1. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. Age and work characteristics: the role of personality Tatiana Gulko, OPP Ltd.

2. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. Presentation overview Why did we carry out this research? Method Results Discussion of findings Implications Conclusion Q & A session

3. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. 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. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. 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. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. 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 /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. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. 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/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. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. The current research Does age influence how we like to work? 1) Role clarity 2) Emphasis on employee independence 3) Emphasis on employee loyalty 4) Diverse environment (people from many different backgrounds) Does personality play a role?

8. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. 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. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. Measures 16PF (16 Personality Factors) 5 th 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. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. The 16PF (Personality Factors)

11. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. Results Personality traitRelationship with age Emotional stability (C) 0.13** Liveliness (F) - 0.17** Rule consciousness (G) 0.11** Abstractedness (M) - 0.11** Apprehension (O) - 0.12** Self-reliance (Q2) 0.19** Tension (Q4) -0.10** Table 1: Age and personality traits ** Significant at the 0.01 level

12. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. Results Personality characteristics unaffected by age: 1) Warmth (A) 2) Dominance (E) 3) Social Boldness (H) 4) Sensitivity (I) 5) Vigilance (L) 6) Privateness (N) 7) Openness to Change (Q1) 8) Perfectionism (Q3)

13. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. Results Work characteristicRelationship with age Role clarity0.11** Emphasis on employee independence 0.13** Emphasis on employee loyalty0.11** People from many different backgrounds 0.09** Table 2 (part 1): Age and work characteristics ** Significant at the 0.01 level

14. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. Results Work characteristicRelationship with age Employees with responsibility for many different areas 0.11** Insecure job, but with opportunity for high pay - 0.14** Small organisation where everyone knows each other 0.13** Employees viewed as individuals, with unique skills 0.13** ** Significant at the 0.01 level Table 2 (part 2): Age and work characteristics

15. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. Results PredictorPartial mediatorOutcome AgeEmotional stabilityResponsibility for many different areas AgeLivelinessInsecure jobs, with high payment opportunity AgeRule consciousness Self-Reliance Abstractedness Role clarity AgeAbstractednessEmphasis on employee loyalty

16. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. 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. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. Discussion Findings consistent with previous research: 1) Neuroticism and anxiety show a decline as people mature (Soto et al, 2011) 2) As individuals get older, they become more efficient in emotion-regulation strategies (Helson & Soto, 2005) 3) 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. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. 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. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. 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. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. Implications: Practical o Training o Coaching o Learning and Development o Emphasis on loyalty and independence o Responsibility for many areas o Employees viewed as individuals with unique skills

21. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. 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. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. References Age UK. The experiences of the older worker: Part 2. Age UK Website, Retrieved on January 7 th, 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/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 7 th, 2014, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15127835 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 7 th, 2014, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15372869 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 http://hbr.org/2012/07/why-top-young-managers-are-in-a-nonstop-job- hunt/ar/1

23. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. 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. © Copyright 2013 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved. Thank you! Any questions?