Older workers are ‘healthy survivors’

United Kingdom (UK) experts who conducted a review of research on work-related stress found that while fewer older workers report high stress levels compared to their younger counterparts, this could be because they are the healthy “survivors” of the workplace.

They suggest that protecting tomorrow’s older workers from stress is a good investment, especially as more of us will be working longer and older workers will form a larger part of the workforce.

The research, which is described in a report titled, Ageing, Work-related Stress and Health, was led by Amanda Griffiths, Professor of Occupational Health Psychology at The University of Nottingham’s Institute of Work, Health and Organisations.

The report is the first comprehensive review of research on age-related stress and health at work to be carried out in Britain and was commissioned by The Age and Employment Network (TAEN) together with Age Concern and Help the Aged.

The reason for the report is that most of the literature on work-related stress rarely distinguishes between younger and older workers, yet many people are likely to be working longer than they expected.

Professor Griffiths and colleagues reviewed hundreds of studies and books published on work-related stress in the last 20 years, sifting out results and findings that related to age, and found that stress levels at work peak at around age 50 to 55 and then decline towards retirement.

They suggest that the reason behind this could be that workers may seek out less stressful roles as they get older and also that increasing seniority may give them more control over their work, which reduces their stress.

However, they also found that more older workers are likely to leave voluntarily or because of ill health (thereby also removing the highly stressed ones from the workforce).

And they also found that the effects of stress on working lives can stay with people long after they retire.

The overall impression is that older staff appear to be the healthy “survivors” of the workplace, a term coined by the researchers.

Chris Ball, chief executive of TAEN, told the media that, “TAEN and our sister charity, Age Concern and Help the Aged, hope this report will influence thinking and practice, so the casual acceptance of work-created mental ill health, permeating into older age, becomes a thing of the past”.

Professor Griffiths and colleagues suggest that older people’s stress levels can be eased by giving them more control over their work, recognizing their contribution, offering them flexible working and more social support.

Professor Griffiths said as we get older our priorities change. Perhaps we are caring for an elderly relative, or wish to spend time with grandchildren, or develop other interests. For older people, work and career may not be the primary drivers.

“Making work attractive and flexible – to allow older people to balance work and their other interests more easily may be one very important step forward,” she suggested, explaining that such investments in the quality of people’s “third age”, the years after retirement, should start during their working life and not afterwards.

“Protecting tomorrow’s older workers, as well as today’s, will pay dividends, as older workers will form a major part of tomorrow’s workforce,” she said.