RESEARCH BRIEFING SUSTAINING THE EMPLOYABILITY OF OLDER WORKERS IN THE HOSPITALITY SECTOR: personal learning strategies and cultures of learning

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1 The Stirling Institute of Education RESEARCH BRIEFING June 2009 Number 2 SUSTAINING THE EMPLOYABILITY OF OLDER WORKERS IN THE HOSPITALITY SECTOR: personal learning strategies and cultures of learning Abstract The research explored the learning strategies of older workers with a view to identifying how government, industry bodies and employers might improve cultures of learning within enterprises. This involved undertaking an international comparative literature review and collecting data through the use of a multiple case study methodology within the hotel and visitor attraction industry in Scotland. The findings suggest that older workers may require a much more learner-centred approach to training and development which recognises and values their previous experience and, in turn, acknowledges their diverse and individual learning needs and the importance of collegial relationships in the workplace.

2 Background The research project explored older workers work-related learning in the hotel and visitor attraction industry in Scotland. The study was carried out as part of the ESRC research project sustaining the employability of older workers in the hospitality sector (bilateral Australia, RES ). It covered the period and focused on six case studies, three in hotels and three in visitor attraction centres. The conceptual framework of the research is based upon the important notion of experience and how this is enacted within the daily working lives of older employees. This research briefing will provide an overview of the study to inform a deeper understanding of adult learning at this stage of the lifespan, guide institutional policy makers at national and regional levels and help key stakeholders in the industry to identify appropriate training and development strategies to support the employability of the older worker. Older workers in this context means primarily those who have retired from their main careers and are now employed in a different role in the hospitality industry, such as hotel concierges and visitor attraction guides, although some longstanding employees who have remained in employment after retirement age are also included. The ages of the older workers included in the research ranged from 50 (the UK government threshold to becoming an older worker ) to 80+. Research Aims 1. To examine the personal learning strategies of older workers as they negotiate the challenges of remaining in paid employment after the age of 50, locating these within the culture of their workplaces and the wider policy context. 2. Based on these findings, to theorise this learning in terms of the co-construction of older workers skills and identities as they endeavour to sustain their employability through interactions with employers and co-workers in the context of an enterprise culture. 3. To explore employers attitudes and policies towards older workers, to place these in the wider business context and to interrogate them from the perspective of our theoretical model of older workers learning. 4. Throughout the project, to draw upon and develop the existing collaboration between the UK and Australian partners by constructing a joint theoretical framework for the research and common research instruments, by maintaining dialogues about theoretical, methodological and policy-related issues, and by comparing and critiquing each others empirical findings, interpretations and recommendations. 5. To disseminate the theoretical, policy and practicerelated outcomes to stakeholders in the academic community, government, the sector skills councils, employers and agencies concerned with the wellbeing of older workers. Methods There were six case study organisations and one pilot study. The case studies involved undertaking 30 interviews with older workers, line managers and Human Resource selected from each of the participating organisations. The companies represented in the study included large international hotels, family owned leisure groups, outdoor tourist attractions and historical tourist centres. All were commercially owned organisations. The case studies were not selected to be representative but rather as interesting examples of people and organisations that could provide more finely-textured and in-depth insights into how older workers organized their learning through work-based activities. It was important not to rely on self reports but to triangulate multiple perspectives. With this in mind, the data was explored through identifying key issues and collating different perspectives on these within each case study: from the points of view of the older workers, line managers and human resource managers. The number of interviewees in each organisation is given in Tables 1 and 2. All information identifying the organisations and the individuals involved has been destroyed.

3 Table 1 Hotels Hotels Large International chain (city centre) Family based leisure complex Large International chain (Highlands) Older Workers Table 2 Visitor Attractions Visitor Attraction Human Resources Older Workers Human Resources Historical site Outdoor attraction Small visitor cruise attraction n/a The above data was supplemented by interviews with an additional 14 older workers in two other hotels and two other visitor attractions. The key elements identified for investigation were: the older workers accumulated life and work experience as a basis for meeting the challenges of their employment; relationship building in the workplace with particular reference to customers and co-workers; skill utilization; personal identity and boundary negotiations in the workplace; learning strategies and cultures of learning. Summary of Results Overall, there appears to be a good fit between the skill needs of the hotel and visitor attraction centres in our case studies and what the older workers were able to bring from their previous work and life experience. However, the findings do question the current training and development practices in this part of the hospitality industry, suggesting that they may need to be much more individually customized and team-based than they are at present. >> To set the context for this discussion, it is important to recognize that there is no universally agreed description of older worker. Indeed, we need to pay attention to the sheer diversity found in the older population. >> It is important also to recognize that enterprises in the hotel and visitor attraction industry are very different from each other. The goodness of fit between an enterprise s skill needs and what older workers bring with them, and the ways the latter develop their employability on-the-job, depend critically on the specific organisational structure, business process, customer base, location, profitability and management style in the individual enterprise. >> The case study organisations are a very small sample of businesses in the sector and can in no way be seen as representative of the industry at large. What is offered are lessons from in-depth case studies that help illuminate important aspects of the learning processes of older workers and the learning cultures of their organisations. >> The research confirms the importance of valuing and making use of the experience of older workers. This experience is about bringing together capacities accumulated from past life and work events that provide resources for meeting the challenges encountered in the new workplace. >> From a practical perspective, the older workers experience was perceived as the ability to utilize for the benefit of the organisation the following: an understanding of the business process in for-profit customer service work, social skills for interacting with customers and co-workers, work ethic (reliability, thoroughness, presentism, staying as long as it takes to do the job, being off work less with minor ailments), self-directedness in learning, commitment, enjoyment of the work, a wide range of previously acquired occupational skills (accountancy, plumbing, etc.), problem solving ability, willingness to take responsibility, keenness to mentor and support other employees, the high standards imposed by older workers on themselves and their fellow workers and coping strategies under pressure of work. This experience provided a firm ground for valuing older workers contribution to the industry.

4 >> A fundamental dimension of the experience of older workers in our study was their recognition of the importance of others. This inter-subjectivity was noteworthy, whether related to co-workers, managers, customers or suppliers. Indeed, care for others was an ongoing aspect of their contribution to organisational life within the participating companies, one that is under-acknowledged in formal training in the industry and in job descriptions, but vital for the quality of customer service. >> The older workers in the case studies had a clear and grounded sense of their identity and what they valued and saw as important in life. Although income was an important motivation, most were also motivated by a need to get out of the house and interact with others (both customers and colleagues), by enthusiasm for the particular enterprise (visitor attractions especially, but also hotels) and also by a deep-rooted desire to be needed and valued (both as colleagues and as the bringers of relevant skills). There was no need (nor indeed much opportunity) to shape occupational identity here; no malleable quality that would respond to corporate cultural change. The older workers had already decided what core values were important to them and how these could be manifested through quality work relationships. >> As we have already pointed out elsewhere (see website for additional references), there is a kind of experience (Erfahrung) that seeks the eternal sameness. For the older worker in our study, this meant being less ambitious in climbing the organisational career ladder. Indeed, few if any of them were interested in building a career in hospitality. Instead, a better balance was sought between life and work, creating more time and space for social and family relations outside the workplace. Despite the need for income, the latter was balanced against the perceived level of disruption to wellbeing and family life. This meant that some of those interviewed were less amenable to the vagaries of shift work or being on call, as family and health issues began to dominate their private lives. >> And yet, although there was a yearning for sameness, this did not necessarily mean the older worker became less adaptable to organisational change. Indeed, those in the study flourished within a less hierarchical structure that demanded more team work, participative decision making and encouraged personal initiative: most (although not all) valued being consulted on new procedures, which they would then enthusiastically implement. >> It was notable that line managers in the study tended to avoid the autocratic management style once common in this industry. This helped constitute the good fit between the enterprise and the older workers, who in the main wanted to be given autonomy and to be consulted. Even in the more centrally-organized chain hotels, line managers frequently used their discretion to modify one size fits all procedural requirements to accommodate the preferences of the older workers. In this way, they were prepared to trade off the latter s work related strengths (such as reliability) against their weaknesses (such as diminishing strength or disinclination for shift work). >> Learning is often conceived as a process of relentless acquisition of new skills rather than the utilization of existing ones. To provide technical competence, this may indeed be appropriate, such as learning new IT software applications or new technical procedures for dealing with health and safety issues. Often, this type of training needs to be highly formalized and organized centrally. However, the majority of day-to-day learning that occurs in organisations is usually more informal and haphazard (and rightly so). This reflects the unpredictable and unplanned nature of work, the spontaneity of events and the way we respond to the ordinariness of the every day. Here, learning is not acquiring through internalisation but rather bringing forth through responding to, or being responsive towards, others. It is about showing who you are and where you stand. It is a relational kind of learning that requires collective competence within a social context.

5 >> This understanding of learning as a social practice is especially relevant for older workers, who (our research showed) possess vast reservoirs of previous experience and learning in the workplace by bringing it forth in the context of interaction with others. This perspective has profound implications for the training of older workers. The revolving door approach to training used in a number of the participating organisations (where every employee attends a standard training session in order to comply with basic legislative requirements or employer policy) may not be appropriate to the more experienced worker, who requires a much more individualised approach to learning, negotiated and co-constructed through recognition of his or her prior experience and potential to contribute. >> The culture of learning established as best practice in some of the case study organisations was attractive to, and indeed highly effective for, their older workers. This involved building collegial relationships within work teams and listening to the older workers views before making management decisions. As a sense of family and personal service was important to the older workers, as was the social interface with fellow workers and customers, they responded by making their prior knowledge and skills available to the organisation, and by addressing enthusiastically and with initative the challenge of providing high quality customer service. Those interviewed were also willing to be more flexible in terms of work patterns and to set less rigid boundaries between different types of work processes. This last characteristic was especially important in the small-medium sized organisations and those that were less dependent on specialists and more reliant upon the generalist who would put their hand to most jobs. >> The traditional disadvantages of working in hospitality and tourism, such as low wage levels, unsocial hours, repetitive work and seasonal employment were not entirely negative issues for the older workers in this study. These were compensated for by being needed, being valued and by being a member of a work community, provided that a good work-life balance was maintained and the wage supplemented other income such as a pension. CONCLUSIONS What could be done to improve the learning of the older workers in the hotel and visitor attraction organisations in the study? How can cultures of learning be improved within these organisations? A number of the recommendations from the study are listed below: >> Organisations in this sector need to pay particular attention to the sheer diversity found in the older working population and to recognise the need to be responsive to their needs and experience on an individual basis. >> Organisations also need to recognise that appropriately recruited older workers do in fact make a good fit with their business needs, given the customer focus, low profitability and localized nature of much of the employment. >> Older workers can flourish within a less hierarchical structure that demands both more team work and personal autonomy. >> It is important that organisations acknowledge that the older worker may be less ambitious in climbing the organisational career ladder and want a better balance between life and work for social and family reasons. >> In managing older workers, it is important to avoid an autocratic or bureaucratic management style and adopt a more flexible and responsive approach that trades off the strengths and weaknesses of the individual older worker. >> There is a need to prioritise skill utilisation rather than skill acquisition in the case of older workers. This is about valuing their experience and creating a culture of collegiality and mutual respect that will facilitate the bringing forth and sharing of their many resources. >> From the case studies, it would appear that there is no need to try to shape the occupational identity of older workers. A good fit can be achieved by appropriate recruitment and selection followed by training and development. However, training and development interventions for older workers should, on the most part, concentrate on team building, skill utilisation within collaborative practices and encourage selfdirected learning. >> The revolving door approach to training, where every employee attends standardized courses in order to comply with basic legislative requirements or company policy, may not always be appropriate to the needs of the more experienced worker, who may require a much more customized approach to learning based upon the recognition of their prior experience and work roles. In essence, this means taking a more learner-centred approach to training.

6 Further details Further details of the project are available from: Roy Canning Nick Boreham Kate Miller Shuna Marr Telephone: Website: olderworkers/index.php The project was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (RES ) Society Today website: For more information on research and knowledge exchange at The Stirling Institute of Education, please log on to