Why do we start losing motivation at work after 50? The reasons why older employees can become unmotivated at work especially as we age. For example, boredom, dissatisfaction, and general malaise brought about by illness or depression, these are some examples of extreme or serious manifestations of dis-engagement. Our ability to learn new things or to be willing to learn new things decrease as we age, and this can be exacerbated by working in a role or an industry for a long period of time.
As human beings, our needs can be grouped into 3 main areas:
- Basic needs: food; shelter; warmth; safety and security – these are unchanged since we evolved into modern humans
- Physiological needs: friends; love; feelings of accomplishment – in our modern world, our connections and prestige can be vital to our worth as members of society
- Self-fulfilment needs feeling ‘successful’; achieving our potential; creative activities – these needs our part who we are as modern humans, and can have a dramatic effect on our motivation at work
Why do we lose motivation as we get older?
By the time most of us have reached 50 years old, in our personal lives and our work lives ticked off many of our personal ambitions or goals that we had when we were younger.
Families may have grown you may have reached the ceiling in your field and the drive and ambition you had a younger person will be waning.
This can lead to the view – especially in the modern business world – that older employees are too old to, re-train, be cutting edge, or have the go-getter attitude of their younger colleagues.
This kind of you can be reinforced by the natural fact that older people can be more realistic and that can be misconstrued as pessimism.
The role of motivation at work is its importance
Older workers can be considered too old to focus, train, be cutting edge, or relevant as we place a premium in the business world on employees being go – getters, motivated.
The intrinsic motivation apparent in younger employees, that positive attitude can be lacking in older adults, which is why employee engagement needs to consider the needs of a diverse group of employees.
Highly motivated workers will complete tasks, efficiently, on time and to a higher quality. This has a knock-on effect for the whole workforce and more importantly your clients. Happy workers present a professional and motivated workforce to your clients, who in turn will be happier with the results, creating more work.
There are many scientific studies on why motivation is important, why we can lose that same motivation we may have had in our twenties and how that affects us. The simple fact is, we spend much of our waking life at work. As we get older our desire to achieve (at work) may decrease as other things take precedence.
Common Causes of de-motivation
Older employees can have specific issues in their lives that can create a dip in motivation. But all of us will have periods in our lives that impact our work.
- Being overworked: Having too much work can be overwhelming and is one of the most common causes of employee dissatisfaction.
- Not enough leisure time: There will always be the need to go over and above for our work. This can lead to an unrealistic expectation on what you can complete in a normal working week. Be realistic about what you can achieve and set boundaries.
- Life Issues: Sometimes things hit us out of the blue and ‘life happens’. We’ve all been there and it’s important that you are supported by your employer. Work with your employer so they understand how this may affect your motivation or working environment and come to an agreement on how to tackle this.
- Caught in the Pay Trap. This can be common for workers over 50. You have a got to a certain level and your pay reflects that. Your lifestyle will be geared to that level, and any thoughts of changing career and taking a financial hit can be an impossible way forward for many people.
Changes to our working environment
There are two main schools of thought about how we should approach work especially in these modern times post-covid. Both options have pros and cons and more importantly both working environments are open to us now as many businesses are showing and increased willingness to offer them to staff. It has been shown that offering a flexible approach has a positive effect on mental health, job satisfaction and employee retention.
Working at home – the pros and cons
Working from home all your interaction with your fellow workers will be over the phone via various tele-conferencing tools. Something many of us have come to know and sometimes hate, during the Covid lockdowns.
Some people prefer this way of working as it suits their home life and personality. You may have a young family and need to share parenting duties, or you might just be more suited to this kind of working environment.
Some important things to consider are that there is less in person or face-to-face contact with your colleagues. Those little meetings of chance that sometimes happen around the water cooler don’t really happen when you’re working from home. So, it’s important to have time to just chat to colleagues about non-related work issues, so you get that sense of belonging.
Working in the office – the double-edged sword
There is a view that this model suites younger employees as they have more social time available and like the interaction with their work friends. And while this type of work is important, there are other factors to consider. The commute is probably the biggest factor to consider and can be a major drain on all workers motivation.
There are of course, many positives for the in-work model. Many people need the interaction with other workers and has a positive effect on many people’s mental health, which can also lead to greater job satisfaction.
How is the lack of motivation exhibiting, what are your triggers?
It’s important to understand how this lack of motivation is exhibiting what your triggers might be. These can be everyday annoyances or frustrations that can build up over time and are part of our normal busy world. Symptoms can include:
- Stress
- Tiredness
- Short Temper
- Burn out
- Malaise
- If any of these are affecting your work, it’s important to recognize them and how they affect your performance.
Has it been noticed by colleagues or managers, is there help on offer and how do you access that help or support. Making your work environment more engaging can keep you interested at work. It may be small things like prioritizing your time, offering to become a mentor, or just working out for yourself how to think about work as not the main factor in your life, but rather the means to explore more fulfilling activities.
Anxiety and stress be extremely demotivation. This anxiety, sometimes brought about by the repetitive nature of working at the same thing for many years. The stress of all these factors can manifest not only as stress, but in many other negative ways as outlined above.
What can I do to tackle lost motivation?
If work is increasingly taking a backseat to what you want to spend your time on, then this can be tricky to balance. The most drastic approach to effect change would be to look to take on other roles within your current industry or take a new path completely, or (if possible) retire early.
But for most people this is not a viable option, but there are other ways and small daily tasks that can fight lowering motivation levels.
Daily tasks and little wins that can improve your motivation levels
- Develop a good morning routine – sometimes easier said than done, but a good night’s sleep then some gentle stretching or yoga can set you up for the day
- Take regular breaks – it’s important to take a break often, rest that brain and those eyes if using screens. Take a walk around, roll the shoulders or whatever works to get the blood flowing again
- Be organized– simple to-do lists are a good way to make sure that nothing will surprise you when you get down to work. A few minutes at the end of the day noting tasks for the next can lower anxiety. Listing the big tasks first also means you tackle the trickier or more intensive tasks when you are at your freshest
- Nurture external motivations – go see that movie, meet friends for a walk or a meal, take up that hobby. As you get older cultivating external motivations can boost your moral and ease stress and anxiety
Conclusion
If there is one thing that we can take away from all of this, is that relaxation, physical exercise and creating positive affirmation within your life, as you get older, is a strong step towards being happier at work.
Motivation can take many forms, and for younger or older employees, maintaining a positive outlook can improve your working life. These external motivations can be used in conjunction with improved working practices, to make you more productive, but more importantly, happier.
