One is only as old as one feels - perceived age and productivity of companies

One is only as old as one feels – perceived age and company productivity

Demographic change is already a reality in many companies today and will become even more relevant in the next decade. For example, in Germany, the employment rate of workers aged 60 to 65 has more than doubled in the last 10 years. Companies are therefore facing increasingly aging workforces due to this demographic shift and also because of the growing shortage of skilled workers. In public debate, it is often discussed whether this aging of the working population poses a threat to the innovation capability and ultimately the productivity of companies. In my research group at the University of Konstanz, we are conducting extensive studies to investigate whether these speculative assumptions actually correspond to reality and how in practice, executives and organizations can create the framework conditions for their employees in a way that the demographic change can be utilized as an opportunity. Currently, we have come across a central and yet often overlooked factor: the perceived age of employees. What is perceived age? Everyone is probably familiar with the saying: One is only as old as one feels. In fact, scientific research also shows that perceived age often significantly differs from one's actual chronological age. In almost all countries and cultural circles, there is an adaptation towards feeling younger. This deviation often increases significantly with higher chronological age, meaning the older one gets, the greater the difference between perceived and chronological age tends to be. In gerontological research, i.e., research with individuals over 65 years old, some studies have already shown that subjective age has a significant impact on mental and physical abilities. For example, psychologist Ellen Langer demonstrated in her "Counterclockwise" study that subjects who felt 20 years younger in an experimental environment showed an increase in IQ performance and improvements in central physiological markers (e.g., finger dexterity). Contrary to this research with older subjects, there are few empirical studies on the relationships between perceived age and workplace productivity. Perceived Age and Company Productivity This was the starting point for our large-scale study in 107 small and medium-sized companies with a total of more than 15,000 employees. Initially, study participants were asked only one question, namely how old they feel regardless of their chronological age. In our data as well, the deviation between chronological and perceived age increases with higher chronological age. On average, employees feel more than five years younger than their actual age. There are also statistically significant differences between women and men. Interestingly, there were also significant differences between individual companies in the data. In some companies, employees on average felt eight months younger than their chronological age, while in other companies, employees reported feeling over eight years younger. By using various statistical methods, we examined the possible relationship between these differences in employees' perceived age and the performance of the companies, which was confirmed. In a published study, we were able to demonstrate that in companies where employees feel younger, performance is on average 9.5 percent higher compared to companies where employees felt older. Interestingly, this was the case even though we controlled for the influence of the average chronological age, which was not related to the performance of the companies on its own. Outlook – Managing Perceived Age in Business Practice For business practice, this means that in times of demographic change, much more attention must be paid to employees' perceived age or age attitude. This is positive news for companies, as perceived age, unlike chronological age, can be influenced by a variety of factors. For example, in our study, we found that in companies where employees feel they are engaged in meaningful work, the perceived age of the employees is significantly lower, leading to increased productivity in these companies as a consequence. It is also likely that good leadership, minimal age discrimination in the work environment, and perceived stress shape employees' subjective age perception. Therefore, companies and executives have many interesting starting points on how they can influence the subjective age attitude of their employees through targeted behavior and measures, ensuring productivity and innovation capability for their company despite the challenges of demographic change. For more information about Top100 Trainer Florian Kunze, click here: http://www.trainers-excellence.de/redner/florian-kunze-fuehrung.html More articles on the topic: http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/unternehmen/demografischer-wandel-in-unternehmen-mit-dem-alter-wachsen-die-herausforderungen-12090793.html http://www.zeit.de/karriere/beruf/2014-12/altersgemischte-teams-innovationen