Age matters, if it is in the mind

Gabriel Garcia Marquez's platitude, "age is not how old you are but how old you feel", may been given fresh meaning. Research in Germany, prompted by the greying workforce of the industrialised world, has found that employees who consider themselves younger than they are enjoy greater success at work than those who have a more realistic view of their years.

In the UK, where older workers are the biggest winners from a rising employment rate - accounting for two thirds of net gains in employment in the past five years - the government has made the case for their productivity.

Some companies, however, may have more productive long-lived employees than others. The study, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, looked at 15,164 employees in 107 German companies in sectors from retail to finance. It found that while the youngest employees, aged under 25, felt older than they were, other workers tended to feel younger as they aged. By 50, workers felt on average more than eight years younger than their years.

The younger they felt, the more productive they were. In companies where employees tended to feel their real age, productivity was 5-6 per cent lower.

Two factors made the difference: work that was regarded as meaningful, and the absence of age-exclusive practices, such as limiting training to age groups.

"As workforces age, employers are concerned that productivity will decrease. That is not so," says co-author Florian Kunze, from the University of Konstanz. "What matters is not chronological age but subjective age."

Expect more research into how to promote youthfulness, even if it is illusory, at work. The study even suggests that future subjects should include "premature balding or greying".

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