Proposing a Diversity Intelligence Training Framework for Leaders and Managers to Attract, Maintain, and Balance Mature Workers

The workforce is becoming more diverse with the increasing number of mature workers delaying retirement and working beyond the legal retirement age. Retaining mature workers in organizations can be challenging. Training leaders and managers in diversity intelligence (DQ) has the potential to lead to better and more effective supervision of diverse employees. Competent and skilled managers and leaders who are trained in DQ will be more able to help in the attracting, retaining, and balancing mature workers. The chapter proposes using the three learning processes of enactive, iconic, and symbolic from Bruner's discovery learning theory to teach leaders and managers DQ. The learning outcome is that managers will become mentors and coaches who are equipped to use goal-oriented and transformative processes to supervise the independent, motivated, and proactive adult workers.

Neuroscientific Approaches for Maintaining, Balancing, and Developing Mature Workers

As the aging population is rapidly increasing worldwide, keeping older workers to address the skilled labor shortage has been an important economic issue. This study pursues the current status of the older workforce in the U.S., identifies organizational support systems for mature workers, and proposes neuroscientific approaches and methods to maintain and develop effective mature workers through an integrative review of recent research findings in neuroscience and brain-based learning and development.

Exploring Antecedents of Mature Workers' Turnover Intention

The purpose of this chapter is to identify the antecedents of mature workers' turnover intention and to review the role of organizational culture in their intention. By reviewing 20 empirical studies on mature workers' turnover intention published between 2006 and 2017, the authors identified 44 antecedents of mature workers' turnover intention at the individual, group/organizational, and intersectional levels. This literature review reveals that the antecedents of mature workers' turnover intention are diverse, including personal characteristics, work-related behavior, leadership, HR practices, job characteristics, organizational culture, and work-life balance. They also discuss the role of organizational culture in mature workers' turnover intention based on the findings. Finally, they present implications for HR practitioners and recommendations for future research.

Proposing a Diversity Intelligence Training Framework for Leaders and Managers to Attract, Maintain, and Balance Mature Workers

The workforce is becoming more diverse with the increasing number of mature workers delaying retirement and working beyond the legal retirement age. Retaining mature workers in organizations can be challenging. Training leaders and managers in diversity intelligence (DQ) has the potential to lead to better and more effective supervision of diverse employees. Competent and skilled managers and leaders who are trained in DQ will be more able to help in the attracting, retaining, and balancing mature workers. The chapter proposes using the three learning processes of enactive, iconic, and symbolic from Bruner's discovery learning theory to teach leaders and managers DQ. The learning outcome is that managers will become mentors and coaches who are equipped to use goal-oriented and transformative processes to supervise the independent, motivated, and proactive adult workers.

How Millennial Mentors Can Help Upskill, Reskill, and Retain Mature Workers

As the global workforce ages, organizations are seeking strategies to retain talent and encourage commitment and engagement from older employees while providing younger workers opportunities for professional development. Workplace mentoring, which has been an effective learning and development intervention for several decades, could help achieve this strategic objective. Although mentoring practice assumes that senior workers mentor junior ones, recent research has shown that mature workers may benefit from reverse mentoring where they are on the receiving end of a mentoring relationship. This chapter explores how millennial mentors may help with the retention, upskilling, and reskilling of mature employees and presents recommendations for optimal success when matching generationally different mentoring pairs. The author concludes by presenting theoretical and practical implications and suggestions for future research.

Supporting Workforce Wisdom in a Global Economy

An aging workforce brings unique challenges and opportunities, requiring an understanding of how different age groups approach the workplace and employ thoughtful strategies to bridge generation gaps. It is crucial to identify wisdom held by experienced workers and develop strategies for passing knowledge on to less experienced employees. Training mature workers for the 21st century workplace is important; however, helping all employees to unlearn outdated processes or beliefs is equally vital to ensure growth and innovation. Organizations need to foster a climate of acceptance and appreciation for all workers and their contributions regardless of age. Workplace policies and procedures should be reviewed and updated to ensure no bias against mature workers is present. Community and public resources can be accessed to train and support mature workers as well. Recognizing the element of wisdom in the workforce and learning how to leverage that wisdom is key to success in the knowledge economy.

The Value of the Mature Worker

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the literature that addresses the knowledge management (KM) of mature workers, namely Baby Boomers, in the workforce and how that KM helps employees and organizations achieve career goals. This chapter considers the time-sensitive nature of organizational implementation of effective KM practices as they pertain to this population. Additionally, two key themes are drawn out and discussed: frequent and active integration of KM and community as the vehicle for KM. This chapters concludes with suggestions for future research to addresses existing gaps in the literature.

Improving the Employability of Mature Workers

The purpose of this chapter is to explore how organizations and higher education institutions can help mature workers maintain and improve their employability in the dynamic labor market. This chapter addresses the issues regarding career learning for mature workers and provides a guide for policymakers and human resource development (HRD) professionals for handling these issues. Several recommendations were generated for policy makers and HRD professionals: 1) the new trends manifested in local, regional, national, and global labor markets should be understood; 2) a more strategic policy to grow the availability and quality of jobs in aging labor markets should be developed; 3) mature workers' specific needs and interests should be recognized; 4) an age diverse environment should be developed in the workplace; 5) training and development programs to enhance transformational leadership behaviors should be provided to managers; and 6) longer-term personal development plans for mature workers should be established.

Include, Individualize, and Integrate: Organizational Meta-strategies for Mature Workers

In this commentary, we synthesize the literature on mature workers in organizations to support the development of an intervention-focused research program. We identify 3 broad approaches, or “meta-strategies,” which theory and research suggest organizations can use to reap the benefits associated with a mature and age-diverse workforce. “Include” involves strategies to create an inclusive climate in which mature workers are welcomed and fairly treated and is based on theories such as optimal distinctiveness theory. “Individualize” involves strategies to adapt the work to meet the individual needs and preferences of an aging workforce, such as work redesign and is based on theories about how people change over the life span. “Integrate” involves strategies to address the greater age diversity that comes with an aging workforce, such as how mentoring schemes enable younger and older workers to better learn from each other, and is based on theories such as those concerned with team diversity. We believe that this framework will help organizational decision makers to think more broadly and more proactively about how to manage, and harness the benefits of, an aging workforce. Our framework also challenges researchers to give more attention to intervention studies, including considering what configurations of strategies might be most helpful, as well as whether sequencing of strategies is important.