 

[HemiHawk]

Originally Posted By: grampi
Not all of them, but the vast majority of the younger generation in general has a poor work ethic...I think EVERYONE should serve 4 years in the military right out of high school. The military instills self discipline, which is a key factor in attaining a good work ethic...


Honestly, the vast majority of the older generations have poor work ethic. They feel superior to younger generations at every turn, and barely do enough work to get by. Not everyone 40+ is some super worker who would sacrifice everything to better the company. Most are just here for the 9-5, do as little as possible and go home.

I'd say there are outliers in both groups.

For everyone ragging on Millennials, here is a neat video with a couple laughs breaking down the issues with the generational labeling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HFwok9SlQQ

 

[OneEyeJack]

A local company here let go 5 programmers over 50 years old. This was done by new management people. That left 12 younger programmers. It nearly killed the company. The younger guys were good at designing the user interfaces and doing the graphics but when it came to the back end they were lost. They had to hire 4 of the old programmers back as contractors and pay a lot more for their services. The 5th guy retired. I think some of the new management people were retired as well. A couple of the younger programmers were also fired because they made mistakes and tried to cover them up, something the old guys never did.

 

[Panzerman]

Although the military may instill discipline and responsibility. It also takes away being innovative and creates rule followers and people who do not want to venture outside the box. Younger generation lacks work ethics and pride in work. Alot of it comes from management. People taken straight from college and put in management positions lack the understanding of good employees. They look at profits per people. Last company y I left simply tried to spread training to keep pays down and keep employees from leaving to other companies. When you get management like this coupled with poor work ethics, it's no wonder you have the perfect mess.

 

[HemiHawk]

Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
A local company here let go 5 programmers over 50 years old. This was done by new management people. That left 12 younger programmers. It nearly killed the company. The younger guys were good at designing the user interfaces and doing the graphics but when it came to the back end they were lost. They had to hire 4 of the old programmers back as contractors and pay a lot more for their services. The 5th guy retired. I think some of the new management people were retired as well. A couple of the younger programmers were also fired because they made mistakes and tried to cover them up, something the old guys never did.



Couldn't this story go a little different? Age doesn't play a role in the fact that these "younger" programmers couldn't code right?? surely there were more qualified candidates. Who did the hiring here? Their issue wasn't hiring young people, it was hiring the wrong people, and probably because qualified younger people were asking for too much money. Be cheap, get cheap workers.

 

[PR1955]

This is why I am a proponent of performance-based pay plans. There should be no seniority based solely on length of employment, there should be no "legacy" positions-if you want to earn more, EARN it, based on your individual performance. The right pay plan can be good for the employer AND the employee. Incentivizing can do wonders for performance.

 

[crazyoildude]

I think your state is an "at will" statemeaning your boss doesnot have to work hard trying to get rid of any employee. Your boss can just fire anyone at anytime..

 

[Kestas]

Since most companies seem to value younger employees over the gray-haired ones, I've always proposed that there should be a pay schedule to reflect this. Give younger employees the large salaries, then trim it as they get older. Let it reflect reality, regardless of misperception by management. This would be more palatable than squeezing the older workers from the workforce.

Part of the reason for this disparity is that health care costs increase with age. The family gets larger and the older worker needs more health care.

 

[MRtv]

I quit a job that the young owner and his young sales person were spending all day on the computer. Not working, just watching videos. I was doing the heavy lifting of the small company the 35 year old was running. Anyway I got a similar job across town and it is run by an older guy and a young crew that are all actually working on a computer and not just surfing and watching videos. The new company is actually doing what the old company just talked about wanting to do but could never get around to. I expect that the old place I worked for will be closing their doors this next year. I'm 66 and my job is satellite TV installer. It is a job usually held by much younger people.

 

[andrewg]

Originally Posted By: HemiHawk
Originally Posted By: grampi
Not all of them, but the vast majority of the younger generation in general has a poor work ethic...I think EVERYONE should serve 4 years in the military right out of high school. The military instills self discipline, which is a key factor in attaining a good work ethic...


Honestly, the vast majority of the older generations have poor work ethic. They feel superior to younger generations at every turn, and barely do enough work to get by. Not everyone 40+ is some super worker who would sacrifice everything to better the company. Most are just here for the 9-5, do as little as possible and go home.

I'd say there are outliers in both groups.

For everyone ragging on Millennials, here is a neat video with a couple laughs breaking down the issues with the generational labeling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HFwok9SlQQ



Nothing to do with "generational labeling". The vast majority of the under-30 "workers" at my employer are useless and lazy. Working hard and fast to achieve a goal is foreign to them....as is serious effort or sweat. They will however, put 100% into texting or Facebooking/selfies.

 

[grampi]

Originally Posted By: HemiHawk
Originally Posted By: grampi
Not all of them, but the vast majority of the younger generation in general has a poor work ethic...I think EVERYONE should serve 4 years in the military right out of high school. The military instills self discipline, which is a key factor in attaining a good work ethic...


Honestly, the vast majority of the older generations have poor work ethic. They feel superior to younger generations at every turn, and barely do enough work to get by. Not everyone 40+ is some super worker who would sacrifice everything to better the company. Most are just here for the 9-5, do as little as possible and go home.

I'd say there are outliers in both groups.

For everyone ragging on Millennials, here is a neat video with a couple laughs breaking down the issues with the generational labeling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HFwok9SlQQ



Nonsense. I see far more worthless employees in the younger age groups than I do the older ones.

 

[grampi]

Originally Posted By: Panzerman
Although the military may instill discipline and responsibility. It also takes away being innovative and creates rule followers and people who do not want to venture outside the box.


Also nonsense. Employees with prior military service are far better employees than those who never served in the military in every aspect...

 

[JeepWJ19]

Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
A local company here let go 5 programmers over 50 years old. This was done by new management people. That left 12 younger programmers. It nearly killed the company. The younger guys were good at designing the user interfaces and doing the graphics but when it came to the back end they were lost. They had to hire 4 of the old programmers back as contractors and pay a lot more for their services. The 5th guy retired. I think some of the new management people were retired as well. A couple of the younger programmers were also fired because they made mistakes and tried to cover them up, something the old guys never did.


This can be an issue of not hiring the right younger worker though it's obvious knowledge doesnt outweigh experience but my rebuttal to that is the younger guys gotta gain experience at some point. Different colleges have different programs and they are clearly not all the same.

My college's Computer Science department consisted of Computer Science majors with different concentrations including graphic design, artificial intelligence and embedded systems. Then there was Software Engineering - my major that is focused on the design and deals more with large scale architectures. The literal sense of our Software Engineering are not "code monkeys". Those are typically the computer science majors. Again, our job was focused on design, large scale architecture, metrics, and design processes such as agile processing, but there is a lot of software as well to be written. Then there are the Computer Engineers that focus on middleware and the hardware interaction with software like microcontrollers, semi-conductors, compiler design etc etc etc.

Not all colleges have these wide options and typically it's just the bare bones computer science "learn how to be a code monkey" style.

Luckily my internships dealt with embedded controls so I got the best of both worlds being able to design for front end applications but also dealing with embedded control logic, which dealt with using CAN and CANopen. But it required me to spend a lot of hours at home studying and reading up on embedded controls in C and learn how to use CANopen in software because middleware was new to me and hard to conceptualize.

 

[Mr Nice]

Many younger adults like to say...

# I'm very special because my mommy told me so this morning.