Ageism in the workplace can affect anyone. All of us have an age. And all of us, conscious or unconscious, possess certain beliefs and biases about what it means to be old, young, or somewhere in between. Because ageism is something that affects us all it must be a critical part of any DEI agenda. And a place where a little attention can have a huge impact. 

Reflecting on my own experience — in my last leadership role at a trendy London startup — I was surprised to find that in my mid-30s I was in the oldest quartile of the company’s age distribution. And I felt it. I no longer had the capacity (or desire) to stay out until the early hours of the morning with colleagues. Certain terms and phrases frequently used in meetings or by the water cooler by my younger colleagues went way over my head (and I was too embarrassed to ask what they meant). And I was slower to adopt certain technologies than my colleagues nearly two decades younger than me who had grown up as digital natives.   

I remember thinking that if this is how I feel at 35, how must it feel to enter such a workforce as a 50- or 60-something? 

On the flip side, I have spoken to friends who went into more traditional careers like law or finance, who for at least the first ten years of their career felt that their age immediately gave them less credibility. There was a sense that they had to earn their right to progress through years of service. 

What all this speaks to is that there is often a “right” age to be. While this age may vary, organisations can build up an implicit preference for a certain generation that then gets built into their values, systems and structures. Often this is reflective of the age of the leadership, and the way that they build their company is built around the values they personally hold and the skills they deem important.

And while ageism works both ways, as leaders and HR professionals we cannot ignore the fact that we live in a culture that celebrates youth and denigrates ageing. And so the weight of the ageism burden often lies with those “middle-aged” and above; and particularly on women.

Ageism against older employees shows up in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Take job descriptions. The not-so-subtle might include criteria like “digital native” or “new grad”. The subtle might include words like “fresh”, “active”, “energetic” and “high-potential”, which can all be code words for youth. It frequently shows up in the way we socialise — organisations with a large proportion of young employees can unconsciously end up building a company culture that feels like an extension of university, with the locus of bonding and socialising taking place after work and often centred around drinking alcohol. And of course in our relationship with technology — organisations that expect their employees to quickly adopt and adapt to changing technology often build ageism into the very structure of the organisation. Of course, people of all ages can be competent at technology, but people who have grown up with technology as a fundamental part of their education and socialisation will often have a natural advantage when it comes to speed of adoption. 

This is not just a problem for older employees, it’s an organisational issue. When we create organisations where whole generations have to swim upstream, we get only part of their brilliance. And while this is the case for any diversity category, organisations particularly disadvantage themselves by sidelining employees who have decades of experience and the associated wisdom that comes with that. When that gets abandoned, the whole organisation suffers. 

So here are five things can organisations do today: 

1. Start at the job description

Scan for words and phrases like those I’ve mentioned above and inquire why you have included them. Do the same for the number of years’ experience you ask for and consider whether you could instead focus on skills and knowledge. Then review whether your descriptions are implicitly describing a “type” of person and whether this type is tied to a specific age. Better yet, avoid determining what type of person would fit the role altogether, and instead describe the role itself. 

2. Look at your hiring process

Have people of various ages review job ads to pick up things that you (from your age vantage point) might miss. Consider the age diversity of photos on your site and in marketing materials — do they speak to everyone? Where possible, have age-diverse interview panels. Do all this while also being honest about the current age profile of your organisation and what you are working on (if applicable) to diversify it. 

3. Know your data

What is your age diversity? How do people of different ages feel about your culture, policies and processes? Do some age groups feel more included than others? Do you promote people at equal rates across all ages? These are the starting points to know where you as an organisation currently are. From this place you know where to focus your attention. 

4. Don’t make assumptions 

Never assume that an employee can’t keep up with new industry trends or won’t understand new technology. Don’t assume that older employees don’t want to go to a nightclub after work! While it’s important to recognise that we can draw trends according to diversity categories that help us make systemic change, never forget that individuals are unique and in some cases, as the saying goes, age ain't nothing but a number

5. Implement mentorship programmes

This is a brilliant way of acknowledging the unique value that a multi-generational workforce brings. Cross-age Mentoring programmes are a fantastic way to utilise the experience and knowledge that older employees bring to an organisation. And reverse mentoring — where younger employees support their mentee with, for example, new technologies they are less familiar with, can be equally powerful. Both are fantastic at bridging gaps between age groups. 

And one for employees who identify as older — watch your internalised biases

Phrases like “my old brain” or “I’m old fashioned” are often used playfully but can deepen your own belief about what you are capable of and what you aren’t, adding to the stereotypes that exist in the collective. 

I want to point to another more subtle way that I see ageism showing up in the workplace, particularly in the DEI space. I remember as a teenager telling my parents that I would never be an adult who spoke about the “good old days”. 

As someone approaching my forties, sitting firmly in the middle of the millennial generation, I find myself in the interesting “in-between” generational location in the workplace. Younger than some of my baby-boomer colleagues and older than the new Gen-Zers who have entered the workforce in the last decade.
From this position, I notice where I can be influenced by ageism both ways. Recently I have noticed that I can find myself reminiscing about the “good old days” and becoming frustrated with my younger peers in the DEI space who have little patience for people who display biases. When I was coming into the workplace, we were in many ways desensitised to things like bias and discrimination. There was a degree of resilience we had to things like this — which was largely not a good thing. And yet it did give more space for people to make mistakes than there often is now. And so while I see the focus on this in recent years as an enormously positive thing, it can be easy for those from a different generation to slip into seeing those who are alert to bias and discrimination as overly sensitive and too quick to point fingers. 

And I remember being in the opposite position when I entered the workforce 15 years ago. While DEI wasn’t central to the agenda when I joined the workforce, wellbeing and the sense that your job could be something that made you happy was. This expectation that our personal wellbeing was a responsibility of the company and that we should be valued, cared for and appreciated by our employer often grated with my older colleagues, who saw us as entitled and demanding. 

What this calls for cannot be captured in a list of things you can do today, but rather highlights the need for deeper understanding of each other and reinforces the need for inter-generational mentoring and conversations. The understanding that we will, whether we like it or not, all carry some beliefs around what is “right” based on what we grew up with. And so while we might celebrate and advocate for progress, there will still be parts of us that believe that those older than us “just don’t get it”, or that those younger than us have lost their way. 

We would be wise to remember that there is no one right way. In fact the “right way” can only be found by the sum total of multiple perspectives. And so, in multi-generational spaces, the way forward is to respect each vantage point, remember that it is the consequence of our lived experience and ultimately to learn from each other in the knowing that we all carry a slice of the truth, and only together can we make true progress.