Always invest in younger people

This is important not only because of the reasons given in the paragraph above, but also because young people will keep your company feeling young and dynamic and it will make it attractive to young and old alike. Furthermore, amongst these up-and-coming employees you will most probably find the most loyal and talented future leaders of your company.

Nowadays, it is also possible to work with younger people by offering them a short to medium-term placement as part of their training/university degree. If you do this, please be aware that you will need to look after them properly and not to use them as cheap labour. Ideally, they should have a pre-arranged, formal training programme that includes time with you, professional development on the job, a mentor (not you) who looks after them pastorally and they should also work shorter hours than your paid staff so that they have time for other aspects of their personal and professional development.