“You just don’t get me”! Most arguments between the so called ‘old school’ parents and their children end with the younger cohort throwing this statement. This gap in schools of thought spills over to the corporate world too. Younger members of the workforce feel the older managers just don’t ‘get’ them, that is, they don’t understand what the youngsters are all about. The older members, on the other hand, feel the younger members do not want to understand what the seniors are all about and where they come from. Youngsters at the workplace often stereotype the seniors as being resistant to change or tech unsavvy, while the seniors think the youngsters lack experience, maturity and commitment. So, yes, ageism is experienced by both the older and younger employees. While it may be subtle, the effects of ageism may be felt across the organisation.
With multiple generations working together in organisations, it is more important than ever before that each generation ‘gets’ the other or at least tries to.
GI Group Holding’s latest report, The Multigenerational Edge: Shaping Tomorrow’s Workplace, reveals that a significant 42 per cent of the employees surveyed experience ageism, while 39 per cent are not sure whether they are facing or have faced ageism at work.
A good 59 per cent of Conventionalists or those from the old school (born between 1946 and 1964) admit to experiencing age-related bias, while 44 per cent Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) echo the same sentiment, followed by 37 per cent of Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) and 31 per cent of Gen X (born between 1965 and 1980) at the workplace. Clearly, nobody is too old or too young to be subject to ageism. About 52 per cent of women and those from other gender identities admit to having faced ageism at work. This figure is way more than the 30 per cent men who have faced ageism. As expected, it is more difficult for women to succeed at the workplace given all the biases, including age, that they have to face.
Only 19 per cent of those surveyed said that they did not experience ageism at work, but then 39 per cent are not sure whether they have been discriminated against because of age, and 42 per cent are quite sure they have been. That means all professionals have been subjected to ageism at some stage of their career. Some realize it and some don’t.
Let’s go back to the ‘you don’t get me’ part of the argument we started with. In most scenarios, neither of the parties tries to ‘get’ the other, and the generation gap widens. The parents simply decide to remain quiet hoping that the children will come around sooner or later or just feel they should be left to figure out things for themselves. They think back to their times when they would simply accept what their parents said without raising their voice. The children today walk away thinking there is no point trying to make their parents see their perspective and go ahead and do exactly what they please.
Cut to the corporate world and there is data to show that Conventionalists, with their years of experience, are comfortable reporting to older bosses, with a comfort level of 4.7 on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 indicating a great level of comfort and 1 indicating very low level of comfort. Gen X is at a comfort level of 4.3, while Millennials are at 3.6 and Gen Z at 3.3. The comfort level is lower when it comes to the younger generations.
Comfort working with older colleagues seems to be more or less similar and steady across cohorts. While Gen Z and Millennials report a comfort level of 3.5, Gen X and Conventionalists are a bit more comfortable and understanding at 3.9 and 3.7.
What happens when the boss is younger? Things are very different then. Millennials and Gen Z are more used to working in fluid structures and are fairly comfortable reporting to younger bosses, with comfort levels of 4.3 and 4.2, respectively. Gen X is somewhat less comfortable at a level of 3.6. The Conventionalists, however, show the lowest level of comfort, with their comfort rating standing at 3.4. Why? Well, just like parents feel their children don’t ‘get’ them dismissing their advice based on years of experience, Conventionalists at work too feel that positions of authority should go to those with years of experience. After all, the younger lot has a lot to learn and miles to go before they ‘earn’ that position at the top.
Not surprisingly, therefore, when it comes to working with younger colleagues, Gen Z is most comfortable at a rating of 4.1, followed by Millennials at 3.9, Gen X at 3.6 and Conventionalists (3.5).
Clearly, the older members of the workforce are finding it difficult to embrace the almost informal, highly collaborative technology-heavy workplaces of today where the youngsters feel so much at home.
The key lies in recognising the differences and acknowledging them, so that an environment can be created where everyone works together amicably, towards a common goal.