infonet-economy

This study aimed at investigating the relationship between the observed personnel practices of training participation in Switzerland and the attitudes towards older employees. A German version of the "Beliefs about older workers" questionnaire was applied in two organizations to cross check the known results from literature in a Swiss region. There were 154 subjects in the study. More favorable attitudes in comparison to other international studies were found. Supervisors as well as employees themselves do not think that older employees are less efficient workers or less efficient learners. Instead, more differentiating attitudes are shown: while the attitude towards the efficiency of working increases with age, attitudes towards the adaptability and trainability of older employees look more like a inverted u-shaped relationship.