Ageism = When the results are always negative for all parties involved!
I recently listened to a talk by a Buddhist monk, Matthieu Ricard, about our mutual interdependence. In it, he reminds us that the entire universe — including all species — are interdependent and that we should not act like we are separate entities. Whatever one individual does affects all of us. That has never been more evident than during this pandemic. No matter how individual we think we are, we impact everyone.
All human beings share common goals to be healthy, successful, and happy. Similarly, a company has a mission or shared common goals for its health, success, and to fulfill its purpose. We are not always thinking about our shared purposes in our daily lives. Even when we are interconnected in the big picture, sometimes it is hard to remember in day to day life at work and home. Thus, like human beings who sometimes self-sabotage working at cross purposes against themselves or even others on their team, so do companies. We see this when any inequities are present in the culture due to a variety of discriminatory practices including ageism.
What is ageism?
Ageism is when someone treats someone worse than another person in a similar situation due to their age. Whether you are job searching or in your current role, when ageism is a practice, you can feel offended, hurt, or unimportant. All of these negative emotions can surface. Ageism, like pay inequity, impacts women to a greater degree. Both of these things provide short-term gain for employers and long-term damage to individuals and companies — their culture, morale, and knowledge base; human beings.
Professionally when we experience age discrimination, the results are always negative for all parties involved.
In the United States, ageism is prevalent. In 2018 the AARP published their findings from their Value of Experience study and reported that:
- Nearly one in four workers ages 45 and older have been subjected to negative comments about their age from supervisors or coworkers.
- About three in five older workers have seen or experienced age discrimination in the workplace.
- 76 percent of these older workers see age discrimination as a hurdle to finding a new job.
When older employees are overlooked for opportunities (training, promotions, etc.) or face unacceptable behaviors, they lose their incentive to excel. Disrespectful comments such as — ask grandma in an office environment are unacceptable and should not be tolerated. The impact is very disheartening when this behavior is allowed. Even more offensive is the practice of considering women as ‘getting old’ when they are in their forties. It is simply a remarkably erroneous mindset and leads to a loss of great talent at companies that maintain such an agenda.
One decision made by representatives of companies and hiring managers based on a person’s age impacts all the employees in a company and all the people connected to their life. These decisions impact employees of all ages. Unfortunately, many companies have not accounted for the enormous loss to their company by practicing ageism. Ageism can result in the loss of what may well be an extremely valuable employee. Furthermore, it is also clear that ageism in the workplace negatively impacts all generations of workers lowering morale.
Our ability to communicate and understand one another in the workplace across generations is where we can address and conquer ageism. Understanding some of the myths can help. Some of the myths about older workers include:
- They cannot master new skills quickly.
- They slow things down.
- They cannot handle physically demanding work.
- They are burnt out.
These are correctly labeled by me as myths because it has been shown that older workers outperform younger workers in each category. Older workers have the experience and leadership & problem-solving skills to tackle new tasks.
Although younger workers may appear to be working at a faster clip, they make more errors; older workers usually strive for accuracy. Many jobs today do not require physical labor but, for those that do, the fit older worker is perfectly capable of physical labor and always practices safety. We have all seen today that people are working much longer than was previously the case because we are more informed on how to take care of ourselves. Employees with solid experience can bring success to a company with their insight, judgment, and quality of their work. We can certainly see celebrities, some who are quite senior and still doing their job exceptionally well.
Proactive Steps to Address Ageism or How to Deal with Ageism in the Workplace
So, what are some of the steps you can take to counteract these behaviors? First and foremost, you must understand that your value and abilities are not subject to judgment by other people with pre-existing beliefs. You have to be confident that what you bring to the table in your experience and skills is quite valuable and, you do not have to feel less valuable because of your age. Always be cognizant of how you present yourself. It is important to be energetic and passionate and try to keep aware of current appropriate attire. During the job search, you must be sure that you structure your resume in ways, so your age isn’t obvious. The burden falls on you to present a positive picture either in an interview or in an office environment.
Finding Humanity in Human Capital
We must acknowledge that the majority of the business world in the United States, the model is built on the premise that employees are human capital. This is where the awareness of our interdependence can truly break down. Viewing applicants or employees as human capital and not as individual human beings encourage the perception that, like any business item, they have a shelf life. Because a sense of humanity becomes secondary, we overlook unacceptable office behavior. How can we as individuals involved in these scenarios address them?
Addressing Ageist Comments
If someone in your office is being offensive, take a breath for a moment and then address them directly. This forces anyone who thinks their microaggression is acceptable to own it. You can say something like —
“Pardon me, I must have misunderstood. Did you say repeat their statement here?”
If they have to repeat themselves with the spotlight on them, they are less likely to speak with disrespect.
Highlight the Value of Your Experience
If you are being overlooked for projects or new opportunities, highlight the value of your experience.
- Prepare a pitch to your manager describing to them that cross-generational teams in business have proven to be more successful and increase productivity. Suggest that you would be delighted to put together one of those teams to address something important in the company.
- Suggest that it would be quite effective for you to mentor some new younger employees and assist them in their transition into the company.
These are both areas that highlight the value of your experience and maturity. An interesting aspect that is not acknowledged by our business leaders today is the interdependence of these team and mentoring roles. By owning these roles, you are impacting other individuals in the company positively.
So, despite our individualism and our aim for independence, every action we take has consequences not only for ourselves but for those who we directly and indirectly touch. When we make a choice to act on something we should be sensitive to our impact overall and never forget that we are all connected.
