Rethinking Age and Technology: A Toolbox for Organizations

Based on my dissertation, ' Reframing Age and Technology: How to Leverage Age Diversity in Digitized Work Environments ', I have developed a three-stage process model for organizations. At MANEOS, we are now using this tool to empower organizations to better leverage age diversity in digitalized work environments.

Why this topic is relevant right now

Two trends are converging in organizations: workforces are aging, and workplaces are becoming more digital. With the rising retirement age, the proportion of employees nearing retirement in Europe will increase significantly, from around 28% today to a projected 43% by 2050 (Eiffe et al., 2025; OECD, 2025). At the same time, around 85% of companies plan to further expand their use of new technologies in the coming years. Accordingly, forecasts predict that by 2030, around 44% of employees will need to develop new skills due to the changing nature of existing job roles (Di Battista et al., 2023; Lund et al., 2021).

For organizations, this means that almost all employees, regardless of age, must continuously adapt to new technologies in the workplace . However, we currently know too little about how organizations can effectively support age-diverse teams in this regard . There is still a lack of conclusive scientific evidence on this topic, and consequently, three questions in particular have been of interest to me:

• How do employees of different ages utilize their respective strengths when new technologies bring about change?

• What role does the social environment play, e.g., colleagues of diverse ages?

• How can organizations design technology-based learning and digital transformation in a way that aligns with the needs and capabilities of each age group?

From research to a tool for organizational development

In three studies, I investigated how age-related strengths, the social environment, and organizational frameworks interact when it comes to technology in the workplace. To this end, I conducted a field experiment with over 170 age-diverse colleague tandems at a bank in Germany, a multi-wave study with over 2,200 public sector employees in Switzerland, and a scoping review of 106 studies.

The common thread running through all three studies is that age is not a weakness to be compensated for, but a resource to be utilized. However, this is only true if organizations create the right framework. This approach considers the entire lifespan and emphasizes age-related, often complementary, opportunities rather than deficits (Baltes, 1987; Burmeister et al., 2020). Thus, older and younger employees bring different strengths that shape their use of new technologies, their learning, and age-diverse collaboration.

I would like to highlight two key findings from my dissertation, as they are extremely relevant for organizations.

1. Firstly, it becomes clear that older and younger employees bring different resources to the table for dealing with technological change , such as experiential knowledge on the one hand and a strong learning orientation on the other. Instead of treating age as a proxy for 'tech-savvy or not', it is therefore worthwhile to take a closer look at the actual strengths that employees of different ages bring to the table.

2. Secondly, the social components of the work environment play a central role in the continuous development of digitized work environments . The success of the technology-related learning process depends significantly on how colleagues of different ages interact and learn from each other. Technology in the workplace is not just an individual matter, but above all a social one.

At MANEOS, we provide organizations that we have the privilege of supporting with a three-step process. This tool is based on the findings of my dissertation and is grounded in established aging literature.

In short, this process involves three concrete steps:

• Step 1 – Reframe: Rethinking perceptions of age and technology in the workplace to identify prejudices and raise awareness of the opportunities and risks of age diversity.

• Step 2 – Accommodate: Consider age-related resources and needs to move from one-size-fits-all to differentiated solutions when implementing new tools.

• Step 3 – Enable: Promote social, technology-related exchange to establish mutual learning between old and young as an integral part of everyday work.

The model operates on multiple levels simultaneously, and we support organizations in integrating the process model into their specific context as effectively as possible. This ranges from strategic, structural, or cultural adjustments at the macro level to concrete programs, training, and campaigns at the micro and meso levels.

credit to Linus Belanger via Unsplash