History, Mentoring and Dreaded Ageism

As you can no doubt tell from my earlier blog posts, I’m a big fan of archives and family history. So much can be learned from the past, and what we already know based upon prior generations’ work can readily be applied to our future. One of my favorite on-the-job tasks is to mentor early career, young adults. Fresh and eager to learn, these are bright, accepting workers who simply need a guiding hand helping them in the right direction. I’ve hired people from various generations over the course of my career, and one of my favorite experiences is to see how they gel on a corporate project. It’s amazing to watch how an older generation’s ideas are seen as brilliant by a younger generation. On the flip side, it’s also wonderful to see an older generation worker appreciate the technological and social media skills brought to the table by a younger colleague. Overall, my experience with mixed generation teams has been positive and rewarding. 18 or 68, everyone has something to offer. Diverse backgrounds and experiences often lead to the most innovative results. Take, for example, a marketing project that involved a new website design. All staff were asked to review the draft and multiple comments came in from the team. Younger folks advised against using a certain color because it signaled "danger" in their lexicon. Older folks also advised against using the color because of its association with a dark period in their generation’s history. Result: a complete 180 degree switch from the original draft website design and a team proud of its efforts. Mentoring was sky high and ageism didn't even enter the equation.

I really don’t consider anyone “too old” to contribute to the workplace. I’ve supervised employees and contractors old enough to be my grandparent as well as those young enough to be my child. Age really doesn’t have a bearing on my view of capability. Age is only a number and so long as a person is capable of showing up to work, in whatever way the workplace is structured (remote, hybrid or onsite) and is a diligent, caring employee, then they are welcome. What bothers me intensely is seeing the fear in both young and older workers’ eyes when ageism enters the interview situation. It is so inherently unfair (and illegal, BTW) for someone making hiring decisions to count a person’s age against them. Too young, and they must have no clue about the world. Wrong ... and shortsighted. Too old, and they must only be here for a few months until they retire. Also wrong ... and ignorant of the truth.

Ageism is already banned via the law. Now we just need to hold hiring managers accountable for upholding the no-ageism standard. Age isn’t something to hold against a person; it’s far smarter to see how an employee can contribute rather than dismissing their potential right from the start. Teach your students about ageism. Today, they may (unfortunately) encounter it at an interview. In a few years, they might be on the other side of the desk looking to hire: make sure they know the damage that ageism inflicts.

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