Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the beginning of our societal lockdown last year, I had noticed my own workload slowing down severely. As a freelancer, I cater primarily to nonprofit clients. Their donations took a hard hit, which meant they curtailed their spending accordingly. Therefore, I’ve been looking for steady part-time work since the beginning of the pandemic in March of 2020. Disappointingly, I’ve only scored one interview in 16 months.

With my vast experience and depth of knowledge, I assume that it’s my age that is limiting me from being considered. I understand that age discrimination is illegal, but I also think subjective prejudices may come into play. This is why I wanted to tackle the issue head-on. Instead of hiding from my age, I’ve decided to embrace it fully and would like to share all the wonderful aspects a mature (aka older) worker’s wisdom can bring.

Part of the reason ageism occurs is that employers mistakenly believe that older workers are slower-paced or less technologically savvy than younger employees. But there is virtually no concrete evidence to support these assumptions. In fact, mature workers frequently outperform younger employees often due to their experience, industry knowledge, reliability, leadership skills, and problem-solving. In addition, mature workers change jobs less frequently and are more motivated by factors like “community, mission, and a chance to make the world a better place” than salary or promotions.

• The largest demographic in the U.S. is those over 50 years of age.

• Older workers are America’s fastest-growing labor pool — and the least protected from workplace discrimination.

• By 2025, U.S. workers over the age of 55 will make up 25% of the workforce.

• Boomers tend to work longer than prior generations, due to improved health, longer life expectancies, fewer traditional pension plans, and less opportunity for retirement planning.

• In 2014, the average tenure of ages 55-64 workers in all industries was 10+ years. That’s more than 3x the 3 years average tenure for ages 25-34 workers.
  (US Bureau of Labor Statistics)

• Researchers at Harvard University concluded that four key skills — arithmetic, vocabulary, general knowledge, and a grasp of how the world works — only ripen fully around the age of 50.

• Research proves that older, more tenured people, make more successful entrepreneurs. Those over the age of 40 are 3x more likely to create successful companies as the result of their patient, collaborative natures, and their lack of a “need to prove myself” attitude that tends to accompany youth.

• Mature workers have been immersed in small-business operations, where they’ve worn multiple hats and proved agile in meeting constantly changing demands.

• Experienced people have not only kept up with the trends but actually help to drive them.

• We do get technology - after all, we’re the ones who invented it. Technological change has followed our entire careers. The same goes with embracing change since we’ve seen more change in the workplace than any other generation.

• Older workers do their work with a minimum of fuss and the maximum of efficiency.

• Mature workers are calmer (we don’t sweat the small stuff) and are great at problem-solving. We’ve come across similar situations and problems and we have learned how to fix them.

• If you’re concerned about a mature worker being over-qualified, consider that they don’t want too much stress or pressure, so an employer is able to get great experience for a very competitive salary versus someone trying to climb the career ladder.

• We may be a little older, but we’re a lot wiser.

Strong Work Ethic: Older workers have the reputation of being dependable, hard workers, who don’t need a lot of close supervision. We tend to stay more focused on the task at hand and aren’t easily distracted. We’re hardly ever late, rarely call in sick, and are always willing to go the extra mile.

Experience and Knowledge: Mature workers know the ins and outs of their job and their industry, so we have a greater understanding of how things can be done with more efficiency. Since we’ve also experienced inevitable economic cycles, career highs and lows, we bring perspective to the bigger picture. Offering a wealth of contacts, years of skills development, and a track record of experience illustrates our strengths. An experienced worker can hit the ground running and be immediately effective.

Motivated: Older employees are more motivated than their younger counterparts, partly due to difficulty in gaining employment. Contributing factors are the need for increased financial security, stagnating wages, pensions have disappeared, and workers are delaying Social Security benefits to maximize payouts. But it’s not always financial incentives that are the primary motivators. We want to feel productive, useful, helpful, interact with people, stay active, and continue to learn new things. Plus if you love what you do, working is enjoyable and fun.

Loyalty and Stability: Mature workers tend to stay with a company longer. We’re more settled and less likely to be looking for a “career move,” so employers get great work and life experience combined with stability. Older workers tend to enjoy a more relaxed, stable home life, as we don’t have kids at home or lead hectic social lives.

Leadership Skills: Older workers make great leaders because they often have stronger communication skills than their younger colleagues. Employees over 45 make excellent role models and mentors for younger employees. Matching a mature worker with mastery in a particular field with a younger worker will be mutually satisfying and also beneficial to the company.

Collaborative: Experienced workers are well versed in the benefits of reaching out to others from multiple disciplines, ages, and backgrounds for their insights and inputs. Few things of value have ever been accomplished by individuals working alone. The vast majority of our advancements — whether in science, business, arts, or sports — are the result of coordinated human activity, or people working together as a cohesive unit. The best way to maximize team output is to increase cognitive diversity, which is significantly more likely to occur if you can get people of different ages (and experiences) working together.