To mark Ageism Action Day on Wednesday 20th March, Stuart McPherson, a colleague from the Communications and Marketing team looks at how age plays into a colleague's experiences at work, and the support GC offers.
By Stuart McPherson, Internal Communications Officer, GC and member of the AGE EDI network.
People are now working later into their lifetimes – 32.6% of the UK workforce is over 50, that’s up from 21% in the early 1990s. There are a number of factors that have influenced this change, people are living longer, pension aspirations haven’t come to fruition, retirement plans change and for some people, they simply want to continue with their career. This means age diversity and inclusion will become even more important in the coming decades.
At the early end of the age spectrum, more young people are considering apprenticeships and work placements, starting their career much younger than previously. For comparison, in the 1990’s, the university route was more actively encouraged and traditionally this would have been the route for entering the workplace.
This just goes to show that the way we initially enter into our careers shapes our expectations and experiences of the workplace. This is also influenced by changing perceptions of age in the workplace, technology and cultural changes.
As 'Ageism Action Day', was approaching, it got me thinking about how all of us have the choice to do something to change the narrative about ageism. Everyone has a valuable experience to share – regardless of their age, career and ambitions.
As a GC colleague and a member of our Age Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) network, I’d like to share my story and perspective on ageism in the workplace, and what I've found GC do to create a supportive culture.
Removing barriers to build an age diverse workforce
Ageism in the workplace often involves stereotyping or discriminating against people based on their age and can be directed at older adults as well as young people – in fact, at any stage in your working career. This can impact your mental and physical health, as well as your self-esteem, and finances.
Exclusion is often a major barrier, where people may intentionally leave you out of activities because of a perception that you’re not able to take part because of your age or experience. Similarly, being denied access to new opportunities for career advancement for similar reasons is still a sign of ageism in many workplaces. In some organisations we see recruitment and promotion of younger employees, with older people denied a job because they’re perceived as being overqualified.
Another often overlooked form of ageism impacting younger workers is where managers and co-workers treat them as a child, and can perhaps over-check their work and hand-hold them day-to-day – ultimately affecting their confidence and motivation.
Sometimes ageism is quite obvious and easy to spot, but it can also be much more subtle – and you may even step back and take time to consider whether someone’s words or actions are a form of ageism.
Perceptions, motivations and aspirations
In many organisations, we have multiple generations working and co-existing in the workplace. Here’s the age split at GC:
It is estimated that there are five generations in the UK workforce at present – more than ever before, so it’s a real balancing act to represent and support everyone. I’m from the age demographic cohort often referred to as ‘Generation X’, people born from 1965-1980, which precedes the generation born after the Second Word War – the ‘Baby Boomers’ and the ‘Silent Generation’ before that. I also work alongside ‘Generation Y’ (Millennials) colleagues born between 1981-96, and ‘Generation Z’ (Zoomers) colleagues born from 1997-2012.
Across the generations, perceptions of work and the workplace differ significantly – and age has played a key role in that. For example, if you were an older male working in the 1970s, you were more respected because people thought you knew what you were talking about, without question. But today’s generations rightly challenge these notions now.
Each generation also has different perceptions on what work is and also has different motivations and aspirations for lifestyles and their careers. As the previous idea of getting married in your late teens/early 20s and setting up home and starting a family soon after has changed, younger people today often see work as their main way to support their lifestyle (i.e. they work to get a wage to support their lifestyle), where traditionally people have worked to provide for their family and cover their responsibilities.
Hear from GC colleague Hannah Morris, Marketing Executive for the Refugee Employability Programme who’s a ‘Generation Z’ colleague working at GC and talks about how they feel about ageism and shares her motivations in the workplace:
“I do feel that ageism does still exist in certain workplaces, however I have luckily never felt it when working at GC. In a previous role I felt they took advantage of my age. I wanted to work for a company that appreciated me for who I was. Ever since joining GC just over 2 years ago, I have been impressed by the wide range of opportunities that they offer. I feel motivated when I see young people succeeding in their roles and moving into managerial positions.”
It’s important that, here at GC, we support colleagues of all ages through our Colleague Survey and our Employee Consultancy Committee (ECCs) and EDI networks, we actively listen to what’s important, so we can develop our ways of working and tailor how we support specific age groups.
For example, our most recent colleague survey told us that younger people want more ‘bitesize’ video content in our communications to them. This makes complete sense when we look at how our younger generations now absorb news and information through social media – especially through TikTok and Instagram. When I was in my 20s, I put forward a similar request. Rather than receiving my employer’s resources and support through physical ‘handbooks’ and ‘manuals’, I suggested we moved to providing the content for younger recruits as ‘CD-ROMs’ – how times have changed, but in some ways haven’t at all!
Change isn't a new thing
Change can often present barriers in the workplace. I've embraced chance across my working career – which has seen significant shift across technologies. At school I wasn’t prepared for the technical revolution that lay ahead. In fact at high school I was taught ‘touch typing’ on electric typewriters. It wasn’t until I started my degree in the mid 1990’s that I began to learn how to use a computer.
When I started work in 1997, we had desktop PCs with ‘Windows 95’ and email, and we mainly used faxes to share content externally, but that’s about as techy as it got. Soon after came laptops, work access to the world-wide web, work mobile phones, and the ‘BlackBerry’ revolution in the mid naughty’s. Then came the biggest change of all – social media, which truly changed how I worked and how the people around me received information.
I know that AI is now very much in the here and now and that’s the next big change I’m gearing-up to embrace which will massively influence how I work. I take comfort in knowing that, across my 27 years in work, I’ve learned so much from each experience of change and continue to embrace the positives around ways of working – I however fully recognise that it might not be easy for all colleagues to make the move to AI, we are all different and it’s our age and experiences that shape us. I know GC understands this.
Equity, Experience and Education
18 months ago, after working for the same employer for 25 years straight out of Uni, following a restructure my role was made redundant. In all honesty, I was terrified. Whilst I knew I had masses off experience and could pull from a diverse skillset, always at the back of my mind was the thought that I was too old to be venturing into pastures new. I kept thinking… who’s going to employ a grey-haired guy, fast approaching fifty, with middle-aged spread. But I’m pleased to say, someone did here at GC. This did give me a big confidence boost – that my skills and experience were relevant and valued.
Since being at GC, I’ve developed my skills and adapted my craft in a totally different environment and business area. I’ve seen and worked with colleagues from right across the age spectrum. It’s clear that, as an organisation, we respect ‘age’ as a protected characteristic. We recognise that every colleague brings something unique to their role and we’re committed to supporting them throughout their time and career with GC.
One thing that’s often concerned me is how, working alongside colleagues who are often half my age, I’d be able to keep up and be perceived as still performing and ‘on my game’. I’ve observed that, as some of my colleagues have matured in their career, people can form some quite damaging stereotypes about them being less flexible, less creative, less able to learn and less spontaneous. I really don’t want to be perceived in that way.
In fact, for many there’s often a hunger for more learning and career/academic opportunities in later careers. I’m aware of a least two colleagues here at GC who have started an apprenticeship and they’re both over 50. It’s welcoming to see this is becoming more common and opportunities such as this are not just available to colleagues who are beginning their careers. It’s great that GC offers its colleagues the choice to learn at any age.
At GC, I know that we listen to our colleagues and we have a strong collective knowledge base and loads of experience. When I heard about our Colleague Mentoring Programme, I jumped at the chance to share some of my experience with another colleague who was looking to develop their skills.
Planning and supporting everyone's futures
Our age-diverse workforce at GC helps us build and maintain a balanced approach to understanding the work and life events that really matter to our colleagues. From attending a couple of the Age Network’s meet-ups, which is made up of colleagues of all ages, I could see the group understood how our colleagues’ time with GC runs alongside some big moments and milestones in their lives. These ‘life events’ can often present challenges, uncertainty and generate questions, but they can also be rich in learnings which can benefit others.
For example, women experience different challenges in their careers. These ‘life events’ can stall someone’s career, accelerate it or cause them to move in a different direction. It can also mean that sometimes someone might never reach their career potential or goals, their ambitions might shift, or they might find it harder to progress. The great thing about working at GC is the opportunities present to upskill, make an internal move, or even join a supportive network.
With the Age network’s support, GC actively follows the news to keep on top of any age relevant areas to continually review our decision-making to support our colleagues and our business processes.
Our HR and recruitment teams target and fine-tune recruitment to reach and attract underrepresented age-groups in our organisation, and actively work towards accreditations and awards relating to age-diversity. Their work to anonymise CVs as part of the recruitment and selection process also provides massive confidence in this space.
Balanced alongside this, employers need to give more thought and focus to the physical demands of an ageing workforce. This isn’t so much relevant for an office-based role, but with age does come the risk of many age-related heath conditions such as arthritis, which can impact in any role.
I want to be sure that I’m still enjoying my job, have equal opportunity, and have the support and confidence of my employer – regardless of my advancing age. Thanks for reading about my perspective on ageism in the workplace, and what GC are doing.
More information
To find out more about the Age EDI Network, or to join as a member or become an ally, email AgeNetwork@growthco.uk