Organisations are now forced to accommodate the older workers into their milieu
and make some amendments in managing them



. Since aged workers are employed

in bigger numbers in the organisations, HR managers find it problematic to manage
the age diversity. Managers work with certain pre-conceived ideas about older
people. There are some long standing stereotypes regarding aging.


These include

perceptions like, the older workers have decreased performance, decreased stamina,
are difficult to train, are not flexible, have greater risks and have less capacity to
work. Along with these perceptions there are other assumptions that there are natural
outcomes of getting old e.g. vision, hearing, stamina etc.
However, it is time to dispel with these stereotypical ideas because research has
systematically shown that these assumptions are for the most part false. These biased
views about older workers are considered as responsible for the ongoing discrimination
against them.
Older workers encounter problems on the job as a result of this generalisation. They

stand true only in some cases. However, many of the short comings of older workers
can be overcome. In reality, many older workers are in good health, are open to
change, are trainable and are willing to take reasonable risks. Actually what have
been considered as limitations are now considered as assets.
Considering the strengths of the older workers, they are typically more experienced,
they have realistic expectations of jobs as a result of their own past experience they
are easier to be satisfied and tend to respond to intrinsic reward. The most important
aspect is they usually stay for a longer period with their employers and have lower



absenteeism rates.