Out With The Old

March 3, 2014

What do you picture when you think of older people?  The little old man who cut in front of you while crossing four lanes of traffic without using his blinker, only to go ten miles under the speed limit, and weave ever so slightly back and forth over the center line?  The little old lady who arrived at the express checkout just before you, only to pull out thirty-seven coupons? Your neighbor down the street who has to use a walker to go to the mailbox?  When you picture these people, what do you associate with pictures? Do you consider them to be savvy, intelligent persons, capable of making valuable contributions to society? Or do you consider them to be “old people” who are “not with it” and “do not know what’s going on” ?

 

I have painted a picture of persons well past retirement age. The problem is that our society often views persons anywhere over fifty as old.  And old is bad. Old means unproductive, slow, senile, and out. As we become more and more obsessed with being young, people are being thought of as incapable due to age at much younger ages than they were in the past. In the business world, persons over forty are often being treated as though THEY are  “old people” who are no longer “with it” and “do not know what’s going on.” In a few short years, a successful business executive can go from the person being envied, to the person being cast aside.

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Why should this bother us, as long as we ourselves are not old? We all know the answer to this question, which is simply that we will all be old someday, unless, of course, some tragedy takes us before then. For me personally, this thought is extremely depressing. I cannot imagine how heartbreaking it would be to study so long, begin a career around thirty, and have possibly only ten years before some people would want to put me “out to pasture.”

 

Maybe you have a healthier view of what it means to be old, and are more apt to view people in their fifties and sixties as being part of the team, or maybe as mentors that you can learn from. The reality, however, is that this age group and over are often edged out as younger employees are given their positions, and forced into retirement, if not simply fired for some made-up reason. One distraught IT employee in a large company who described themself as “high energy” and as always receiving “excellent reviews,” said, “I was given a ‘token’ position as a business analyst. Since this time, I’ve literally been twiddling my thumbs.” (O’Donnell, 2013) This person wanted to leave the company, but realized that finding a new position at 57 would be difficult.  And, similar to others in this age bracket, retirement was not an option for several years.

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Another employee, age 59, said, “It has become painfully clear over the past year that I am being excluded from projects for which I once would have been eagerly sought out as the leader.” (Miller, 2013)  

 

These stories are disheartening because the only thing “wrong” with these employees is the fact that they are no longer 30 or 40 years old anymore. The experience they offer from having worked twenty-plus years in their fields is easily tossed aside in order to hire younger employees who will work for less compensation. These are the cold, hard, facts. Surely, we can do better, and treat people who have devoted so much time and energy to their fields with more dignity and respect. In Discrimination Against Older job Applicants, Ajay Choudhary says that according to the United Stated Government Accountability Office (GAO), it is more difficult for older employees to find a new position once they have been let go than it is for younger employees( Choudhary, 2013).  According to Choudhary, the GAO found that “only 31 percent of workers between 55 and 64 who were displaced between 2007 and 2009  regained full-time employment by January of 2010.”  (2013) For persons not yet ready financially to retire, this is disturbing news. What can older employees do if they believe they are being pushed out and/or replaced because of their age?

 

A possible mode of action for older employees who believe they have been discriminated against is to take legal action against their employer. According to the Age Discrimination in employment Act of  1967, it is illegal for employers to discriminate against employees who are over 40 years old (ADEA, 2013)  The drawback here is that proving discrimination can be difficult, and sometimes, impossible. What can we do to change how older persons are treated in the workforce, when discrimination is illegal, and still it goes on?

 

For starters, we can change how we view older employees, and older persons. When I asked a fellow student what he pictured when he thought of an older employer he said, “Someone in their forties.” I asked him what he pictured when I just said older person and he said, “Someone with gray hair….maybe in their eighties.” We talked about what caused the differences in the ages of the people he pictured, and he said that while he had “older” professors and was used to thinking of them as older, he really just did not picture someone over forty being an employer in charge of other employees. The truth is that older employees, similar to older professors, often have vast knowledge that is invaluable to those around them. They often have knowledge about the company or their area of expertise that could help make younger employees more productive. Often, their knowledge of things that have NOT worked in the past can save time and money for the company, and their relationships and reputation in the field cannot be easily replaced.

 

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The U. S. Equal Opportunity Commission. (2014). The Age Discrimination Act of 1967. Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/adea.cfm

 

Choudhary, A (November, 2013). Age Discrimination Against Older Job Applicants. LexisNexis Legal Newsroom and Employment Law. Retrieved from http://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/labor-employment/b/labor-employment-top-blogs/archive/2013/11/01/age-discrimination-against-older-job-applicants.aspx

 

Miller, K. ( February 27, 2014). @Work Advice: Older Workers Being Edged Out or Denied Entry. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/atwork-advice/2013/12/03/5455bc08-8ae5-11e3-916e-e01534b1e132_story.html?hpid=z5

 

O’Donnell, J. (December 24, 2013). Why Older Workers Should Expect Age Discrimination. Retrieved from http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2013/12/24/fighting-age-discrimination/  

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