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Working and ageing
82 Guidance and counselling for mature learners

anticipated more proactively future changes and were better able to work
together in different workgroups.
Kooijʼs (2010) study is, to some extent, in line with the aforementioned
findings regarding learning climate and job rotation. Many older workers in her
study indicated that they no longer wished to attend training courses, but that
they felt appreciated and recognised when given a choice to do so. She found
that older workersʼ most important motives to continue to work were related
to the job. And the job or the work itself can be influenced by, for example, job
redesign, or lateral job movement. In line with Armstrong-Stassen and Ursel
(2009), older workers appeared to prefer organisations that explicitly value
older workers and signal this through human resources practices that reflect
their needs and desires (Kooij, 2010, p. 171).
Contrary to our expectations, supervisor support was not found to have an
impact on any of the employability dimensions. One possible reason could
be the way this concept was measured in Breukersʼ study. But another even
more important explanation may be found in the unexpected result
concerning the social exchange relation of employees and their supervisors
(LMX). Wittpoth found that dyads with younger supervisors and older
subordinates did not have smaller-sized HRD portfolios than other dyads,
although employeesʼ participation in HRD activities declined with age. The
influence of the supervisor in Wittpothʼs sample was rather limited. The
organisation reported that participation in more formal HRD activities was
decided by means of a training and development plan developed by the
organisation on which direct supervisors did not have much influence. With
regard to their influence on more informal activities, several points have to
be considered: according to Gordon and Arvey (2004), an increase in relevant
information about, and experience with subordinates, leads to a decrease in
age-related stereotyping. Given that functions on the work floor are narrow,
and tenure in the sample was quite high, it can be supposed that supervisors
have sufficient knowledge about the performance of their subordinates, and
therefore do not have to fall back on stereotypes. Besides, other factors than
those related to supervisorsʼ demographic factors, such as age, could be
important. Future research could elaborate on factors that moderate or mediate
the relation between age differences, relational quality and participation in HRD
activities. An interesting issue is in how far a violation of the career timetable
is actually perceived in the dyad. Other interesting factors are the learning
potential of the workplace, or the influence the supervisor has on allocation of
training and development activities to employees in the organisation. Kooij
(2010) for example, found different perspectives of employees and line