It’s never too late to learn: later-career learning as the final frontier for HRD

Purpose: This empirical paper presents new insights into the extent and sources of later-career learning. Middle-managers are taken as an exemplifying group for studying workplace later-career learning as the roles requires both the implementation and initiation of change. Design/Methodological approach: The research takes a qualitative and largely inductive methodological approach. Data were generated through visual elicitation techniques deployed in advance of interviews. Findings: The data illustrate the diverse and complex factors that afford the learning of later-career middle-managers. Of significance is the distinction between their formal learning, and less-recognised informal learning episodes. This informal learning was attributable to social interactions with colleagues, and their teams, and day-to-day work challenges. Significantly, certain of the findings challenge established assumptions held, that later-career workers have a limited motivation to learn as they count down to retirement. Limitations/implications: That this paper reports only a pilot analysis of six participants is acknowledged. Analysis of the full data set will be important in extending the current inquiry. Nonetheless, significant, counter-intuitive conclusions are established with important implications for HRD policy and practice. Originality/value: This research presents new insights into what are recognised gaps in the existing empirical literatures of learning for later-career workers. The use of visual methods has offered insights that conventional methods would have missed. Practical implications: HRD policy and professional practice needs to move rapidly to reach this final frontier of learning and development and ensure that later-career workers become a true asset for their organisations and economies.