Book Reviews: "Age, Gender and Work: Small Information Technology Firms in the New Economy"

Kane X. Faucher in the Western News has reviewed The University of British Columbia Press's Age, Gender, and Work: Small Information Technology Firms in the New Economy edited by Julie Ann McMullin, and published in 2011. According to Faucher, this book is a culmination of the Workforce Aging in a New Economy research program (WANE), present findings after seven years of research related to the fact that "the acceleration on the 'information superhighway' will be spotted with accidents, of which we may count those who suffer age and gender discrimination in the IT workplace."

A full complement of case studies, statistics and detailed analysis shines an unflattering light on small IT firms in Canada, but one can hope that rigorous studies such as these may become a foundation for broad initiatives of awareness. With all the concern about obsolescence in the IT industry, it is the old attitudes and assumptions about age and gender that need to be upgraded.

An earlier review in Business New Technology stated that the "volume examines how women and older workers in small IT companies are disproportionately vulnerable to economic uncertainty within their industry," and that "the authors explore how gender and age affect work and workplace culture to produce a fresh contribution to the literature on inequality."

Sources: Western News "Read All Over reviews, March" (March 29, 2012); Business New Technology Review (February 12, 2012)

Multi-generational Workplace: Managing the Technology Gap

CIO Inisght has published a series of articles showing employers how, through a combination of policies, programs and tools, it’s possible to bridge the technology generation gap and engage all employees and build a robust and motivated workforce. In them, Samuel Greengard notes that attitudes across generations differ greatly, and cites an Accenture technology strategist saying younger workers are thumbing their noses at IT policies, using nonstandard applications and "improving" things whenever and wherever they deem it necessary.

Greengard's recommendations for organizations to address multi-generational challenges are:

1. Develop a well-reasoned and balanced technology policy and ensure that employees read and understand it.
2. Provide training to workers--particularly older employees who may be well-versed in using email and Web tools, but are lagging in areas such as social media and crowdsourcing.
3. Rethink security and threat management. In this regard, forward looking organizations focus heavily on endpoint security and a more holistic protection model.

In addition, separate articles present:

• a list of five ways to narrow the age gap;
• a case study at UNISYS about bringing one's own device, and
• connecting a multi-generation workforce at a Canadian construction company.

Source: CIO Insight "Managing a Multigenerational Workforce" (June 30, 2011)

Australia: Report on Age Discrimination in IT Industry

Australia's Information Technology Contracting & Recruiting Association (ITCRA) has issued a discussion paper on the information and communication technology industry's lacks of a strong representative mature age workforce, noting that the reasons are not as clear-cut as some have suggested in the past and basing programs on incorrect assumptions may do more harm than good. According to "Mature Age Workers in ICT: Foundations, Effects and Approaches to Ageism," ITCRA has identified a range of initiatives that ICT recruiters, employers and supporters can put in place to address ageism and other forms of discrimination. In addition, the paper suggests further research that will help to improve the quality of understanding in this field of discrimination.

Highlighting the disparity, while 46% of Australian workers are aged 25-44, 63% of the ICT workforce falls in this age range; 22% of all workers are 45-54, but only 18% of ICT workers are; and 18% of all workers are 55-64, only 7% of ICT workers are.

For recruiters, fair discrimination is part of the job—but it must navigate the legal passage between unlawful discrimination based on stereotyping and professionally finding the best person for the job by effectively assessing skills, talents and abilities.

And the report also suggests that older workers can help too, saying that the statistics suggest that rather than being a case solely of employers and recruiters discriminating against workers, workers may also be self-selecting to not continue working in ICT beyond "prime age" for a range of reasons.

Sources: Information Technology Contracting & Recruiting Association Media Release (February 8, 2011); ITWire "Wrinkles rankle recruiters" (February 8, 2011); Lifehacker "How Badly Do IT Employers Discriminate Against Older Workers?" (May 18, 2011)

Best Practices: Integrating Generations In IT Department

Writing in CIO Insight, Don Reisinger has provided a set of practical recommendations for encourage all employees to buy into the technology strategies and process changes you have implemented--including older workers are having trouble adjusting to this new normal, and that adjustment process is probably cutting into corporate productivity. He suggests strategies that can help an IT department make older workers more comfortable with new technologies, new processes, and agile thinking.

Among other things, he encourages adoption of connected technologies, including Blackberries, Facebook, and text messaging, even if older workers are reluctant. On the other hand, however, he suggests sticking to Windows platforms that older workers may be more comfortable with. Most importantly, he says to bring in the hard data:

Prove that new processes and technologies are helping the company. Older employees want to see the organization succeed. Given proof that new solutions are working, they will be far more likely to go along with these.

Source: CIO Insight "Strategic Tech Slideshow:
Help Your Employees Leverage Technology" (September 6, 2010)

Australia: Ageism and IT Workers and Call to Increase Labor Participation Rates of Mature Workers

The Australian Computer Society has released a report revealing that Australia’s mature age participation rate in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector is below that of comparable countries such as Canada, United Kingdom, New Zealand and the United States, and calling for both a self regulatory code of practice in this area for the ICT sector, and collaboration between government, industry and the Human Rights Commission to create attitudinal change amongst Australian employers.

According to "The ACS Age Diversity Report, Improving Age Diversity in the ICT Workforce," older ICT workers (45 and over) in Australia are perceived as being less healthy or more prone to disability, being underqualified or having obsolete skills, unable to learn new skills, being over qualified, unable to adapt to new or younger work cultures, looking towards retirement so not worth training, resistant to change, and less adaptive to new technologies.

ACS CEO, Bruce Lakin said, “Ageism is a growing reality in Australia - but so is an increasing awareness that workers 45 years and older represent a resource and knowledge base we need to continue to reinvest in.

“While age discrimination can be difficult to prove, its existence, increasing pervasiveness and negative impacts on mature workers and the workplace in general is undeniable. Age discrimination creates unacceptable levels of unemployment and underemployment amongst those over 45 years which has economic, as well as social and psychological costs. With reported skill shortages within the Australian ICT sector, the underemployment of older workers is a problem which demands significant focus. I thank Brenda Aynsley, VP Membership Boards, Chair of ACS Ageism Task Force and her team for their input to the Report,” said Mr Lakin.

Among other things, the report recommends that:

1. Government, industry, industry and professional associations should partner to build a stronger Australian evidentiary base upon which to go forward – extent of ageism, impacts on unemployment, the reasons why it is happening, under-employment and hidden unemployment.
2. The development of a government policy and framework to acknowledge and quantify the cost and other impacts of ageism, economic benefits to firms from employing older workers and to educate employers and employment agents on improving age diversity in the workforce.
3. As part of its commitment to increasing the participation rate of older workers, the Government should develop policy, regulatory and taxation incentives for employers to provide ongoing professional development and to retain and/or hire older workers.

Source: Australian Computer Society Media Release (July 14, 2010)

Demographic "Time Bomb" in Wait for Information Technolgy Businesses

Len Rust of the Rust Report draws attention to a recent report by research firm Ovum suggesting that IT shops are facing a demographic time bomb. According to Tom Kucharvy, the author of the report--"North America's IT staffing 'time bomb': managing the demographic shift" (September 2007; available from Ovum):

North American IT shops may well be facing a staffing perfect storm. Two big challenges are certain--a mass retirement of baby boomers that promises to deplete staff and starve many companies of critical skills, and a shortage of replacements due to a smaller crop of college graduates and a dramatic decline in students majoring in and planning to enter IT-related fields.

Rust writes that "As older workers exit, along with them go technological skills, industry and company knowledge, and seasoned judgment, including how to weigh the many factors that go into decision-making." However, a cultural divide will be created as yung people entering the workforce can be expected to embrace future advances without any reserve or difficulty, while "mature workers are unlikely to have the same readiness."

Meanwile, according to the Ovum report:

There are a number of steps that companies can take now to address current requirements and many others that corporations, in partnership with government organizations and educational institutions, must take to pre-empt even greater challenges in the future. The first step, however, is to do something that only a small percentage of US corporations have done--acknowledge the nature and extent of the problem and the need to address it.

Source: Rust Report Age gap strikes IT (October 26, 2007)

South Korea: China and Japan Compete for IT Workers To Replace Aging Workers

South Korea, which is having its own aging problems, is losing a significant number of workers to non-Korean employers overseas due to job shortages, according to DongA.com. Moreover, Korean companies are not making enough systematic efforts to retain workers.

China is eying Korea’s high-tech workforce who they think will boost its industrial growth. Grappling with an aging population, Japan is looking for workers who will help relieve itself of the burden of workforce shortages.
...
Japan is luring more Korean workers to enhance its IT competitiveness and resolve its workforce shortages problem caused by aging. Indeed, the Japanese government and businesses are making hard efforts to recruit Korean and Chinese IT workers under the second-phase “e-Japan” project whose main objective is Japan’s comeback as an IT powerhouse.

Source: DongA.com "China, Japan Inc. Recruiting Koreans" (December 23, 2006)

Generational Differences: Younger Workers Desire New Technologies

At the Federal Computer Week’s Government CIO Summit in San Diego, agencies were told that, as the federal government reaches out to young workers, they will have to adopt new technologies, such as instant messaging, and recognize their innovative uses in the workplace. As Matthew Weigelt writes, the "government’s workforce is aging and the majority is nearing retirement age," and in the years since they arrived in public service, technologies have progressed rapidly.

Cora Carmody, SAIC's executive chief information officer, said young employees often are taking a technological step backward when entering the workplace. They expect to find wireless devices in businesses, when some companies may not have them.

As another speaker said, agencies must consider how to make the most of those new technologies. "As the workforce grows younger, the employees will come in with the expectatiom of having familiar tools available."

Source: Federal Computer Week "Young workforce will affect technology in workplace" (November 7, 2006)