Older and Wiser Essay

Frank Heberer, the Human Resources Manager of Medignostics, finds it difficult to accept the aging employees of his firm as part of an energetic workforce. According to Heberer, the older employees of the company are not as productive as the young. However, Bertha Weber from the marketing department trusts that the older employees of Medignostics are necessary for the firm. She intercedes on behalf of the aging employees of the firm to point out to Heberer that it is only the older employee who truly knows the kind of products to sell other aged people. As an example, Weber mentions the successful arthritis campaign of Medignostics which was spearheaded by an aging employee – somebody who was expected to certainly know more about arthritis than the young employees. Weber also points out to Heberer that he, being only 45 years of age, cannot be expected to successfully market products for the aged people. Rather, it is only the aging employee who understands the aches and pains of old age that can successfully market health products and services for other aging people. In other words, the aging employee of a health products company, or any other organization for that matter, is best qualified to market products for the aged. Not only does the aging marketer know the kinds of products and services needed by the aged, but he also is aware of the kind of marketing communication that is required to reach out to the aged. The aging employee is actually expected to most perfectly understand the marketing mix for products that are especially made for the aged. This employee is in an excellent position to decide on the prices of products to be sold to the aged. Moreover, he knows where to place the products to sell the aged. Yet another advantage of older employees put forth by Weber is that the aging employee knows the company better than anybody else. Having worked for decades with Medignostics, an aging employee understands well the policies of the firm, in addition to its goals and requirements. After all, the aging employee has spent plenty of years trying to improve upon his productivity and efficiency in the company. So, Weber refers to the â€Å"experience† of the older employee being of special significance to the company, seeing that the older employee is in a better position to take the company forward with his experiences of success and failure at Medignostics. To put it another way, the aging employee knows what works and what does not work at his firm. The young employee, on the other hand, would take his time to realize the basics of the company before he can even think of taking the company forward with his youthful energy that Heberer would like to fill the company with in place of the old employees. Weber believes that the older employees still have a lot to offer Medignostics. The 58-year-old Hausmann who has worked for the firm for 20 years has been seen to consistently improve his performance. He moved up in organizational rank from bookkeeping to account management. Weber would like Heberer to keep Hausmann employed, the reason being that Hausmann and other aging employees continue to have a lot to offer Medignostics. If Hausmann is not productive in his present function at the company, perhaps Weber would suggest that the older employee must be given a new job function to perform. After all, older employees may not only be extremely useful in marketing to all ages – seeing as they have lived through them all – but also in the area of organizational counseling. The wisdom of the older employees may benefit young employees tremendously. Older employees may also be given the chance to select their new job functions where they would be most productive, given that the organization trusts them more than it would trust its new employees. Hence, Weber would like Heberer to trust the fact that the older employee is truly wiser.