FEBRUARY 2001

Workforce Issues Affecting 
Older Professionals:
How Does Age Really Play Out in the Work Place?

by George F. McClure

Engineers and technical workers over age 45 — "older workers" — are generally valued for their knowledge, experience, loyalty, and dependability. However, a perception exists among some that older workers are not as likely as their younger colleagues to keep current on new developments in their field. In fact, in spite of the growing demand for engineers and computer scientists we’ve seen since the mid-1990s, many mid-career and older engineers have reported difficulty in finding and retaining jobs.

In response to these reports, IEEE-USA commissioned two surveys in the spring of 2000 to explore attitudes toward older workers. One survey targeted engineering supervisors and HR personnel at high-tech companies; the other focused on the views of employed engineers themselves. The results of these surveys lend mixed support to the suggestion that older electrical and electronics engineers may be faced with an employability crisis at some point in their careers. On the other hand, the results also indicate that things may not be as dire as current perceptions suggest.

Here is what engineering managers, human relations personnel, and practicing engineers had to say:

Work Attributes

• Supervisors consider three attributes to be most important in engineers: problem-solving skills, teamwork skills and communications skills. They rate older engineers as being stronger than younger engineers in problem-solving and communications skills and see no difference between the two in teamwork skills.

• HR personnel believe that the most important attributes are technical knowledge, problem-solving skills and teamwork skills. They rate engineers age 45 and over as stronger than younger engineers on problem-solving skills and equivalent to them on technical knowledge and teamwork skills.

• At the same time, supervisors and HR personnel consider ability to adapt to new assignments and keeping up with the latest developments in the field to be above average in importance, and rate engineers age 45 and over as weaker than those under age 45. Although these attributes are not rated among the most important overall, engineers age 45 and over may face difficulty finding employment by those supervisors and HR personnel who consider these attributes to be especially important.

• Most supervisors and HR personnel agree there is an age that defines the point at which the skills set possessed by older engineers differs from that possessed by younger engineers; most believe this change occurs before age 40. But when asked in what ways these two groups differ, many respond with comments that favor older engineers: older engineers are more experienced, loyal, mature, knowledgeable and better at problem solving. Some respondents, however, cited the strengths of younger workers saying that they are more technical and more flexible.

• Some discriminatory hiring based on age may exist, but it is difficult to state conclusively. Employment growth does appear to be stronger among younger engineers; supervisors and HR personnel generally reported hiring more engineers in the younger age group than the number who have left the department or company. Further, roughly two in 10 supervisors and HR personnel indicated that the proportion of new hires under age 45 exceeds the proportion of exiting engineers in this age group by 50 percentage points or more. Several factors other than age discrimination, however, could account for these differences, including the addition of new entry-level positions within the department or company; the number of younger engineers in the pool of available candidates; and promotional practices within the department or company where the departing engineer is replaced by an internal candidate and the new hire replaces the promoted engineer. In fact, the survey results suggest that promotional practices do sometimes play a role.

Assessments of the Strengths of Younger and Older Engineers

Supervisors had positive attitudes toward older engineers, ranking them higher in six of eight characteristics.

Editor’s Note: This feature highlights excerpts of a full-length report on surveys conducted by IEEE-USA. Click here to read Mr. McClure’s more detailed report.

George F. McClure is co-chair of the IEEE-USA Workforce Committee and can be reached at g.mcclure@ieee.org.