Older employees who felt less capable were more likely to consider leaving their employer
Human resources professionals rolling out new workplace technology should reconsider treating training as a universal fix.
According to a recent Memorial University of Newfoundland dissertation, tech training intensified – rather than eased – burnout's toll on older employees' ability to work.
The dissertation, titled "Technological Change and an Aging Workforce: Investigating the Career Experiences of Older Workers," was completed by Judah I. Adeniyi in October 2025 under the supervision of Dr. Travor Brown at Memorial University's Faculty of Business Administration.
‘This trend not only exacerbates labour shortages’
For the study's second phase, Adeniyi surveyed 361 workers aged 55 to 80 and older, most based in Canada and the United States, testing a model in which burnout and perceived work ability were expected to link technological change to retirement intentions.
The results showed no significant direct relationship between perceived technological change and burnout. However, burnout was significantly linked to lower perceived work ability, and lower work ability was in turn linked to stronger retirement intentions, meaning employees who felt less capable were more likely to consider leaving.
More people are postponing retirement, according to a previous report.
Adeniyi wrote that when older workers see their perceived work ability decline, it can prompt them toward early retirement, adding that "this trend not only exacerbates labour shortages but also results in a loss of critical skills and knowledge that are essential for organizational success."
The share of older workers in Canadian firms doubled over two decades, with manufacturing showing the steepest shift of any industry and the trend accelerating across almost every sector of the economy, according to numbers recently released by Statistics Canada.
Training intensified burnout's effects
Testing three possible buffers against burnout's impact, Adeniyi found only technological training produced a statistically significant effect, and it moved in the opposite direction than expected.
"Contrary to expectations, the results revealed that technological training exacerbated, rather than buffered, the negative relationship between burnout and perceived work ability," Adeniyi wrote, adding that training "may place additional cognitive or emotional strain on already exhausted older workers, particularly if it is poorly timed, overly complex, or misaligned with their needs."
Neither organizational justice nor computer self-efficacy showed a statistically significant moderating effect in the model, according to the dissertation.
Adeniyi recommended organizations treat training "not as a one-size-fits-all solution, but as an intervention that requires thoughtful design and delivery," pointing to self-paced modules, peer support models, and involving older workers in co-designing training content as alternatives. "Creating a culture that values supportive, inclusive, and user-informed training is essential," Adeniyi wrote.
Best practices for training older workers
Here are some of the best practices around providing tech training for older workers, according to different sources:
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Audit access first. Only about a quarter of employees, and just 17% of baby boomers, report having access to workplace learning opportunities, even as boomer demand for training has risen sharply — meaning the gap is often access, not willingness. |
World Economic Forum, "4 ways to retain older workers and boost the global economy," 2026 |
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Make training optional and self-paced. Mandatory, uniform tech training intensified burnout's toll on older workers' perceived work ability in the Memorial University research, making flexible, opt-in formats the safer design choice. |
Judah I. Adeniyi, Technological Change and an Aging Workforce (PhD dissertation, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Oct. 2025), |
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Check assumptions with your own data. Older workers are closing the tech-skills gap with younger colleagues faster than expected, so HR teams should verify participation data before designing training around an assumed deficit. |
AARP/LinkedIn, "Older Workers Are Building New Tech Skills, Study Finds," Dec. 2025 |
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Use peer and multigenerational learning models. Pairing younger "superuser" employees with older colleagues for informal, relationship-based training tends to outperform top-down instruction alone. |
World Economic Forum, "4 ways to retain older workers and boost the global economy," 2026 |
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Pair training with career guidance and incentives. Career guidance services and financial incentives such as individual learning accounts help ensure training reaches workers who might otherwise opt out, not just those already engaged. |
OECD Employment Outlook 2025, "Staying in the game: Skills and jobs of older workers" |
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Keep training concrete and job-specific. Training tied to the exact tools an employee's role requires is more likely to feel relevant than generic "digital literacy" or "AI readiness" sessions. |
CFA Institute, "How technology is unlocking value for older workers," June 2025 |
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Track participation by age cohort continuously. Older workers, migrants, and lower-credentialed employees are consistently underrepresented in training uptake across countries, a pattern that's easy to miss without disaggregating data by age. |
OECD/EPALE, "New OECD Insights on Adult Learning in the EU” |
