For years I’ve been frustrated at the lack of professional development support and career advice available to adults over the age of 30.  And I’m not the only one. I’ve had conversations with several people who feel the same way. If, by some miracle, you’re lucky enough to find some kind of support, the quality is dismal. The information is either so generic it’s useless; or it’s assumed that every working person over the age of 30 is or has worked in some kind of middle-management/senior management role within a corporate setting, is middle-classed, white and has a few grand lying around for some dodgy courses they’re offering.

It seems that society is still operating under the archaic notion that once people reach a certain age (usually 30 plus), it’s all plain sailing from there. You’ll never want or need a change of career, development opportunities or career advice. I guess this might have been true for some working people years ago who stayed in the same job forever and who moved seamlessly through the ranks, but unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 30 or so years, you’ll know that things have drastically changed.

Not only are jobs for life a thing of the past, but attitudes towards ageing today are such that some organisations won’t even bother to higher you after a certain age, let alone invest in your development.

The prevailing attitude seems to be that if you are in your thirties and not in management you should be preparing for retirement, and if you’re in your forties, you should be dead already.

More isms and cisms

I don’t think it’s unfair to say that ageism – the last acceptable form of discrimination – plays a role in the lack of career support for adults of a certain age. Generally speaking, attitudes towards older people in the workplace are disgusting to say the least. I’m pretty sure that most people would be outraged if their colleagues casually suggested that black people are less capable in the workplace or that women are less likely to engage with technology, yet these are just two of many ageist comments that I have had the misfortune of hearing recently. Attitudes like this are common but almost always go unchecked, leading to the types of stereotyping that have hindered the development of women, minoritised groups and people with disabilities and impairments for generations.

Common stereotypes that exist about older people in the workplace include:

• They can’t keep up with new technology (‘What the bloody Hell is the “internet”’?)
• They’re too set in their ways (‘No, I won’t do it! The only way you’ll get me to hand over this typewriter is if you prise it out of my cold dead hands!’)
• They’re slow (‘Apologies for my tardiness, the horse and buggy took an age to arrive then I had to take my hourly constitution around the car park’)
• They take too much time off from work  (you know, with being so close to death and all)
• They’re incapable of learning new things (‘Oh no Janice, as soon as I turned 50 I said, that’s that. No more learning for me! And shut the old brain down.’)
• They lack the energy required to keep up. (or – hear me out –  they’re just tired of our shit).

So, it makes sense that if you believe all of the above (and more) then why would you provide development opportunities or career advice for these useless people? But why stop there? Legend has it that black people are lazy, uneducated and incompetent; women are over-emotional, terrible with numbers and need more time off because they insist on breeding; Jews can’t be trusted; disabled people make everyone feel uncomfortable and require waaay too much by way of adjustments; Muslims might blow us all to smithereens, not to mention all the praying; homosexuals might try to convert everyone, turning the whole office gay…Let’s get rid of all of these problematic people and make the workplace great again!

Huh, what’s that you say?

You think I’m being ridiculous?

But surely if stereotypes surrounding older workers are acceptable grounds for discrimination, then – Huh, what’s that? We have anti-discrimination laws in the UK? Age is a protected characteristic?

Oh well that’s okay then! Phew! People always abide by the law.

Only, if this is true then why, according to ‘What’s the Harm’? a report by the Centre for Ageing Better: ‘in spite of the Equality Act 2010 providing protection against discrimination to employees because of their age, ageism remains one of the most common forms of unfair treatment at work’?

Age, class, ambition, and straight lines

Some of you may be aware of a BBC World Service podcast called ‘Business Daily’. Within this is a three-part series called Tackling Ageism at Work hosted by Ed Butler, which examines ageing in the workplace.

One of the people interviewed was Stuart Lewis, CEO and Co-Founder of RestLess, a work, travel and lifestyle website for people in their 50s and older. He said the following:

“…We know that workers in their 50s or 60s are less likely to receive workplace training than younger workers. We know that…older workers are significantly more likely to drift into long-term unemployment. One of the most common forms of age discrimination actually, is in middle management where people are told they’re over-qualified. So if you think about it, we’re really good at respecting age in the workplace when it’s followed by a linear career path to the top. So most FTSE100 CEOs will be in their 50s, 60s, 70s, same for senior politicians, but as soon as people hop off that single linear career track path which is 99% of the population… that’s when people… certainly in middle management positions [are] being told they’re over-qualified…And people will question their ambition – and wrongly so. We can’t all be FTSE1OO CEOs right? Ninety-nine percent of the population won’t be. But… it’s this link between age, hierarchy and ambition [that] needs to be talked about and actually needs to be addressed, because otherwise people make the very incorrect assumption that if someone hasn’t come to the top of that tree then they’re not ambitious”. (Stuart Lewis, CEO & Co-Founder of RestLess)

If this is what people in middle management can look forward to in later years, then this does not bode well for older people who have worked in non-management roles or different career paths altogether. And if I may, let me get very real for a moment. Most of those middle management roles are mainly occupied by middle-class white men, with a few middle-class white women sprinkled in here and there, meaning that if you happen to be a working-class, person from a non-managerial working background, or a working-class, non-white person from a non-managerial background; or a disabled person, working-class person, who has some line management experience etc, the chances of finding suitable work in older age are even slimmer because “Age combines with other identities resulting in a ‘double jeopardy’ whereby members of already marginalised groups are further stigmatised as they age”. (Doddery but dear?: Examining age related stereotypes)

So what can we do?

Culture change takes time and much of the changes that are so desperately needed will need to come from the organisations themselves. That said, there are a few things we as individuals can do to help ourselves and each other.

Open our eyes

The first thing is for individuals and organisations to actively acknowledge that ageism exists and that it is a very real and damaging form of discrimination as all forms of discrimination are. I’ve focused on workplace ageism here, but ageism in various forms is permeating through society like a virus and is negatively impacting people’s mental and physical health, access to healthcare and housing; finances and general quality of life. Ageism needs to be as abhorrent to people as racism, sexism etc and should not be tolerated.

Challenge ourselves

Despite what some people may have us believe, there is not a single human being on this planet who is so perfect that they never actively or passively discriminate or hold biases against others. Unless we live alone, in the middle of nowhere we are influenced, both positively and negatively by the societies in which we live. We live in an ageist society therefore it is normal that we will carry some ageist thoughts, feelings and behaviours. The key is to recognise this and make a concerted and consistent effort to challenge ourselves to change this. Why do you hold these views? Are you generalising? Are you being fair and balanced? What’s your beef with older people? Did you have an evil grandparent or something?

Challenge others

If someone makes an ageist remark or comment, challenge it and/or report it, the same way (I hope) you would if the comment was homophobic or the like. I know most people are in fear of being labelled a ‘Karen’ so close their eyes and ears to everything, but there’s a massive difference between throwing a tantrum in Starbucks because they’ve run out of cinnamon swirls, and challenging language, behaviours or assumptions that negatively impact others.

Share learning and development opportunities

Let’s keep the lines of communication open within our networks about new learning and development opportunities that we come across both within and outside of places of work. Over the years, and especially now given the current economic situation, Learning and Development budgets within organisations seem to be dwindling and more targeted to people in specific roles. If we stumble across any opportunities that we think will be beneficial to our mature friends, colleagues or family members who are looking for work, a change of career or who want to upskill, we should share this information. That said…

Get rid of the assumption that all older people are loaded

I know it’s fashionable to be openly snarky and, in some cases, just plain nasty to older people about how much easier life has been for them with their big houses, good pensions and long and eventful careers. I also know how infuriating it is to hear someone who has benefited from all of the aforementioned lecturing the rest of us about eating fewer avocadoes and accusing us of being lazy and entitled. Both groups of people are insufferable. That said, we need some perspective. Not everyone of a certain age is financially secure, in fact, there are many people who are really struggling right now. While many people want to continue working, some have to continue to work and a weekend job earning minimum wage isn’t going to cover the bills.

With this in mind, if you are a L&D specialist, trainer, coach, mentor, etc, if you can, consider providing sessions, events, courses etc that are affordable; provide concessions or – dare I say – maybe even free (if you can afford it) to incorporate financial diversity.

Think about how ageism affects you

I have been lucky enough to have learned LOADS from people with both more work and life experience than myself and I am very grateful. I hope that younger people find me as  as kind, helpful and fun to be around as the older people in my life are to me. Ageism separates people and robs us of learning experiences and opportunities to meet and make great professional relationships and/ or lasting friendships with some fantastic people.

Diversity of age and experience can only be beneficial to both individuals and organisations. Without this, companies won’t be representative of their customers and communities and will lack the confidence and perspective that often accompany people with years of work and life experience.

Balance is important in pretty much all walks of life. Where there is a good balance of both older and younger employees there will be mutual learning and understanding and opportunities for growth and development. Statistics already show that diverse teams tend to be more successful and the people within these teams feel more positive about the environment in which they work, so if people are really serious about wanting to work in positive environments and organisations are serious about wanting to be successful then there really is only one way forward.

We need to permanently retire ageism.