Study: Highest work vitality comes at ages 50-59
07/10/2012 04:13
University of Haifa study dispels belief that older white collar employees are less productive.
Businesspeople in a meeting Photo: Thinkstock
Policies that grant preference to young employees and send older ones to early
retirement are misguided, according to a study conducted by University of Haifa
researchers. The age when white collar workers show their “highest level of
professional vitality” is between 50 and 60, they found.
Age and
experience have a significant impact, said Dr. Shmuel Grimland and Prof. Eran
Vigoda- Gadot of the University of Haifa and Prof. Yehuda Baruch of the Rouen
Business School in France.
The team, headed by Grimland – who wrote his
doctoral thesis on the basis of the study – queried 545 company managers from
both the private and public sectors, in the fields of hi-tech, engineering and
infrastructure. The managers came from all levels, from the bottom to the most
senior.
The study found that as vitality in work rises, so does an
individual’s ability to use personal resources to succeed and their devotion to
the institution. They also found a connection between vitality at work and the
organizational level: the more vitality an employee has, the higher his status
in the organization.
There was also a positive link between professional
vitality and career satisfaction on the one hand and life in general on the
other, according to the study. The more professional vitality the employee has,
the less he is willing to leave the workplace.
The research team then
investigated the connection between age and vitality, with the results forming
an upside down U shape. The highest level of vitality and motivation was between
the ages of 50 and 59, they said, with 57 as the most vital individual age.
After that decade, vitality began to decline.
“Our research shows that
giving employees tools to improve their vitality at work will significantly
raise their satisfaction and help create creativity and innovation among them.
These should be a high priority for organizations and companies,” the
researchers said.
“One could say that vitality at work is preserved as
people work, and even rises through their late 50s – serving as fuel for the
success of the whole organization. It shows that organizations that invest in
this will benefit from workers with high levels of productivity over many
years,” the study concluded.