After graduating from university, we start our business life with a little worry and excitement. In our first years, we embrace our business with enthusiasm and high effort and try to be in the eyes of our manager. Sometimes we try to finish the remaining work by staying at work until late hours and sometimes by continuing our work at home. Over the years, many of us get paid for their labor, come to certain positions, or find a job with a better position and income, change our job. Well, what do you think we will feel when we approach the age of 35 or over the age of 35? (approx, after 10 years in business). What do we expect and desire from our workplace where we worked for years, worked day and night, and sometimes even neglected our family? Maybe some of us are holding a mid-level or senior management position. But most of us are not in managerial positions. Due to the limited number of management levels, many of us will not have the opportunity to be employed in those positions. As we get older, we begin to experience the acceptance that we cannot get better positions. With this acceptance, we begin to experience contradictions and conflicts in our inner and outer world. We expect ourselves to be treated with loyalty and honesty from our institution, where we have been working devotedly for years, we want ourselves to be valued and consulted as an experienced and experienced employee.
Since we have been doing the same job for years, our job will become meaningless over time and will not excite us. Career change and job change will be intimidating, and even if we are not happy with our job, we will have to continue to work until we find a better alternative. Due to the increase of new technologies and new skills, the new generation will have the potential to be ahead of us. Our growing children, spouses and aging parents will push us even more on the work-life balance. This situation we are / will be in may push us to feelings and behaviors such as frustration, boredom, restlessness, meaninglessness, skepticism, learned helplessness and maladjustment. Since all these emotions and behaviors that we have / will experience remind us of the emotions and behaviors in adolescence, the middle age period of the employee is compared to the adolescence period.
In 2006, Robert Morison, Tamara Erickson and Ken Dychtwalt had a work on this subject. In the survey study conducted on 7,700 people, only 33 percent of 7,700 people stated that they felt that they were living from their work and 36 percent said they were working in a job that had no future. In other words, one third of middle age workers are not satisfied with their job and one fifth is looking for a new job.
By middle age, we mean people between the ages of 35-54 working in companies. This age range may vary according to the year of entering the business life.
The results / findings such as the following have emerged in the study, which was carried out by considering people in this age range.
· Middle-aged workers work longer hours than those younger and older than them.
· 30 percent say they work 50 hours or more a week.
· Only 43 percent of these employees are passionate about their jobs.
· Only 33 percent of these employees feel that they find a living from their work.
· Only 36 percent of these employees say they work in a job that has no future.
And more than 40 percent also report feelings of burnout.
When we look at the results of the research, companies do not have a good grade on middle age employees. Approximately half or more of the employees in companies are formed by this segment of employees. There are always more middle age workers, especially in the areas of management and control. From this point of view, it is very important for companies to be able to manage and motivate their middle-aged employees correctly and to make their career planning accurately for the future and competitiveness of the company.
It is seen that a teenager in adolescence has conflict with himself and his environment, tries to prove himself, says I am also, and exhibits behaviors in this direction. There are many spiritual-psychological factors underlying these behaviors and thoughts. Likewise, similar behavioral, psychological and mental changes are likely in middle-age workers.
Just as adolescence is a period that will be a leap and milestone for a young person when evaluated correctly and efficiently, middle age can be a leap and touchstone for employees. Of course, besides the individual's own efforts in this regard, the senior management of the company should take the initiative and follow a good human resources policy.
If we look at the event in terms of talent loss; In companies, the people who know the job best and are experienced, and perhaps the companies invest the most, are middle-age employees. People who are more loyal to their companies and more involved with their jobs are middle-aged employees. Middle-aged workers who need to be utilized and recycle after investment, if they are not managed well; They will cause short-long term loss of productivity and talent to the company. These people who are not satisfied with their job will eventually have to look for other business opportunities, and as a result, the company will lose its talent and knowledge memory.
We've heard a lot in workplaces. Employees who are new to the job and who are enthusiastically trying to do their job well; “We were like you at first. But over time, we have seen that there is no use in working hard and trying hard in this workplace. So don't worry about yourself. He concludes that it will be work. They say things like "the way things happen anyway". The group that speaks these words is generally middle-aged employees who cannot find a life in their job and see no future in their jobs. A middle-aged employee who is not satisfied with his job can also miss the morale and motivation of the excited and diligent employee who tries to do his job well.
Middle-aged workers, who make up more than half of our employees, actually do not want much from their employers. They want a suitable environment and time to bring their ideas and projects to life. Small moves that will stimulate their energy and excitement and increase their enthusiasm in their work will actually make them happy. In addition, their long work and loyalty should not deceive the employer. The employer has good intentions for them, but middle-aged employees cannot convey their real requests to their employer, they expect the employer to understand.
So how can companies best manage these middle-aged workers? How can they employ these experienced and experienced employees in their organizations in the best efficiency? Some prescriptions have also been presented for such questions.
Mission Changes (Rotation)
An employee who has done the same job for years will get bored with his job and his job will become meaningless to him. Giving new tasks that will excite the person and create new goals will be instrumental in reviving the ore within the employee. New tasks allow us to take advantage of that person's skills, experience, and abilities, and provide an opportunity for self-realization.
Career Change
In the working life, middle-aged workers want to discover new things, acquire new knowledge and enter new areas of expertise. Maybe many of them have just discovered their own profession. After forty, we've heard a lot of people saying “I was actually the man to do this job”. Therefore, we should give employees at this age the opportunity to find themselves in new job-profession, new career paths. While making career development planning, we should look from a broader perspective and allow them to gain new areas of expertise and new skills.
Educator / Consultant
It will honor them to benefit from the experiences and knowledge of these employees, who have been beneficial to their organizations with devotion and sacrifice for years. It will make them happy to evaluate them as trainers in in-house trainings and to apply for their ideas as a consultant in the projects and commissions. Feeling that he is valued, that he is working and that he creates added value for his organization will increase his commitment to the job and the institution.
Trainings
Refreshing trainings for these employees, who are knowledgeable about their jobs, will instill enthusiasm in their jobs. Especially giving leadership training will make them feel that they are valued in a managerial sense. Providing trainings not only related to their work but also to provide artistic, cultural and personal development according to their hobbies and dreams will ignite these employees and increase their productivity, which will allow them to get rid of routine.
Flexible Permissions
One of the solution methods for people to get rid of the routine of their work is to stay away from work for a certain period of time. During this time, the person will spare time for his family and his own social environment and get rid of the daily routine. For middle-age employees who have been doing the same job for years and have started to suffer from their jobs, paid leave will be instrumental in motivating and making them happy. Growing children, aging parents and the social environment in which one should take more responsibility will require the person to use flexible and long leave. In this context, companies will be happy if they can give middle age employees more flexible and longer paid leave. It will increase their organizational commitment.
Managers who want to keep middle age employees in their institutions and try to make the most of their talents and abilities can adopt policies in the titles listed above and adapt the human resources policy according to understanding and evaluating middle age employees. The number of such solutions can also be increased.
Here, the responsibility falls on the individual as well as on the institutions. People should make good use of the opportunities and opportunities that come to them. Employees must discover new areas of expertise, take responsibility to take part in exciting jobs, and be able to take bold steps by taking initiative. They should balance work and life well. While clinging to their work, they should not neglect their spouse, children and their environment, and they should not be socially disconnected from the society. Otherwise, it will be inevitable for employees of this age to enter the typical adolescent crisis after time. He must acquire new hobbies, discover and travel around new places, acquire a new circle of friends, and step into businesses that will create innovation and vitality-excitement in his life.