Rise above the age-old bias

Kewal Kapoor

Sujatha Nair is a 45-year- old with 20 years of experience in the field of social development. She also has an experience of being part of a prestigious UN project, apart from an in-depth understanding of how social and health campaigns are rolled out. However, for the past few months her attempts to find a job in India's flourishing social development sector,  have not borne fruit. In most places where she applied she lost to younger candidates. Though no one’s speaking openly aqbout it, but Sujatha believes age is the main problem. 

Many not-so-young yet highly talented and experienced people like Sujatha often struggle in the Indian job market that is oversupplied with young talent. A number of factors make recruiters, sometimes subconsciously, prefer younger applicants. They are often deemed more energetic, more adaptable to hectic and erratic work schedules and also have lower monetary expectations from the organisation.

Create an open workplace

The course to correcting a wrong begins with the realisation that a problem exists. For ageism to be accepted as a real problem, we need to talk about it much like we talk about sexism and any other form of discrimination.  

Behind this subtle yet powerful discrimination are a series of myths associated with age. Older workers are often perceived to be technologically inept, resistant to change, less innovative and adaptable. However, what is clearly overlooked is the fact that older workers have much more experience, not just of a particular field but of life in general. This makes them a much needed pillar of support for any organisation that is looking to create a stable and sustainable future for itself. Older workers are also much more likely to stay in a job. 

Training and development 

Organisations must invest in regular training strategies to teach their employees new skills, new technology as also train them about the need for adopting right attitudes, team approach and inclusivity. 

If you believe that older people are not adaptable to new technology, the simplest way to address it is to launch regular learning and development programmes to onboard employees to newer skills and technology. This would include not just the older employees but any employee looking to adopt new technology. 

Diversity and inclusivity

Ensuring diversity and inclusion must be the focus of all your efforts as an organisation. This also includes commitment to hiring capable candidates, irrespective of age, promoting the most qualified and capable candidates and ensuring that all workplace programs are inclusive and do not leave the older employees out of their interest brackets. 

Even your branding initiatives such as the employee pictures displayed on your website must try to be inclusive of age, geder and races. 

Retain older workforce

Efforts can be initiated to retain employees past retirement. This will ensure a healthy mix of experience and youth .

— Director & Creative Strategist, CHAI Creative and Return of Million Smiles

Multi-generational teams

Instituting opportunities for inter-generational or multi-generational teams to work together is a brilliant way to dismantle myths and stereotypes while engendering respect and goodwill among all employees.  When younger employees get adequate exposure to working with older colleagues, they also get to learn important skills and tricks of the trade that only experience can teach. Older employees can also be offered to lead mentoring programmes for younger colleagues. Such an exercise will also act as a process of sensitisation that would help change younger people’s perceptions and attitudes towards ageing.

The 2015 Hollywood comedy ‘The Intern’ interestingly captured the story of a retired top executive seeking an internship programme at a new-wave start-up. His daily interactions with his young colleagues, the initial struggles of not being taken seriously in a new technology-based organisation and his gradual overcoming of this bias wonderfully captured the movie’s tagline ‘Experience never gets old’. 

In an age where our corporate workforce largely comprises young millenials, it is often difficult for those belonging to Generation X or the Baby boomers to feel equally valued and respected. Interestingly, ageism doesn’t just impact choices during recruitment. Employers often display negative attitudes towards older workers even if they are not necessarily less healthy or productive than their younger counterparts. Older employees are often overlooked when it comes to new career opportunities and learning and development programmes. Rather than rope in their huge experience to benefit the organisation, the over 50s are passed over for promotions and shifted to lesser important departments to “bide time” till they retire. In a world that super values youth, it is also not uncommon to see older employees ill-treated and assigned work well below their positions in a subtle way to push them out of the organisation.