just being screened out, long before the organ-
IS AGEISM THE LAST
TABOO?
In a society that worships youth, older workers are often
unfairly overlooked. But as we live longer, it’s time for
recruiters and employers to think again, says ADAM GALE
A
t 50 years old, Dan Lyons was unceremo-
niously dumped from his position as
Newsweek’s tech editor. Unfazed, he
decided to cross the aisle – instead of covering
exciting start-ups, he’d join one, becoming
‘marketing fellow’ at Boston-based HubSpot.
He didn’t even notice the prejudice, at first.
‘Our CEO gave an interview to The New York
Times and said that he intentionally tried to
hire millennials, because “in tech, grey hair and
experience are really overrated”. Until that
point I hadn’t realised that people around me
assumed I was incompetent or not to be taken
seriously, just because of my age,’ says Lyons,
who wrote the book Disrupted about his time at
HubSpot. ‘My experience wasn’t viewed as a
positive, but rather as a hindrance. It actually
counted against me.’
Perhaps that shouldn’t be surprising – after
all, the young have always underestimated the
old, seemingly unconcerned that one day the
roles will be reversed. What makes ageism the
strangest of all prejudices is that older people
appear to discriminate against themselves.
Those aged between 40 and 65 hold almost all
the power in corporations, politics and the
public sector, yet this generation simultane-
ously gets short shrift in the recruitment
market, passed by for promotion, and pushed
to the front of the redundancy queue.
There are an estimated one million British
people aged between 50 and 64 who are ‘invol-
untarily workless’, according to Business in the
Community (BITC). Older people also tend to
be out of work for longer, with a quarter of men
and a third of women who reach state retire-
ment age having been unemployed for five
years or more.
40 | Issue 3 2017
It can happen to the best of us, as former City
worker Steve Anderson found out. After 20
years in finance, he quit to look after his wife
when she got cancer, finding an unexpected
new vocation in the non-profit sector. Then, at
50, with the illness returning, they moved to be
closer to her parents in Somerset.
‘I moved down thinking I’d find a job like I’d
normally done, through networking, through
what I’d done on my CV, but it was just so dif-
ficult to get a foot in the door, or even get any
kind of response. After a lot of soul-searching, I
started asking around and found that it wasn’t
just me,’ says Anderson.
He decided to speak to some of his former
contacts at one of the firms he’d applied to.
‘They just didn’t know what was going on or
understand the effect of the processes they had
in place,’ says Anderson, who set up social
enterprise Prime Candidate in 2015 to bridge
the gap between older workers and talent-hun-
gry employers, a gap for which he largely
blames the recruitment industry. ‘People are
❝
My experience
wasn’t viewed as a
positive, but rather
as a hindrance.
It actually counted
against me
❞ 75, but when they’re living to 100 obviously
isation gets a chance to consider them.’
We all know the benefits of diversity. Well
managed, it results in better ideas and less
risk of dreaded groupthink. Consumer-facing
firms benefit from having employees resemble
the breadth of their customer-base, while all
businesses benefit from employees believing
they’re valued and treated fairly. So why is age
diversity so far behind gender or race on the
boardroom agenda? Could it be that ageism
just isn’t sexy enough, the diversity and inclu-
sion equivalent of data protection or cash flow
management, definitely in the boring but
important camp?
‘When I went to larger organisations, almost
without exception, they said this is not part of
our strategy right now. It’s in our policy, but
we’re looking at gender balance, BAME or
LGBT. I think it’s because there’s been a lot of
promotion and, for want of a better word, mar-
keting about those other issues in recent times,’
says Anderson.
In truth, a lot of people might struggle to
muster much sympathy for baby boomers, a
generation that has benefited from unprece-
dented growth, opportunities and social
mobility, and which caught the wave of house-
price growth that’s now crashing over the heads
of millennials. Perhaps that makes it a hard sell.
But it’s in everyone’s interest that age stops
being a weight around our necks.
Consider this. There are currently 11.5 mil-
lion people aged over 65 in the UK, some 18%
of the population. Forty years ago it was 14%;
in 40 years’ time, it’s predicted to be 25%. The
life expectancy of a child born today in this
country is predicted to be around 100.
If job opportunities disappear at 65 (let alone
50), then we’re faced with a future where every
single person of working age effectively has to
support either a child or a pensioner. Unless
something changes, this dependency ratio
means crippling taxes for workers and busi-
nesses, and decades of poverty for almost
everyone in old age. At the same time, busi-
nesses will face a painfully widening skills gap,
as millions more talented, experienced people
leave the workforce every year than join it.
For London Business School professor
Lynda Gratton, it’s a no-brainer. Not only will
we need to work longer (sorry to break it to
you, but we’re talking 75-80 years old here, not
68) in order to support ourselves, but the old
three-stage life – education, then work, then
retirement – has also got to go.
‘It’s designed for a completely different set of
criteria, for people to retire at 60 and die at
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managementtoday.com Issue 3 2017 | 41

everything gets pulled out of shape,’ Gratton
says. Instead, what she predicts with Andrew
Scott in The 100-Year Life is that we will
develop a multi-stage life, with periods of
exploration, self-employment, entrepreneur-
ship and portfolio work alongside stretches
where you push your career at organisations.
‘Very few people could work from 21 to 80
non-stop. It’s just an impossible thing,’
she explains.
Gratton’s vision of the multi-stage life pre-
sents longevity as an opportunity for
individuals to try different things and for
organisations to tap into their wealth of experi-
ence. But it will only work if older people are
fully included.
That will involve more than just age-blind
recruitment. Diversity and inclusion is just as
much about retention, in this case matching
older talent with fulfilling roles that make use
of their skills and experience. Unfortunately,
even in employment, older workers struggle to
get equal treatment. Employers tend to invest
less in their training and development – either
because they assume they’ll retire soon or
because they assume they just don’t need it,
with only 11% of over 60s receiving in-work
training last year compared to 27-30% of
under 50s, according to BITC.
Flexibility is another essential ingredient in
keeping multiple generations in productive
work. ‘When we’re living longer, it could be
that we have caring responsibilities for elderly
parents or relatives who are also living longer,’
explains Jill Miller, diversity and inclusion
adviser at HR professional body the CIPD.
Indeed, a desire for flexibility could be one rea-
son why as many as 9% of over-50s are now
self-employed or business owners, according
to research by Hitachi Capital and CEBR.
To retain their older workers who might be
thinking of going it alone, businesses will need
to do more than just embrace flexible working
practices, they’ll also need to be more flexible
themselves when it comes to retirement. As it
stands, retirement is a conveyor belt, leading
off a cliff. In the fog. No wonder so many peo-
ple pop their clogs six months after leaving
– for many of us, work means purpose, com-
munity, camaraderie.
Indeed, it’s a rather big assumption that peo-
ple in their 50s and 60s even want to retire soon,
now that there’s no longer a mandatory retire-
ment age. ‘Research by Ashridge found that
HR departments are more likely to focus on
“retirement planning”, but that most over 50s
themselves are just as interested in planning for
their career and in taking a sideways career
move. What they wanted was the opportunity
42 | Issue 3 2017
Mentoring – a bridge across the generation gap
Anyone trying to promote was the silver-haired adviser someone has looked it up.
the collective merits of youth to Odysseus’s son Telemachus The bias is for search
and age in the workplace in Homer’s Odyssey, and the not reflection.’
bumps up against the problem image of a didactic one-way That’s not to say that the
of generational stereotypes. relationship in which the mentees get an entirely raw
To gen Z-ers and mentor talks and the mentee deal. ‘I really get along with
millennials, anyone over the listens still prevails. Simon, he is nothing like a
age of 40 is a technologically It shouldn’t, says teacher. His approach is really
helpless dinosaur, fit only for Christopher Tchen, honest, he says things like
pity or contempt (and how did independent consultant with “this is the advice I’d give my
so many of these haggard Eden McCallum (and serial Nan”,’ says 23-year-old graphic
losers manage to scrape up mentor) because in the 21st designer Alex Minney of his
enough cash to buy a house?). century mentors have at least mentor Simon Kenwright,
Whereas to gen X-ers and as much to learn from their founder of Agents of Change,
baby boomers, those mentees as vice-versa. ‘Young a mentoring programme for
irritatingly perky youngsters people have always had creative graduates. Their
may be black-belt smartphone things to learn from older conversations, Minney adds,
ninjas, but they are also people, but there has never can be eclectic. ‘Tips and bits
needy, narcissistic and very been a time when older of experience – hacks for life.
hard work to manage. people have more to learn I ask him anything from “This
Chuck in the trend for from younger ones. Knowing is what I’m really afraid of”
identity politics, where we’ve what your forefathers knew is to “I always send long and
all got our own virtual tribes no basis for a career today.’ rambling emails, how do I
of people just like us, and it And although tech savvy is shorten them?”’
can make for a pretty divided part of the picture, the real For his part Kenwright says
and ineffective workplace. . difference is a state of mind, that the age differential helps
One way of bridging this he adds. ‘There’s an keep his thinking fresh and
gap is through mentoring, expectation of immediacy. relevant. But if you want to
where youngsters are paired If you don’t respond quickly give it a go yourself, he
with more experienced older you’ll miss out. It is interesting cautions, remember that the
colleagues in order to help to see how younger people age of deference is long gone.
smooth their rough edges and answer questions. Whereas ‘Approach it as a relationship
speed their career progress. in the past it would have been of equals. Don’t try and play
But even here stereotypes with “I think…” or “I expect…” status or ego games, it will just
abound – the original ‘Mentor’ now before you’ve finished, put a barrier between you.’
and the training to support that change,’ says 89 of these no-upper-age-limit ‘Bolder
Rachael Saunders, Age at Work director at Apprentices’. It’s also signed up to Prime
BITC. It’s little surprise that older people drop Candidate’s best practice Champions Charter,
out the workforce unnecessarily early, taking which Anderson hopes will enshrine best prac-
all their experience and skills with them, if tice across the corporate landscape.
they never get to have these conversations All this is well and good, but there’ll need to
with their managers. be a lot more like that if we’re to meet the tar-
There has been progress, most famously get of 1 million older workers hired by 2022,
B&Q and McDonald’s with their very success- set by the government’s business champion for
ful policies of hiring older workers into older workers (and Aviva CEO) Andy Briggs.
front-line teams, or BMW with its factory in No one I spoke to felt progress had been any-
Bavaria designed specifically for an over-50s thing like far enough.
labour force. The reason, perhaps, is that the battle for
Take a look at the Barclays website for its inclusivity cannot be won merely by translating
apprenticeship programme, meanwhile, and good intentions into better HR processes.
you’ll find six smiling faces, three under 30, Important though that is, the biggest change we
three over 50. ‘When it comes to your poten- will need to make if we’re to fully involve older
tial, age just isn’t a factor for us. There’s no people and indeed all people is to our beliefs.
upper limit on any of our opportunities, We live in a society that glamorises youth.
whether you’re 55 or 85,’ the bank proclaims. On television, in shop windows and across the
Since September 2015, Barclays has recruited internet we’re bombarded by the notion that
managementtoday.com
 HELP THE AGED

only the young are truly alive: it’s all beaches

and Bacardi, partying till sunrise and falling in
love with people who look suspiciously like
❝
You know you’ve
correlated with energy and adaptability – your
average nine-year-old is full of beans and
primed for learning, far more so than your
underwear models. What’s the equivalent for
older people? Alan Titchmarsh and Brexit. It’s got a long way average 90-year-old. But that’s the whole prob-
lem with prejudice, isn’t it? It’s making
not exactly YOLO (you only live once, for
those who aren’t down with the kids), is it?
to go when even assumptions about individuals based on your
perceptions of a group average. It’s lazy and it’s
This applies in business too. Silicon Valley the victims of bad for everyone.
has popularised the idea that youth means crea-
tivity, energy and enthusiasm, the ability to prejudice believe Yet there is cause for hope. Gratton believes
that as we move away from a three-stage life, we
imagine a new and better future. The implica-
tion is that old people are none of those things
it’s justified will inevitably divorce ‘age from stage’. It will no
longer be a given, when we change careers three
– rigid fuddy-duddies who live in the past and
type with one finger. ‘Young people,’ pro-
claimed entrepreneur and grey T-shirt
❞ or four times in our lives, that seniority of age
means seniority of rank – if indeed rank has
much meaning in the flatter organisations of the
aficionado par excellence Mark Zuckerberg in people who are different from us, they are not future. This opens up the possibility that the
2007, ‘are just smarter’. hardwired and can be changed, Swart says, by generations will be less segregated than ever
(If you think this doesn’t affect you, think spending stimulating time with people who before, which would do more than any hard data
again. You don’t actually have to be that old to aren’t like us. Go figure. or snake-oil moisturiser could to break down
be the victim of such prejudices. Speaking about Unfortunately, ageist views are unlikely to go stereotypes and keep mature people youthful, or
the age when discrimination seems to kick in, anywhere fast. Individual and cultural biases ‘juvenescent’ as psychologists put it.
Anderson was quick off the mark. ‘Forty-three. are about as easy to shift as a black mould patch Businesses will probably not keep pace with
Our research found the bias really comes in the on your bathroom wall. Just look at gender ine- the demographic shifts or the demands of juve-
early 40s. That’s the time when the recruitment quality – everyone seems to agree it’s wrong, nescent workers – they rarely do. But eventually
industry starts seeing you as baggage.’ By the yet somehow it’s still there, year after year. they will have no choice. These changes are
time you’ve reached 65, Anderson says, your An over-60s senior manager MT spoke with happening, and those demands will be made. It
opportunities are ‘almost nil’.) said that, although he believed he had himself is the ones who can see the opportunity in
Such biases go deep. The story of inter- been on the receiving end of age discrimina- longer life – individuals and organisations –
generational conflict, the new replacing the tion, he would still hire younger candidates that will make the most of it.
old – implicitly because it’s better – has been a over older candidates because ‘they’ve got ‘Baby boomers are used to defining them-
recurring theme in literature since the legend more energy, more enthusiasm – they’re more selves,’ cautions Gratton, ‘and now they’re
of Zeus and Kronos was first recanted around malleable, less likely to look back to the past all redefining age. They want to carry on working,
an ancient Greek campfire. the time’. holding onto some of their youthful character-
Even the word ‘old’ itself betrays our biases, You know you’ve got a long way to go when istics. My mother would have described herself
carrying such negative connotations about a even the victims of prejudice believe it’s justi- as old at 62, but I don’t. The baby boomers
supposed lack of effectiveness, flexibility and fied. When combating that view, you have to be will really fight against being stereotyped.
adaptability that prominent gerontologist ruthlessly honest. Youth is almost certainly Companies will have to realise this.’
Sarah Harper recently advised we stop using it
altogether for people who aren’t on the brink of
death, the so called fourth age. Old computers
don’t work, old habits die hard and, of course,
old dogs can’t learn new tricks.
Except actually they can. ‘People used to
think that a brain’s plasticity was fixed through-
out life, but we now know that the brain
remains malleable well into adulthood,’ says
neuroscientist Dr Tara Swart. ‘The more you
look after it and stimulate it, the better it will
perform and the more flexible it will remain.
The latest evidence shows that lifestyle changes
such as sleep quality, brain-boosting foods,
hydration, exercise you enjoy and sharing
humour lead to more successful ageing if
embarked upon by 36 to 43 years of age.’
Neuroplasticity has another role to play in
the fight against ageism, beyond proving it
Getty Images

unjustified: in the very brains of the ageists

themselves. While biases run deep, as a basic
evolutionary mechanism to protect us from B&Q is one company that has encouraged older workers to apply for jobs in stores, valuing their DIY knowledge and experience

managementtoday.com Issue 3 2017 | 43

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