By Wim Pullen
Edition 4 – September 2014 Pages 18-22
Tags: human resources • workplace strategy • property
Age is everything but a number,as it covers individual changes in physical,mental,social and societal aspects; factors that influence people’s perceptions and expectations in life.
This research focuses on ageing in an environment which normally covers a long period of time in life: the workplace. The aim of this study is to get insight into the influence of age in relation to the experience of the office environment and job performance.A differentiation will be made between traditional cellular offices with assigned places andflexible office concepts(i.e. more open layouts with non-assigned placesand multiple age groups will be distinguished).
It is important to emphasize the effects of ageing on an individual performance level as well as on an organizational performance level.The results can help organizations to anticipate the possible difficulties people from different ages encounterin general in their workenvironment. Also,these ndings can giveorganizations insight intohow the preferences ofemployees of di erent agescan be taken into account.The results will lead into suggestions for making the work environment attractive for employees of all age groups and to recruit or retain talented and valuable employees.Overall, the outcomes will be supportive for decision-making regarding optimization or adaptation of the current or new office environment.
Changing environment
The world population is ageing rapidly.The proportion ofthe world’s population over 60 years old will increase between 2000 and 2050 from about 11% to 22% (WHO,2013).Ageing in The Netherlands is mainly a consequence of the post war baby boom and the following increase in births until around 1970.At present, the number of people from 50 to 65 years old is growing rapidly; and this increase in the number of elderly people sets up some interesting challenges within the work field, at least in the short term. Likewise, in the long term, the retirementof the baby boom generation will probably lead to other challenges, like a temporary shortage of employees, vitality for the other generationsexpecting a higher retirement age (67 or plus), the demand for young and talented people and the need to sustain a quality knowledge base within the organization.
In 2010, 60% of the public organizations in The Netherlands are expected to encounter problems with attracting enough suitable employees as a result of the ageing population (Netw erkOrganisatie&Vergrijzing,2010).The largest ageing related problems people foresee in public organizations are the loss of knowledge, lack of motivation and willingness to change with respect to older employees, lack of internal mobility and a loss of younger employees (related to the lack of internal mobility).As almost every organization has to deal with this insurmountable phenomenon,it is important to face these ongoing issues.At the same time, technological and strategic developments trigger shifts within the workplace environment. Reasons that give cause to these changes, are mostly related to ‘always positive’expectations of increased revenues (e.g. the employee productivity, satisfaction, image) and expected reduction of costs (e.g. facility and building related costs,IT,traveling expenses) (Baane,2010).These issues translate to the workplace in such a way, at least in the Netherlands, that currently ashift is going on from traditional cellular offices (a combination of the cell o ce and small shared room office, in which all employees have an assigned desk) to more open and transparent offices with activity based workplaces, meaning that people use workspaces according to their presence and activities.As a consequence, increasingly people must be able to work in a exible manner while no longerusinga personal desk.
The exible o ce is an innovative office type with an open and transparent character.Yet,it is not comparable to an open-plan o ce since it is based on a mix of spaces (e.g., open and half-open spaces, additional open and enclosed “back up” areas for individual concentrated work, telephone calls and for a variety of communication and conference activities). Possibilities for communication often include enclosed formal meeting rooms,open informal meeting areas,coffee corners and lounge seats.
There are also shared facilities,like printing areas and lockers. Generally the number of available places per FTEis between 0,7 – 0,9.This means that there are no assigned workstations anymore and people are expected to clear their desk every time they leave a workstation for more than a few hours,so that their colleagues can make use of it.
The flexible office concept is very popular in the Netherlands, since it does account for an efficient use of office space (as defined in square metres). Other motivations that are often heard are related to an expected improvement of communication and social interaction,and a positive effect on productivity and innovation.The development goes hand-in- hand with technological developments which make it possible to work at any place you want,within the office but as well as outside the office.
So far so good,it seems. But do such developments in the work environment match up with the assumptions,and with the experiences of all employees? It is questionable if a flexible office is the right environment for everyone.According to the person-environment fit theory,people will achieve a higher level of satisfaction and mental and psychical well-being when they experience a match with their environment (e.g. Holland, 1997).
Research shows that individuals are satisfied with,and adjust most easily to,jobs when they are congruent with their own career-relevant personality types (Spokane,1985; Tinsley,2000). It is known that job content characteristics leads to more job satisfaction and motivation,which lead to better performance (Hackman & Oldham,1975; Morgeson & Humphrey,2006). How do the different office concepts fit employees of different age groups? Also,design questions need to be asked about the supply of workplace solutions that support the broad diversity of employees’ demands.
Challenges of ageing at work
With the phenomenon of ageing come additional issuesrelated to the workplace.What are the possible challenges people can encounter on the work floor as a result of ageing,and in what perspective does that place the popular flexible office concept?
It is not as easy as it seems to define ‘young’ and ‘aged’. A distinction can be made in chronological,functional and psychosocial age.A definition of chronological age which is often used in studies,is one based on the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). Herein workers aged 40 and older are protected against age discrimination. However,there are studies in which ages from 55 or even 65 years are used to define ‘aged’ people.
The difference in these numbers reflects the fact that it is very difficult to identify a specific age on which individuals are older. One of the reasons is that the needs,values,skills and health of older people can differ widely (Baltes&Baltes, 1990). Besides that,they often vary greatly in response to ageing. Many of the older workers remain fully functioning in the workplace (Hursh,Lui&Pransky,2006). Often the terms “successful” and “normal” ageing are mentioned to describe the ageing process of people.The people who are ageing successfully,generally experience a low probability of disease,high cognitive and physical functioning and an active participation in life (Rowe and Kahn,1997).
A study by Cleveland and Shore (1992) shows that age may be a predictor of performance in a negative way,but that age usually only explains a small part of the total variance. The problems which come along with ageing don’t seem to influence the overall work performance directly (e.g. McEvoy & Cascio,1989).Apparently,many of the elderly are able to adapt or compensate for age-related challenges (Hansson, Robson & Limas,2001). According to Schkade and Schultz (2003, see Moyers & Coleman,2004) the ability of older workers to properly deal with the challenges in the workplace depends primarily on the total experience of the person in order to successfully adapt.
However there might be differences in ageing between people,we cannot escape from the fact that the cognitive functioning of people generally declines during a lifespan. For example,there is a relationship between sustained attention and age (Mani,Bedwell and Miller,2005).Both older and younger subjects performed worse on a task when exposed to noise in comparison to subjects who were sitting in a quiet room. However,it turned out that with increasing age a poorer performance outcome occurred on the attention task….