The Insidiousness of Hidden Ageism Can Destroy Careers and Lives

There was a time when the companies believed in “last hired, first fired.” The reasoning was that these new hires were usually younger, so it was easier for them to find new employment, and had less training, so the company would retain the experienced heart of their workforce.

Those days are no more. Now my generation, the baby boomers, are the first to go when companies seek to cut costs. According to this article by Elizabeth Olson in the New York Times’ DealB%K, older workers cost the company more money so they’re the first to go regardless of the fact that it is increasingly hard for them to find new jobs—a fact confirmed by AARP. Ironically, companies who indulge in ageism also find that they no longer have competent, experienced employees as a foundation of good operating practices.

I wrote about this at length in my book, From Bully to Bull’s-Eye: Move Your Organization Out of the Line of Fire, where I shared the case of William, who was systematically forced out of his job after restructuring to save costs. Ageism is a particularly insidious form of discrimination that makes little sense: we will all be old one day—if we’re lucky.

Photo credit: BIGSTOCK

Beware of Lies About Misconduct When Negotiating Severance

Too frequently businesses that lay off an employee allege misconduct to avoid paying a large severance package—and sometimes any severance at all. It’s a tactic that’s very difficult for employees to fight, especially in the United States. Employment attorney Daniel Lublin discusses the tactic in “The dangers of alleging and exaggerating employee misconduct”in the Globe and Mail.

I urge everyone who feels that they are falling into this trap to keep a record of objectives met and all discussions with superiors. Some of these discussions should be initiated by the employee, reviewing performance goals, asking for clarification where there is subjectivity or ambiguity. However, in the case of the 60-year-old employee mentioned in this article, this appears to have been a case of ageism. Special vigilance may be called for if you feel you are being targeted due to age, race, gender, disability or sexual orientation. 

Credit: BIGSTOCK

Visa Abuses Mean Layoffs for Domestic Workers

H-1B visas are a great idea in theory. The notion of bringing the world’s best and brightest to work for your company is appealing, but many corporations have been abusing these visas to bring in low-cost alternatives to their existing employees. To add insult to injury, according to this article, “in many cases, laid off American workers have been required to train their lower-paid replacements.” To take it one step further, many laid off workers signed agreements that made it impossible to criticize their former employers in order to receive severance pay – making it impossible for many of the victims of this situation to be heard publicly. No wonder that, according to Gallup Polling, 70% of American workers are unengaged at work. You can read more on this at The New York Times.

Photo: Workers from Abbott Laboratories gathered after a series of layoffs at their company; Joshua Lott for NYT.

The Effect of Temporary Workers on the Job Market

Photo: Sam Hodgson for NYT

The idea that the main growth of the American job market is composed of “gig” jobs – contractors and temporary workers – is troubling in and of itself. However, the added lens of ageism makes this notion more disturbing. By employing short-term workers, businesses are encouraging a culture that cuts out support for employees – especially workers over 45 with more than 10 years of service for their companies, who are exactly the people contracted employees are most likely to replace. This reminds me of a story from January about Disney employees who were laid off for contract employees that they were then asked to train for the jobs they were vacating. While that particular case may not be explicitly related to ageism, I would not be surprised if most layoffs in favor of contracted or temporary employees hurt older workers. Read the full story at The New York Times.