Optimizing Tech for Seniors in the Workplace

By EmployDiversity

Seniors are just as agile with technology as their younger counterparts. They just require tech reboots when they join organizations.

Today, 20-percent of seniors are employed or seeking employment. Organizations must work into their business plans how they will bring the cohort into the digital fold that defines today’s workplace. 

Companies have been able to save a fair amount of training time and expense by hiring Millennials. Millennials, as part of their very identity, are digital natives. They grew up with the Internet, smartphones, and tablet computers. They navigate social media with ease and in their teens dreamed of becoming Influencers. Seniors operated in a very different work environment when they were at the peak of their careers.

While Millennial staff readily accept their digital desktops, seniors worked in an analog world of fixed desks, fixed phone lines, and fixed fax machines. Seniors, though, have not rested on their analog sofas. Today, nearly 80-percent of seniors surf the Internet. They readily check posts and news on Facebook, Skype family, and friends, and send and receive emails. Many know to empty their browser caches to reduce the odds of hacking and spam advertising. And they are keenly aware of cybersecurity threats to their computers and work to keep the latest antivirus software up to date on their systems.

Spreadsheets, databases, and productivity tools like Slack, Bootcamp, and GoToMeeting may be beyond the ability of many seniors who enter the 21st-century office, however. But then again, at some point in many of our working lives, the technology du jour has been slightly out of our reach. HR and IT departments need to work together to craft technology training specifically suited to meet the needs of seniors. 

The small investment will actually pay off more quickly than it does with Millenials, who need much more time learning social skills, communications etiquette, negotiation techniques, and more to effectively work with coworkers, bosses, and customers. And seniors experience less stress learning new technology than do Millenials. A Dropbox survey of technology users revealed, "Older workers are just as likely to use as much technology as their younger peers. Younger workers are also more stressed out, anxious and frustrated by it than their older peers."

How to Instruct Seniors in Technology

Training efforts should take several important points into consideration when teaching seniors on the latest tech. Unfortunately, most IT trainers assume that participants are as attuned to digital office applications as younger generations. The assumption leads to underperformance and a lack of desired results for both trainers and trainees.

Indeed, Shengzhi Wang of the Design Lab at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) found that many times “frustration” with new technology made older adults unsure of their ability to use it, leaving them unmotivated to even try. “Frustration appeared to be a significant barrier, which led to a lack of self-confidence and motivation to pursue using the technology,” Wang wrote. 

So here are some tips to help seniors in the workplace become successes in the business and to themselves:

Documentation should have lots of graphics and magnified font sizes. Typically, eyesight acuity decreases in a person’s mid- to late-40’s. Help seniors expand and deepen their attention by developing documentation that is easy to read. Also, make the sections short and digestible. If you must use jargon, explain it. Leave nothing to chance in the participants’ understanding.

Websites and application Interfaces should have magnified font-sizes and buttons. Most websites and apps on mobile devices display font sizes that only people in their 20s and 30s can read without squinting. Prepare for the training by making it easier for participants to be able to read and navigate windows. Magnification also makes it easier for participants to focus on items on the screen and to recall what they’ve learned.

Take lots of rest breaks. Concentration takes lots of effort, so give participants short but frequent breaks from staring at screens. Also, as we age, bathroom breaks become a priority. So help participants focus on the lesson by providing ample opportunity to attend to their personal needs.

Use instructors who can explain IT conventions and terminology simply. The quality of instruction is as important as the medium of courses. No matter the age of the trainer, they must not assume senior participants understand anything about the technology. For instance, icons dreamed up on the whiteboards of brogrammers in their 20s are not intuitive. So instructors should not gloss over explanations of any aspect of a digital product. Similarly, actions like “swipe left” or “scroll down” may not have made it into their lexicon. 

Above all, trainers should be patient. Though at the outset instructors may seem to be moving through lessons at the speed of molasses, the time they spend answering participants’ questions will pay off handsomely.