“Seniors are almost a prerequisite for success”

“I personally have fairly broad experience running companies. I have been doing that for 25 years so far and am now on my third company. Essentially with a rather simple recipe for success: I always try to hire employees who have more knowledge and more experience than I do.

Of course, there are some details and differences depending on the company and its focus. But fundamentally, that is the path I have followed.

I have done this because it seems logical to me that a business model with the main emphasis on experienced employees increases the likelihood of success. That also means that I value employees over 50 – which, according to the new research project, apparently breaks quite fundamentally with the way most other companies in Denmark are run.” Lennart continues.

“Let me be clear: I’m not saying that the younger generations are incompetent because they lack experience. Not at all. In my current company, we have employees as young as 25. They are trainees—and very talented. But they will not become project managers for major clients right away. That would be directly irresponsible, both toward the employees and the clients.

Quite simply, they have too little experience when it comes to guiding a client through a complex process, where every decision triggers a chain reaction of other events. They also have too little experience handling conflict and resistance—both in business and in private life. All of this is important in order to demonstrate the credibility needed for a client to naturally trust the employee’s advice.”

“This is partly because the knowledge that experienced employees acquire becomes accumulated and embedded within the company—much like the employees themselves. In the 15 years my company has existed, we have had fewer than 15 employees resign from their positions in total. Right now, we have 90 employees, so that is a very small share of a relatively large group.

In other words, there is a high degree of continuity associated with valuing employees over 50. When they are satisfied, they tend to stay. And they are not overly competitive or elbowing their way forward, which also helps create stability within an organization. In that respect, there are significant differences between the generations. Young people today are much more exploratory than their parents and grandparents. They are not interested in receiving a gold watch after 50 years of loyal service—they want to move forward and move on.

In itself, that is perfectly fine and undoubtedly a path toward great cross-disciplinary skills and impressive careers. But for a consulting company like ours, constantly losing knowledge is a problem. Especially because it typically costs us between half a million and one million kroner to hire a new employee. It usually takes a long time before a new employee reaches the same level as the most experienced colleagues.”

“When I read the study about Danish companies’ reluctance to hire senior employees, I am left with the impression that many business leaders do not understand the connection between competencies and the bottom line. Or rather: they do not understand that hiring senior employees is almost a prerequisite for success.

In that context, it should be mentioned that I know several talented entrepreneurs who run companies made up exclusively of young and creative people with a strong understanding of technology, a firm grasp of trends and tendencies, and an abundance of energy. But even those companies have advisors, advisory boards, boards of directors, or mentors whose experience they rely on.

Standing on the shoulders of already existing knowledge is fundamentally what continues to create progress in the world. In my view, that should ensure a permanent place for the 50+ segment in Danish companies. But of course, that requires companies to be on board with the idea,” Lennart concludes.