Employee motivation: Older staff are more resilient, says expert

Date: 21/03/2011

Older staff could boost employee motivation during difficult times, according to experts.

Rachael Krys, director of Inclusive Employers, said that older staff had responded better to the recession, especially if they've worked through similar economic turbulences before.

Workers who saw the crashes in the 70s and 90s are more resilient, Ms Krys said, and therefore good to have around as they boost performance and morale among other staff.

She referred to what American academics have labelled "'experiential agreeance', which means workers have been there and seen it before and "that can really help", she said.

"If some of your employers have worked through recessions before they will have a very different response to it to those that haven't it.

"They have experience of surviving recession and what worked in order to survive recession, and so those employers found it really beneficial to have that sort of resilience."

Other ways to boost employee motivation include offering staff incentives and recognition, and recently Francis McGinty, from the International Stress Management Association UK, recommended that playing music in a workplace can also increase productivity and performance among a workforce.

Posted by David Farrior 

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