Findings from research conducted for the Industrial Society indicates that a "revolution" is taking place among older workers and some busnesses are becoming increasingly dependent on that age group as the mainstay of their workforce.

The study also discovered that more over-50s are returning to work as demands for their skills increase, and this trend appears to be widening into different sectors of business such as the dotcom Internet companies.

The Industrial Society has categorised the over-50s workers into the following groupings:

• Warhorses: seasoned work veterans who are not phased by economic downturns, they've seen it all before.
  
• Trusted Guides: older workers seen by consumers as having greater credibility and therefore earning greater trust than younger workers
  
• Networkers: older workers who are valued in parts of the world (such as Asia) where respect for age is important