Age and work characteristics: the role of personality

1. Age and work characteristics: the role of personality Tatiana Gulko, OPP Ltd.

2. Presentation overview • Why did we carry out this research? • Method • Results • Discussion of findings • Implications • Conclusion • Q & A session

3. Background “Compulsory retirement age at 65 fully abolished The default retirement age in the UK has been fully abolished after being phased out...” BBC News (Business) 1 October 2011 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15127835

4. Background “Life expectancy rises again, ONS says Life expectancy has continued to rise, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.” Source: BBC News (Business) 19 October 2011 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15372869

5. The future of our workforce Janice McGrellis, 66, from Brighton Source: Age UK official website Web address: http://www.ageuk.org.uk/work-and-learning/looking-for-work/the-rise-of-the-older-worker/the-experiences-of-the-older-worker-part-2/

6. The future of our workforce Janice McGrellis is 66, from Brighton, and is a legal secretary “My colleagues don't see me as an older person, though. There are 12 of us and we all pull together as a team. It's a very friendly environment and we all socialise together...Some of my younger colleagues come to me for advice about boyfriends and marriage. I suppose it's because I've experienced things that they haven't. It works both ways though. They keep me updated on all the new bands. And we all love X Factor. Money was the main reason for continuing to work. But I love how working keeps me more alert and active. I'm the fire officer, health and safety officer and office first aider, so I'm learning new things all the time.” Source of quote: Age UK official website Web address: http://www.ageuk.org.uk/work-and-learning/looking-for-work/the-rise-of-the-older-worker/the-experiences-of-the-older-worker-part-2/

7. The current research Does age influence how we like to work? • Role clarity • Emphasis on employee independence • Emphasis on employee loyalty • Diverse environment (people from many different backgrounds) Does personality play a role?

8. Participants • A nationally representative sample of working age adults with equal gender split (1212 participants) • Data was collected via an online panel • Participants completed 16PF questionnaire, alongside additional questions (including age and work preferences) • Age range: 16 to 65 years

9. Measures • 16PF (16 Personality Factors) 5th Edition (Cattell, & Cattell, 1995) • 16 personality traits • 16PF provides a more fine-grained analysis of personality (compared to Five Factor model) • Work preferences • Age measured as continuous variable

10. The 16PF (Personality Factors)

11. Results ** Significant at the 0.01 level Table 1: Age and personality traits

12. Results Personality characteristics unaffected by age: • Warmth (A) • Dominance (E) • Social Boldness (H) • Sensitivity (I) • Vigilance (L) • Privateness (N) • Openness to Change (Q1) • Perfectionism (Q3)

13. Results ** Significant at the 0.01 level Table 2 (part 1): Age and work characteristics

14. Results ** Significant at the 0.01 level Table 2 (part 2): Age and work characteristics

15. Results

16. Discussion • Our study is correlational, and causation cannot be implied • Cohort effects • Our findings are, however, consistent with longitudinal data (Roberts et al, 2006)

17. Discussion Findings consistent with previous research: • Neuroticism and anxiety show a decline as people mature (Soto et al, 2011) • As individuals get older, they become more efficient in emotion-regulation strategies (Helson & Soto, 2005) • Employee age negatively correlated with customer stressors, and use of emotion control and active coping are more effective in alleviating emotional exhaustion in older workers (Johnson et al, 2013)

18. Discussion • We found that older workers are more comfortable in an organisation where employees are responsible for many different areas • Zaniboni et al (2013) found that older workers were less likely to have turnover intentions if they had increased skill variety

19. Implications: Practical Employees (average age: 30 years) are typically staying with an organisation for an average of 28 months. Poor training and development opportunities, and not being mentored and coached enough, are contributing factors. Harvard Business Review, 2012 http://hbr.org/2012/07/why-top-young-managers-are-in-a-nonstop-job-hunt/ar/1

20. Implications: Practical • Emphasis on loyalty and independence • Responsibility for many areas • Employees viewed as individuals with unique skills • Training • Coaching • Learning and Development

21. Conclusion • Our findings suggest that age is a pertinent factor in influencing how comfortable people are with certain job characteristics • Association of age with certain personality traits may partly explain the above relationship • Our findings have implications for ensuring attraction, selection and retention of employees in the ever-diversifying workforce of the future

22. References • Age UK. The experiences of the older worker: Part 2. Age UK Website, Retrieved on January 7th, 2014, from http://www.ageuk.org.uk/work-and-learning/looking-for-work/the-rise-of-the-older-worker/the-experiences-of-the-older-worker-part-2/ • BBC News Business (2011, October, 1) Compulsory retirement age at 65 fully abolished. BBC News. Retrieved on January 7th, 2014, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15127835 • BBC News Business (2011, October, 19) Life expectancy rises again, ONS says. BBC News. Retrieved on January 7th, 2014, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15372869 • Hamori, M., Cao, J., & Koyuncu, B. (2012, July-August) Why top young managers are in a nonstop job hunt. Harvard Business Review Magazine. Retrieved from: http://hbr.org/2012/07/why-top-young-managers-are-in-a-nonstop-job-hunt/ar/1

23. References • Helson, R., & Soto, C.J. (2005). Up and down in middle age: Monotonic and nonmonotonic changes in roles, status and personality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 194-204. • Johnson, S.J., Holdsworth, L., Hoel, H., & Zapf, D. (2013). Customer stressors in service organisations: The impact of age on stress management and burnout. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 22(3), 318-330. • Roberts, B.W., Walton, K.E., & Viechtbauer, W. (2006). Patterns of mean-level change in personality traits across the life course: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 1-25. • Soto, C.J., Gosling, S.D., John, O.P., & Potter, J. (2011). Age differences in personality traits from 10 to 65: Big Five domains and facets in a large cross-sectional sample. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100 (2), 330-348. • Zaniboni, S., Truxillo, D.M., & Fraccaroli, F. (2013). Differential effects of task variety and skill variety on burnout and turnover intentions for older and younger workers. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 22(3), 306-317.

24. Thank you! Any questions?