Whilst many employers have no hesitation in training new employees and their younger less experienced employees, the same employers will frequently baulk at training their older or more experienced and long serving employees.

Employers often give as their reason for showing training preference to younger employees that they are training for the future. Yet there is good evidence to show that older employees are more loyal and more likely to stay with a firm than younger employees and are thus as good if not better bets for the training dollar.

Perhaps it is time to turn around the paradigm and to move away from the stereotypes about older employees being less willing to change and adapt to new methods and ways of working, to a frame of mind where companies take the initiative to invest in their older employees as well as their younger ones. If it is worthwhile in training a 30 year old for say an expected lifespan in your company of 3 - 5 years, then it makes more sense to train a 50 year old, who will likely have a 10 - 15 year lifespan in your company.