Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - United States of America Older Workers Surveys Attitudes About the Employability of Mid-Career and

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - United States of AmericaOlder Workers Surveys

Attitudes About the Employability of Mid-Career and Older Engineers

Survey Research Findings

Vin O’Neill

Senior Legislative Representative

IEEE-USA Project Director

[email protected]

October 2000

IEEE-USA Older Workers Surveys - 1

Issue: Labor Market Difficulties Facing Older Engineers

Employers of IT workers complain that jobs go begging and that qualified workers are difficult to recruit and retain.

Mid-career and older engineers and computer specialists contend that they are often frozen out of opportunities for better jobs, training or advancement.

With the aging of the Baby-Boom Generation, things are likely to get a whole lot worse – or are they?


Purposes of the Research

To assess supervisory and employee perceptions about the strengths and weaknesses of older engineers in a rapidly changing, technology-driven, global economy.

To gather information about the incidence of age discrimination in IT workplaces.

To compare perceptions about the continuing employability of older engineers and older workers generally.


Survey Research Design

Survey Research Firm - Mathew Greenwald & Associates

Advisory Committee - External and Internal Advisors

AARP Policy Researcher, Industrial Engineer and Social-Psychologist

IC Design Engineer, Engineering Manager (Manufacturing) and Human Resources Director


Research Methods - Telephone Surveys(Spring 2000)

IEEE Members

108 engineers under age 45

295 engineers age 45 and above

139 engineering supervisors (EMS members)

86 HR personnel (non-IEEE)

Interviews averaged 15 minutes in duration


Research Focus - Eight High Tech Industry Sectors

- Aerospace and aeronautics - Telecommunications equipment

- Biomedical technology - Telecommunications services

- Computer components - Electronics manufacturing

- Computer software - Semiconductors


Profile of Respondents - Demographic and Workplace Characteristics

Characteristic Supervisors HR Personnel

(Biggest Cohorts)

Age 35 to 44 (40%) 35 to 44 (27%)

Sex Male (95%) Female (59%)

Years with company 10 to 20 (27%) 2 to 5 (30%)

Years in business Over 20 (65%) Over 20 (63%)

Industry sector Telecom (25%) Telecom (30%)

Number of full time employees >1,000 (66%) 100 to 499 (57%)

EE’s in department or company 1 to 9 (38%) > 100 (26%)


Profile of Respondents - Demographic and Workplace Characteristics

Characteristic Engineers (<45) Engineers (>45)

(Biggest Cohorts)

Age 35 to 44 (65%) 45 to 54 (53%)

Sex Male (95%) Male (98%)

Education Masters (38%) Masters (40%)

Years in profession 10 to19yrs(62%) 20 to 29yrs (41%)

Industry sector Computer (34%) Computer (30%)

EE’s in department or company 1 to 9 (24%) 1 to 9 (31%)


Profile of Respondents - Role in Hiring New Engineers

Hiring Role Supervisors HR Personnel

Select candidates with little or no 29% 5% guidance from supervisors or HR personnel

Select candidates after seeking guidance 39% 14% from supervisors or HR personnel

Select candidates jointly with supervisors 26% 49% or HR personnel

Provide input, but leave final selection up 3% 23% to supervisors or HR personnel


Supervisory and Human Resources Assessments

Skills, ranked in order of importance by Supervisors HR Personnel

Problem solving 1* 2

Teamwork 2 3

Communications 3 5

Adaptability to new assignments 4 4

Technical knowledge 5 1*

Decision-making 6 6



Attributes ranked in order of importance by Supervisors HR Personnel

Keeping up with latest developments in their field 1 1

Directly-related professional experience 2 2

Reasonable salary requirements 3 3

Ability to travel for business when necessary 4 6

Willingness to work long hours 5 5

Commit to a long-term future with company 6 4

Willingness to relocate 7 7



Comparative ratings on important skills Engineers (<45) Engineers (>45)

Problem solving X

Teamwork X

Communications X

Adaptability to new assignments X

Technical knowledge X

Decision-making X



Comparative ratings on important attributes Engineers (<45) Engineers (>45)

Keeping up with latest developments X

Directly related professional experience X

Reasonable salary requirements X

Ability to travel for business when necessary S S

Willingness to work long hours S S

Long-term commitment to company X

Willingness to relocate if necessary X



Composite Evaluation: Older Engineers are Better?

Older engineers rated higher on 4 essential skills

Younger engineers scored higher on 2 essential skills

Older engineers rated higher on 3 important attributes

Younger engineers scored higher on 2 important attributes

Both groups rated similarly on 2 other attributes



Age at which attributes and skills differ Supervisors HR Personnel

By age 30 18% 20%

By age 35 51% 32%

By age 39 60% 38%

By age 40 79% 55%

By age 45 or older 94% 76%


Engineering Self-Assessments

Comparative ratings on important skills Engineers (<45) Engineers (>45)

Problem solving average + average +

Adaptability to new assignments average ++ average +

Teamwork average ++ average +

Technical knowledge average - average -

Decision-making average - average -

Communications average - average -



Respondents with negative work experiences Engineers (<45) Engineers (>45)

Passed over for a raise 12% 18%

Not hired for a new job 20% 17%

Laid-off or downsized 8% 16%

Passed over for a promotion 17% 15%

Denied a desirable work assignment 19% 14%

Asked to give up some responsibilities 11% 13%

Denied request for technical training 27% 10%

Offered early retirement 1% 6%



Age as a reason for negative work experiences

Nearly 10 percent of the engineers who reported negative experiences, attributed them to age or age discrimination.

Half of those who mentioned age (5%) have had 4 or more negative experiences.

Fully 90% of those who did not mention age have had no negative experiences.

Both groups were equally likely to have reported positive experiences.


Summary and Conclusions

Findings lend mixed support to the idea that older electrical and electronics engineers face barriers to continuing employability.

Supervisors see problem-solving, communications and teamwork skills as very important and rate older engineers as stronger on the first two.

HR personnel think technical knowledge, problem-solving and teamwork are particularly important. They rate older engineers as stronger problem-solvers and the same as younger engineers on technical knowledge and teamwork.

In two areas that supervisors and HR personnel consider above average in importance (adaptability and ability to keep up with new developments), they rate older engineers as weaker than younger engineers.

Many supervisors and HR personnel agree that there is an age at which skills possessed by older engineers differ from those possessed by younger engineers and most believe this occurs before age 45.


Summary and Conclusions

Evidence of age discrimination in the high-tech sector is also mixed.

Only 10 percent of the older engineers surveyed attributed negative work experiences in the past 5 years to age or age discrimination - a smaller percentage than had been expected based on the results of earlier surveys.

“Tightness” in many engineering labor markets may be an ameliorating factor.

Additional “audit studies” may be needed to determine the incidence and nature of discriminatory treatment that can be attributed to age.


Selected Studies and Reports

American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) http://www.aarp.org

Committee for Economic Development (CED) http://www.ced.org

Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers - United States of America http://www.ieeeusa.org

National Research Council/National Science Foundation (NRC/NSF) http://national academies.org/http://www.nsf.gov


AARP Reports

Older Workers: How Do They Measure Up? (1994)

Valuing Older Workers: A Study of Costs and Productivity (1995) Employment Discrimination Against Older Workers: An

Experimental Study of Hiring Practices (1996)

Age Discrimination in Employment: The Workers’ View (1998)

American Business and Older Employees (2000)


Other Important Studies

CED, New Opportunities for Older Workers (New York:

Committee for Economic Development, 1999).

IEEE-USA, Salary and Fringe Benefit Survey; 1999-2000 Edition

(Piscataway, NJ: Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers,

1999).

NRC, Building a Workforce for the Information Economy

(Washington: National Research Council, 2000).


Documents

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - United States of America Older Workers Surveys Attitudes About the Employability of Mid-Career and