The convergence of the Wired, the Tired, and Technology

In what seems to be a war of contrasting viewpoints, the media and Internet continues to be filled with stories about the virtures of retaining older worker longer and recruiting a young workforce.  For most organizations, doing both seems a sure way to balloon payroll.  So many managers choose one strategy over the other.

Unfortunately in many cases, the solution is doing both.  The failure to retain (or re-hire) older workers is a loss of wisdom and knowledge …. and in the case of some trade jobs, some hard to find craftsman-like skills.  But the failure to begin recruiting younger replacement workers is a sure-fire way to avoid dealing with the inevitable – the once-retired will again retire and the workaholic Boomer will eventually slow down or step aside.  Building a workforce these days isn't like it used to be.

The following article does a nice job of highlighting the appeal of retaining and rehiring older workers as well as addressing two of the problems in doing so – an attitude gap betweeen young managers supervising older employees and the lack of computer skills (and a resistance to learn) found in many aging workers.

The convergence of the Wired, the Tired, and Technology is challenging but an issue that must be confronted.

The graying of the workforce.


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Ira S Wolfe