Management attitudes and perceptions of older employees in hospitality management

This paper presents the results of a study to identify the perceived benefits, disadvantages and future employment of older workers in Scottish small and medium‐sized hospitality firms. Towards this goal, a sample consisting of 21 managing directors in Scotland was obtained. Results indicated that hospitality managers in Scotland perceived older workers as offering positive attributes, which can be used in the Scottish hospitality industry. From the participants’ viewpoint, the strengths of older workers were perceived as: to have fewer accidents, generate a positive image, ability to learn as much as younger workers, self‐motivated, disciplined, respect for authority, happier/satisfied on the job, dependable, ability to produce quality work, good communication skills and have credibility with customers, co‐operate more on the job, loyal to the organisation, willing to train, lower absentee rate, and they make better employees. On the other hand, high costs associated with the employment of older workers, inflexible and reluctant to change, keep up with the speed required, and hard to adopt new technology tended to be their weaknesses. The majority of the sample surveyed indicated that they would employ older workers in greater percentages in the near future.