That said , older people should not have a monopoly on senior positions . Some people are more than ready to lead when they are young . The aim should always be to fill senior positions with the best people , whatever their age .
LS : It differs between industries . If you are a bank , then yes there is definitely a lean to older employees occupying the most senior roles . However , if you are a supermarket , the reverse is true . It is a problem when the reason for the imbalance is a false stereotype that older workers are more expensive . 92 % of this age group will take a pay cut to retrain into a new role or industry .
RL : Senior positions often come with experience so I don ' t see any imbalance here as necessarily being a problem . I think it of course depends on the type of organisation and the experience required at a senior level . Where I do see an imbalance is the lack of older women in senior positions . The higher up most organisations we go , the more white and male the team is . Organisations need to enable older women to both stay in the workplace and progress in it .
Trumpet the successes of your older employees , tweak your recruitment algorithms to remove all ageism prejudices , and make your workplace physically comfortable for older bodies ( younger workers will love this too ).
LS : Understand the topic . We host a free , cross-industry , Age Pioneers Action Panel for HR Leaders keen to learn more from each other . This
What should organisations be doing right now to tackle this ? CH : Nothing shoots down stereotypes like getting to know the people being stereotyped , so get the generations mixing more within your organisation . You can do this through reverse mentorship schemes or mixed social events .
Remove ageist language from your recruitment material . If older people read that you ' re looking for a " geek " or a " rock star " or someone who is a " recent graduate " they won ' t apply .
94 October 2022