Why Are Some Employees Called Such Horrible Things?

Things look pretty grim -- besides the approaching reaper himself.

embarassed businessman lawyer faceplam face to palm old manAll the while singing along with The Who’s “My Generation” I always stopped and thought about the lyrics: “Hope I die before I get old.”    

Why would I want to die before I get old?  And how old –  40? 50?  Or even 60?

Welcome to the aging Baby Boomer generation, the cohort that would never age (God forbid!).

“Stairway To Heaven” The Baby Boomer Funeral Dirge?

The Age Discrimination In Employment Act (“ADEA”) forbids discrimination in the terms and conditions of employment based upon age (over 40).  States and municipalities have similarly outlawed such discrimination.

We call this ageism — and condemn and bemoan it.  And with the rapidly aging population, and the lengthening of working life well beyond age 65, the problem of ageism in America is just beginning.

Would You Like To Be Called “A Bag Of Bones?”

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As reflected in numerous court cases, employers have used many terms to refer to older employees, some obliquely ageist: “old school,” or “set in his ways,” or “not a proper fit for the “new environment,’ or “lacking in energy.” 

And have said many nasty things:  “Hang up your Superman cape” and “get it together you f….ing old people,” as well as “looks old,” “sounds old on the telephone,” or is like a bag of bones.

Similarly, employers have referred to their workforce as having too many “gray hairs,” or “too many old, fat, ugly and gray-haired employees.”  Or that “they get tired easily.”

What a way to describe your Grandmother — or you.

Is Ageism Really A Problem?  

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Ageism was framed nicely by author Ashton Applewhite who said in the New York Times that “In 2016, almost 20 percent of Americans 65 and older are working. … These older people represent a vast well of productive and creative potential. … Why, then, are well over a million and a half Americans over 50, people with decades of life ahead of them, unable to find work? … The problem is ageism … [a] dumb and destructive obsession with youth so extreme that experience has become a liability.”

According to a Boston College study people over 55 are being “funneled” into “old-person jobs” — “a mix of high-skill service work (like managers, sales supervisors and accountants) and low-skill service work (like truck drivers, janitors and nursing aides).”  The study found, unsurprisingly, that “overall, these jobs tended to pay less.”

And this is a worldwide phenomenon. 

A recent British study found that an “older white British applicant was 21.9% less likely to be invited for interview compared with the younger white British applicant,” and for jobs offering 9.9% lower wages.  The results were even worse for older black British applicants.  One researcher concluded that “Our results suggest that ageism plays a significant role in the UK labour market.” 

A poll of Australians found that 37% “agreed preconceptions about age held them back, compared to 34 per cent of respondents in the UK and 26 per cent in the USA.”   

“I Was Old, And So I Was Invisible”

Last year Digiday highlighted the plight of one employee, aged 53, in a workforce aged under 27 — seems that a beer wagon at work stopped at each cubicle but his.  He said that “It was like a fraternity house … I was old, and so I was invisible.”

According to the EEOC, a company owner fired a 52-year old employee because he wanted “younger and peppier” employees.  The owner was forced to settle.  Another recent EEOC lawsuit alleged that at a Colorado hospital “[H]ospital managers made ageist comments, including that younger nurses could ‘dance around the older nurses’ and that they preferred younger and ‘fresher’ nurses.”

“The Kids Are Alright” (It’s Me I’m Worried About)

A recent court decision described a 67-year old employee’s claim that “he was ‘frequently the brunt of embarrassing and hurtful age-related jokes.’ … one of the jokes plaintiff’s superiors condoned was ‘referring to [plaintiff] as a ‘carry out’, i.e. someone who would pass away on the job.'”

A “carry out?”

Coded (or not-so-coded) language is often used by “clever” employers in the context of discrimination cases when referring to older employees.  

Pervasive Stereotypes About Older Workers

Why is this happening?  

Well, age stereotyping is not taboo — there’s little stigma for being ageist.  Would people chuckle or look the other way if you used similar terms to describe employees in other protected classes — gender, race, disability, religion?  Hardly.  Dick Van Dyke — remember him? —  is now over 90 and recently talked about age discrimination — which he called “The last acceptable discrimination.” 

According to the Boston College study, “The one thing that people always point out is that acceptability for age stereotyping is extremely high. … For whatever reason, the social stigma for age discrimination is really weak.”

An EEOC Regional Attorney noted: “Research shows that pervasive stereotypes about older workers still persist — for example, there are widespread stereotypes that older workers are less motivated, flexible, or trusting and that a younger workforce is preferable. These stereotypes are flatly untrue and must be recognized for what they are – prejudice and false assumptions.”

Things look pretty grim — besides the approaching reaper himself.

Takeaway 

You’re in the on-deck circle Millenials, Gen X, Gen Y, or Gen Whatever, and you’ll be batting soon.  Do you too hope to die before you get old? 

Think about it.  We’ll all be old if we’re lucky.