The 1^st of October is the UN’s International Day for Older Persons (UNIDOP). It’s a day to celebrate our elderly members of society, but also realise what more can be done to help them. Age really is just a number and it’s time we proudly recognised that.  Despite the growing digitisation of the workplace pushing employers away from older workers, there’s a lot left unsaid for the value of better human skills, greater familiarity with their profession, and more life experience. As the population works for longer and integration of young and old is increasingly inevitable, it’s important we remember the benefits of the diverse workplace and learn to better treat our more mature citizens.

In the words of the UN assembly, “growing older does not diminish a person’s inherent dignity and fundamental rights”[1]. That’s very true. This year it’s the 70^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the rights of older persons need to be better acknowledged. Just as we stride for equality of gender, race, religion and every other aspect of our dynamic modern society, age is a crucial part of this mix and one which is often overlooked.

At ADP, we think every worker deserves to be happy at work. We use our annual Workforce View Report to monitor how people of all ages feel about their job life. Our latest data showed that, for workers who are 55+, nearly 17% of them felt they had been discriminated against at work because of their age. This same research also indicated that nearly half (47%) of over 55s said age was the biggest factor preventing their career progress. This number is particularly worrying, considering it is a 2% point increase from the year before. Simply put: more needs to be done to promote better work security and opportunities for the older workforce.

Discrimination shouldn’t be tolerated in any form, ageism included. As stated by the Chancellor in 2011, the State Pension age will steadily increase over the coming years.[2] That means an increasingly older workforce in the UK and even more generations working together. As life expectancy continues to grow, this trend is set to remain. The number of 65+ workers has grown 17% in the last five years as the effects of abolishing the Default Retirement Age continue to spread.[3]  Eradicating the perception that older workers are less effective is, therefore, vitally important for any organisation looking to improve employee engagement in the years to come.

More than simply keeping older workers contempt, their presence on the workforce is incredibly productive towards business success. Embracing the benefits of age diversity in the workforce should already be integral to workplace development going into the future. Though tech-savviness is a gift attributed to younger employees, interpersonal skills are typically much less so. Instead, traditional communication abilities are better owed to older workers who endured the hardship of life before digital. Equally, whilst younger people joining the workforce are increasingly well-educated, this is rarely a complete substitute for industry experience. A study by the Society for Human Resource Management found that having more work experience was the biggest reason for employing an older person.[4] By understanding how a sector has evolved over the years or its successful time-honoured practices, older workers fill an essential role.

So take this year’s UNIDOP as an opportunity to revaluate perceptions of older employees. The workplace demographic is changing and so should our treatment of those more elderly. Their maturity is something to be celebrated, not discriminated.