We’re not done yet! What older workers can bring to the workforce | Jeanne Goldie | TED Institute

Too often, American businesses write off older workers as non-digital relics. What would happen if we embraced their experience and teamed them up with colleagues of other ages and backgrounds? Jeanne Goldie says we might be surprised at the problems they could solve -- and the innovation that could result.
About the TED Institute: We know that innovative ideas and fresh approaches to challenging problems can be discovered inside visionary companies around the world. The TED Institute helps surface and share these insights. Every year, TED works with a group of select companies and foundations to identify internal ideators, inventors, connectors, and creators. Drawing on the same rigorous regimen that has prepared speakers for the TED main stage, TED Institute works closely with each partner, overseeing curation and providing intensive one-on-one talk development to sharpen and fine tune ideas.
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[@successfulpickleball8203]

Motivating,, Encouraging, and Rousing! I love the line, "teach dinosaurs how to dance & then remind them how to fly". I wish more companies would stop marginalizing the "non-digital" natives and realize that the older worker has stitched together the fabric of their own family and many older workers need jobs to survive. Thank you for your TedTalk!

[@esteban-alvino]

Everyone need to be updated and companies could encourage more experienced workers to do so, even they have more responsabilities out of work. Company shareholders need to change their mindset.

[@KAY-TUBE]

Inspirational and motivated me to move on.Thank you

[@JeanneGoldie]

Thank you Kay! Glad it helped!

[@dorothywalker6703]

What an outstanding talk. It was insightful, informative, and funny! Great job!

[@JeanneGoldie]

thank you!!

[@KAY-TUBE]

Inspirational and motivated me to move on.Thank you

[@camadams9149]

This is peak Boomers holding onto youth with Madonna Golem arms. Older workers have jammed up the entire workforce and drastically inhibited productivity. My entire job consists of: 1) Rebuilding institutional knowledge lost because a Boomer died & failed to pass on their knowledge 2) Duck-taping workflows together because boomers are unable/unwilling to learn new skills & their current skills make their work incompatible with modern systems

[@betha.6279]

At our company 90% of our top performers are 30's-60's+. They actually show up to work on time, cause less drama, earn pay raises through performance, and are less less likely to job hop. Older workers also often have years of valuable experience or higher education but don't feel the need to pridefully announce it to everyone like some of the younger ones. Older workers often also stick to state and company policies more often , and work just as hard as many of the younger workers. The older workers also have incredible teaching/ mentoring skills. We do have some great hard working creative workers who are young , so I'm not saying young is bad. Younger works who are responsible, willing to work hard, ready learn and grow are extremely valuable. Good attitude ,humility, willingness to be teachable, can apply to young and old! Computers and technology can be learned at any age if a worker is shown patience and understanding . Technology doesn'tmean anything if we fail to meet goals as a team. I'm 46 years old . I work my butt off for my company, love learning,and enjoy training others. That drive won't change at age 60.

[@camadams9149]

@@betha.6279 "Older workers also often have years of valuable experience" Experience is important "Older workers often also stick to state and company policies more often" Yes, they are more likely to do things how they have been done. Given how fast technology has evolved, modern solutions are more efficient "The older workers also have incredible teaching/ mentoring skills." Not necessarily. Teaching/mentoring is a separate skill. I've met plenty of older workers with no ability to teach or mentor. It sounds like you either encourage that skill OR screen for employees with that skill "That drive won't change at age 60." You could spend 80 hours a week managing billing paperwork. That would be hard work. You could also create or implement a software program that does all of that automatically, freeing up those 80 hours for other work. All of my coworkers are 50+. Our department workflow was clearly created in the 90s. Since I was hired: 1) I created software to track inventory levels and order more inventory automatically. That replaced manual inventory counting, recording on paper, and submitting orders manually (10 hours a week freed up) 2) I created a content system that is location based. All documents you need to preform a specific task appear on your phone when you enter the area where you do that task. This eliminated: errors, looking for the right documents, and increased the speed at which new employees could be trained 3) I created an online form that adds new clients to all our systems automatically. This eliminated 4-5 different paper account creation forms a user had to fill out. It eliminated the need for an employee to manually add this data to our systems. It also eliminated employee transcription mistakes and data mistakes by auto-checking the information before the form can be submitted Those are just 3 things I have done. I completely automated my job. When a coworker left, I took her job and automated it too. 1) I created a program that auto compiles financial data, parses it so it works with each of our databases, and spits out the results. I am now automating the process engineer's job by creating software that designs processes automatically. In short, I have eliminated 3 positions through automation by using new technology. You aren't getting those productivity gains from older workers (unless they are the rare type that has stayed up to date with current technology)

[@showyouhow3801]

Cam Adams, most of us boomers and gen X' ers created that technology you call "modern systems". Being an ageist is just as bad as being a racist or sexist. Stereo-typing a group is ignorance. Just as bad as saying all millennials are snowflakes that's not true either. You also realize your two points are contradictory, If the "modern systems" are so much better, why do you need their institutional knowledge? I truly hope you live to be very old, my friend, you deserve it :)

[@showyouhow3801]

@@camadams9149 I'm an IT Director and can tell you first hand, I have as many young users resistant to technology. Who do you think invented JavaScript, HTML, and more than likely the programming languages you wrote your software on. Those people who you so vehemently disrespect invented the computer, the internet, transistors, integrated circuits, all of the things that make your automation possible. As someone who has done tech for over 20 years (when some of those systems were created and every day since) I seriously doubt 1.Your examples are real (Clients just magically get added to your system without a sales force finding them, contracting them, etc.). You may have reduced paperwork, but people still have to fill in the forms. 2. You could out code me and I'm nearly 60. 3. You live on your own, or paid for your own college (some boomer parent probably feeds you). 4. Have much of a life, watching boomer TED talks and trolling boomers in the comments. 3. Doubt your process engineer software will work( put a link to git hub, would love to see it) I hope one day you realize that we're all human and there is more to people than how efficient they are or how much AI can replace their job. Who know, maybe you'll work yourself out of your job. I'm guessing you are a joy to work with .

[@showyouhow3801]

@@betha.6279 @camAdams didn't listen to the talk, he's an ageist and doesn't even know that that's a bad thing. Just like racists didn't think they were doing anything wrong back in the day. If he's lucky he'll get old and some young worker at his company will dig up this post and show it to him. I wonder what his 70 year old self would say to this person?