Ageism In the Workplace – (How to Beat Ageism) Video
Workplace ageism is alive and unfortunately, it may be seriously impacting your career!
Whether you are 40, 50 or even getting close to 60 you can not ignore how aging in the workplace maybe be affecting you. It can reduce your promotion opportunities, your money or your ability to land new jobs.
I sit down in this video with a senior leader who has been directly affected by the changes in the corporate workplace. We talk about how ageism and corporate culture are directly affecting people’s careers.
How it is affecting us and specifically what you can – and should do – to keep your career on track.
By the way, I can’t say that the conversation or even these notes are “politically correct”. I admit that I am biased as I really do believe that there is a lot of workplace discrimination still around – ‘ageism’ being only one part of workplace discrimination.
What is Workplace Ageism?
“Workplace Ageism” is actually made up of several components: age of course yet it also often about the money you earn in your level of job.
If you are reasonably successful in your career and have 20+ years of experience (usually the 40+year old range), as a corporate professional (eg. tech or management) you could be earning 140K+.
If your company is in a cost cutting phase or preparing for a takeover (like my video guest), you may be an easy target to lay off along with other mid-to-senior level executives. This can literally save millions of dollars for the company. It also makes the books look good even if it doesn’t make you or the client happy.
It seems a combination of age plus high salaries equals a big danger spot of discrimination. Frankly often the layoff process keeps going on down the organizational levels (Winter 2018 update: the individual who was tasked to do my guest’s workload at 100K$ less has since been laid off as well!).
Then we arrive at the next issue: how long are older workers out of work for.
According to an AARP Public Policy Institute analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the average length of unemployment for job seekers age 55 and older was 54.3 weeks.
Think about that… That is a long time to be out of work! (and it’s only 28.2 weeks for younger workers to be unemployed).
Many of my career coaching clients and recruiting clients are mid-career professionals and executives. They want to continue working. It may be for financial, success, or for mind-engaging reasons. Yet, unfortunately I hear a consistent pattern in my clients conversations. Many people are completely thrown for a loop when suddenly they are out of work, not promoted, not given the next great project, or even not offered the raise they feel they have earned. They have not actually kept in touch with their career success. (I won’t kid you that it is easy even if in theory it is simple).
They are also rarely visible or out among their peers. And they often eschew social media. All critical issues that still plague workplace ageism.
Watch the video to find some strategies to find (and keep) your career strong and help beat workplace ageism.
Have you got a career topic that is relevant and bugging you? It might be bugging other professionals as well. Please reach out and let’s talk!
Your comments are also appreciated!
How You Can Beat Ageism in the Workplace. Is ageism an issue in landing a new job or keeping your current one? This video will give you some strategies to combat it.