Why older workers have so much to offer

Chris Roebuck, a professor at Cass Business School, reckons his research has shown that older workers are more focused and determined, more motivated to exceed expectations, easier to engage, take a longer term view, and better at dealing with difficult situations. Even if their energy levels are declining, he adds, they compensate with better interpersonal skills. ‘It is clear to me that older workers are probably better for organisations than many people think,’ he insists. ‘Most CEOs are over 60, and so the question is: why are they valued but 'workers' over 60 are not?’ It’s a fair point. And with the Government keen to get more silver surfers online via its Digital Inclusion agenda, they should have plenty of opportunity to put these skills to good commercial use – either as mentors or as workers in their own right. Most discussions of the retirement age tend to focus on fairness, or the financial consequences of trying to support an ageing population where people may spend up to a third of their life in retirement (and it’s true that allowing us to work longer would save a fortune in pension payments for the threadbare public purse). But as these awards remind us, UK plc has much to gain commercially by making better use of our older citizens.