Older and More Engaged: The Influence of an Employee’s Age on Work Engagement

Abstract

The workforce is aging as employees over the age of 50 are becoming the majority and are increasing the need of age in business diversity studies. Older workers are often subjected to negative stereotypes that assume less work engagement. Significantly higher work engagement was in older employees confirming the value of older employees to organizations and disputing the negative stereotypes and assumptions of the older workforce. The findings support the need for age as a component to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in organizations to support strategy of talent management, workforce planning, and strategic human resource recruitment.