This follows on from a speech by Simon Lloyd, HR Director at Santander at the CIPD Learning and Development Conference who announced that age has no effect on an individual’s ability to take on board new information. 

Simon Lloyd’s statement comes amid industry debates about senior professionals’ ability to develop new skills when compared to junior talent. The subject has become more relevant in recent years as for the first time many businesses will be managing a 4G workforce, where four generations are working together.

Commenting separately on the same matter Pip Clarke, Business Development Director at a&dc believes age has no bearing on an individual’s ability to absorb information and thinks learning effectiveness is down to a combination of personality type and engagement: “Personality, rather than age, is the factor that has a real impact on an individual’s ability to absorb new ideas. Age really has no effect on how well a professional can process new information. There’s been much debate about how modern training programmes are targeted at younger generations but really this doesn’t make too much of a difference. Businesses need to recognise that different personalities look for different types of information, make different decisions and communicate in very different ways.”

Clarke continued, “Staff engagement is also an important factor – all workers will need to be engaged if they want to learn new skills. And if the individual genuinely wants to learn, then given the right tools and the appropriate framework, they will usually do so. However, organisations do need to be wary of focusing heavily on younger age groups at the expense of more senior employees for training opportunities. By doing this, they risk pushing away a major section of their future workforce and losing out on the skill sets possessed by these individuals. It’s well documented that the younger generation reacts well to technology based learning; however, if presented with the same opportunities, a more senior individual with the right personality will also be able to absorb the same skills. We’d encourage all professionals in HR to consider personality and employee engagement, rather than age, when considering an individual’s ability to learn and develop.”