From a macroeconomic perspective, the situation looks alarming. In developed economies, older workers feel worse off than their peers in developing countries. In Europe and parts of Asia, seniors declare worse chances for promotion, weaker support from managers and less faith in development than their peers in India, Nigeria, Egypt or Vietnam.
Just looking at the data tables, one might get the impression that developed economies have ageism built into the system. But raw data rarely tells the whole story.
The moment when the system stops believing in the employee
As Anna Barbachowska, HR director at ADP Polska, emphasizes, in developed economies retirement has become a separate stage of life – long and full of expectations, such as helping children, caring for the elderly, traveling or simply a quiet “autumn of life”.
— For many people, this prospect itself is a source of stress. That's why more and more people decide to delay their retirement or take up work while already in retirement, explains the expert.
Simultaneously, exactly at this point, companies are investing less and less in their development.
The labor market has hit a wall
Developed economies formally do a lot to keep older workers in the labor market. They raise the retirement age or limit the possibility of early retirement. They encourage longer professional activity. They talk about the “silver economy” and lifelong learning. The problem begins where these declarations meet the practice of companies that calculate the return on investment in an employee.
The oldest employees increasingly feel that they are missing from the company's development plans: they are less likely to receive raises, they are not taken into account when financing training or being assigned to new projects, even though they still have years of professional activity ahead of them.
This also means they have the lowest self-confidence of all age groups – especially in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
Polish seniors also struggle with this problem, but data show that it is even more difficult in the Czech Republic, Japan, France, Singapore and Taiwan, where older workers more often feel that the system simply “gives up” on investing in their development.
The loneliness of an experienced employee
Corporations like to talk about mentoring and support culture, but ADP data shows that it is people aged 55 and over who are least likely to feel that they can count on the help of their teammates. In Poland, only 12 percent seniors declare support from colleagues.
The relationship with superiors is even worse. Only 11 percent declare support from leaders. Polish employees are 55 plus, while in India this percentage reaches 33%.
– The “silver ceiling” is the hardest in technology industries, advertising, marketing and start-ups, where the cult of youth goes hand in hand with an orientation towards young recipients, and experience is sometimes wrongly equated with a lack of flexibility – says an ADP expert. In medicine, law, higher education and crafts, seniority still builds authority, and mature employees are the pillars of the organization.
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Two speeds, two different worlds
As Anna Barbachowska emphasizes, in an economy that is growing rapidly, it is easier to get promoted because new positions are created. It's easier to get a raise because companies are expanding. It's easier to feel progress because the entire market is moving. In such an environment, the older worker can benefit from a dynamic that lifts multiple groups at once.
In a rich, stable economy it is different. Employees have higher expectations, but at the same time structures are more closed, hierarchies are more established, and the number of attractive promotions is limited. Careers are often designed as if the most important part of them falls in the first two decades of work. First development, then stabilization, and finally waiting for retirement peacefully.
However, we have reached a point where this career model no longer works. An employee 55 plus may have a decade of active work ahead of him, want to learn new tools, change the industry, move to another position or get promoted. However, the system still too often treats him as someone who only has to “safely survive” until retirement.
Aging populations mean that developed economies will no longer have the luxury of wasting the potential of people over 50. They will need their work, experience and competences. But extending professional activity alone will not be enough if it only means longer stagnation.
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An aging world needs a new career model
– From the perspective of companies, I see three most important directions of change – emphasizes the ADP expert. – First of all, you have to switch thinking from vertical to horizontal advancement. It is worth giving experienced people new areas of responsibility, projects, expert and mentoring roles. Secondly, systematically update the competences of 50 plus employeesand not assume that “they will leave soon anyway.” If someone has not had access to training for years, it is not a lack of potential, but the result of the organization's decision. Third, learn talk about changing roles without the stigma of “degradation” — many experienced people are ready to change the scope of tasks or move to another function if the company treats it as a conscious stage of their career, not a failure.
From the state's perspective, it also remains a challenge system of care for the elderly and sickand which, in countries such as Poland, still largely rests with families. This limits the professional activity of many people over 50, especially women, and increases the pressure to completely give up work at some point.
Anna Barbachowska emphasizes that change requires flexibility on both sides. Surviving in the new demographic reality will require people over 50 to be willing to abandon linear thinking about their career path and to have the courage to become a student in their forties or fifties.e.g. by changing industry or taking up studies.
Without this, the second half of your career will remain a waiting period. Data from the ADP study suggest that it is this challenge that developed economies are least able to cope with today.
