Packaging Work with Age in Mind
A manager usually has considerable freedom to design his department and structure the positions of those reporting to him. Here are a few ground rules to help him improve the productivity and maintain the career progress of older employees:
Make a Closer Match between Man and Job
A manager ought to assign a bright young employee to work that represents an attainable level of difficulty but that nonetheless requires considerable stretch. This encourages him to add to his knowledge and skills quite rapidly. In dealing with the older employee, however, the manager needs to make a closer match. To the extent possible, he should capitalize on the man's demonstrated past performance, thus putting him to work on commitments he is currently capable of meeting with excellence. This accomplishes several objectives: the work produced is likely to be outstanding, which is good for the organization; the employee will appear capable and successful to his associates and to himself, which benefits his self-confidence and motivation; the man is reassured about his capability at a time of life that can be threatening to him; and the level of his personal involvement in the goals and products of the organization is probably sustained because of his contribution.
Require Quality Improvement
Aligning a job with a man's capabilities does not mean one should assign tasks that require him to repeat work he's done many times before. A wise manager will build on the senior employee's past experience, but will also ask for a greater contribution in terms of quality-a better job or a different application-rather than faster results. Time pressure is often harder on a senior man than on a younger one. But asking for an improvement in the caliber of the work he has done in the past is likely to arouse his interest. A manager needs imagination to devise work with moderate opportunity for growth. He might try putting a problem directly into the hands of a capable older man. "Pete," he might say, "you're the only person in this department who might be interested enough and willing to take the time to find a way to remove the red tape from our ordering system without sacrificing our good control over price. Would you take a look at it to see if you can find an easier way, one that cuts down on paperwork?" Our suggestion that the manager pose such a problem does not imply that the assignment would be of low priority. A capable senior employee would immediately perceive this as make-work, and the task would discourage him even if it were economically feasible. Instead, a high-priority assignment is needed, one that wouldn't be done at all if a fully experienced individual were not available to do it.
The next step is to make assignments short enough so that the employee experiences success rather frequently. A manager should deliberately assign projects that can be completed within, say, two or three months. If the nature of the work doesn't permit this, he should divide it into several segments of about that duration each and follow through with the man, segment by segment. Such short assignments or segments help the man sustain his interest, and his feelings of satisfaction and importance increase at each successful accomplishment.
Ask For Frequent Reports
If such a segmented assignment were to be given to a man in midcareer, a manager might well ask nothing about it until some major phase were completed or scheduled for completion. For an employee in his preretirement years, the need for companionship, reassurances, and a sense of playing an important position on the team may be critical. Requesting the man to give an informal, five-minute, oral report describing what he is doing and how it is coming can fill this need. The report might be given to his associates at a regular staff meeting or some similar, likely occasion.
Informal Personal Contacts
Often a manager avoids his older employees. He finds some of their remarks and work habits difficult to deal with, to say nothing of their attitudes. This can isolate the older man, confirming his feelings of unimportance. Frequent contacts, on the other hand, can reassure the man that he is liked, respected, and considered a much-needed part of the team. So the manager who is really interested in sustaining career development will devise a system that reminds him to see older employees. Contacts need not and probably should not be long ones. The key is to express interest and relay information informally, thus giving a man some advance notice of changes that may lie ahead. For the older person does not like to be caught short; he may not be so flexible as he once was and may need a longer recovery or adjustment time. Catching him off the guard may so disturb him that his performance suffers and his behavior changes noticeably for the worse.
If the employee is one in whom the manager can safely confide, so much the better. This kind of relationship is indicative of mutual liking and respect and usually engenders in the employee a desire to do his best. Since most managers need someone to serve as a sounding board, the relationship is close to ideal. It may allow the manager to resolve his problems. At the same time, it provides the employee with advance information that he can use to good advantage. This, in turn, increases the odds of his success and helps to place him in the manager's inner circle of confidants.
