Hello everyone,
Have you watched the movie, ‘The Intern’?
I love Anne Hathaway movies, but this one inspires me as it has a 71 year old retired widower, taking up an internship at an online fashion site.
I keep wondering why we don’t see such plots in India or for that matter 65 year olds at the workplace anymore. That led me down a rabbit hole.
Read the story for more.
The only workplaces I now see 50+ year olds (that too sparingly) are Banks, Schools, IT/ITeS companies and Manufacturing Facilities. For context, there will be 239.4 million Indians over the age of 60 in 2041 against 104.2 million in 2011. Meanwhile, the number of Indians aged between 0-19 has already started to decline and the proportion of the population in that age group is projected to fall to 25 percent by 2041 from 41 percent in 2011. While we currently are in the golden age of demographic dividend, that is only expected to last another 15 years or so.
Hence, integrating 'experience-capital' in companies is very important so as to start planning for a time when most of India's population is no longer young.
What is experience-capital?
People over 45 years of age, who are willing to be a part of the workforce, come with certain attributes that can be advantageous to companies. They include:
Maturity and firefighting skills. Simply put, they do not panic (fast).
Experience of work/domain, ups downs of multiple business cycles and complicated people related situations.
Network and connections.
Collectively, this is the ‘experience-capital’ and diversity of thought that can be leveraged by startups and growing organisations.
So, why don't we see many grey haired folks in offices today?
Not because of the obvious reasons like older people looking younger these days (!), or companies not hiring older employees due to fat packages (that too), but the nuances are slightly hidden and deeper.
As pointed out by Vaitheeswaran K, Cofounder Again Drinks and Indiaplaza (India’s first e-commerce company), an important cultural reason is that in Asia, age is directly translated to wisdom and hence associated with more respect and higher designations. Filial piety, or “respect for one’s elders,” is often an assumed common value among Asian cultures. Be it China, Japan, Korea or India, caregiving responsibilities of elders are passed on to their children and grandchildren and that may not be the case in the United States, for example. There, elders look after themselves and are provided State aid in case they are unable to. That is perhaps a reason why you see many veterans take up junior positions and start their careers from scratch at 65 or beyond. Everytime I think about this, I am reminded of the American movie, ‘The Intern’ where a 70 year old widower starts afresh and bags the role of a ‘senior intern’ at an online fashion house. Cannot imagine this happening in India (yet).
Did you know: companies do not ask for the date of birth of potential candidates in the United States. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 prohibits them from doing so.
Says Dr Varsha Sreevatsa, Author - Apples & Oranges (a book offering practical approaches to incorporate D&I initiatives in organisations); Founder at LetsDRIVE; Proponent of Cognitive Diversity & Total Inclusion, “The construct of our society doesn't permit veterans to take up entry level roles. Further, if they do, societal stigma catches up and there might be murmurs about their children deserting them. However, that will change. Going forward, we will have fewer pensioners and more people will have to work in multiple sprints." Referring to the book, The 100-year life by Lynda Gratton & Andrew Scott:, she adds that with life expectancy increasing, people are now planning and designing longer term careers and that will mean seeing more veterans taking up a second or third innings.
Having said that, there are some on ground realities that skew the average age in offices today.
According to Vikas Dua, Head of HR at IPG DXTRA, a leading marketing communications company, the pandemic may have accentuated the hiring of younger candidates across roles. Reason being, higher degree of automation in the workplace and need to keep costs under control. Many companies have done away with CXO roles (that require a work experience of 20+ years) and replaced them with Manager or Senior Manager level roles (that require a work experience of 10-15 years at the most). This is making it tough for older employees to either switch jobs easily or to get back to the workforce. Vikas says, "The situation on ground is worrisome as many people still do not have a retirement nest at the age of 45." Some of the trends he is observing are older employees taking up more consulting, coaching and freelance gigs or staying put in their current roles and jobs. He believes meeting mid-way is a good solution for both companies and older employees, where companies are flexible about age and older employees about titles and compensation.
Lastly, we also may be victims of the past. For decades, grey haired folks dominated the workplace and hierarchy was the norm. Younger talent was not given its due and in many places even today, a younger coworker is not given enough space to voice their thoughts. Says Sandhya Menon, a communications professional, “Today, the reverse is true. Younger workers have found a voice and are questioning why they should respect older colleagues.” The fact that older colleagues are role models and can teach by demonstrating resilience is lost on many workplaces.
However, we must meet mid-way.
A middle path means the best of both worlds and here are some ways that can happen.
Normalising reporting based on proficiency and not age: As per Vaitheeshwaran, each function/ department requires a unique hiring approach. He says, ‘getting an older person to report to a youngster is a skill and also getting them to do their work is a skill’. In startups especially, there is an action bias, for which younger professionals are preferred. However, there are some expertise and experience driven roles for which only senior talent is preferred. Hiring managers must know the difference and strike a balance.
As a corollary to the point above, older workers should not worry much about who they report into and be thorough professionals putting their skills to the most advantageous use.
Overcoming homophily and being more inclusive : Rajeev Menon, Author- Apples & Oranges and DEI proponent, talks about the psychological concept of ‘Homophily’ - the tendency for people to seek out or be attracted to those who are similar to themselves. This often leads to a bias in hiring. Instead, organisations should focus more on being inclusive. He says, “We are always more comfortable with our own kind and culturally that has to change.” In India, the concept of diversity and inclusion is restricted to diversity only - and not inclusion. To be truly inclusive is to empower and hire for diverse thinking, not just tokenism. He further suggests that workplaces have to make some behavioural changes. For example, let everyone in a meeting speak, keep track of who is giving ideas and which ones are executed. Change meeting convenors and reward for thought and not just action.
Creating more 'reverse mentoring' opportunities: Varsha recommends, hosting listening sessions and pairing younger and older workers together. They should be able to freely exchange ideas and also be codependent at work. Further, being a ‘don't’ knower’ is key to creating a more transparent work culture. Many older workers, if given the opportunity, are more than excited and willing to train and impart their skills to younger workers - organisations should encourage that.
For example, a younger employee recently expressed how being paired with an industry veteran on a project helped them gain tremendous expertise and industry know-how. Late stage startups especially are now hiring many experienced subject-matter experts; pairing them with younger team members will be beneficial to both.
Measuring more than 'productivity': Companies should not use the same yardstick of measurement for a 40 something vs. a 20 something year old. Assessments should be more skill and outcome based and not productivity and output based. Not every attribute can be quantified, but older workers do bring in more thought-diversity that should be encouraged.
The fact that we are interdependent and need a mix of everyone at the workplace is well known. Going forward, here is hoping age is just a number and each person is given the runway to live their professional best. Be it at 20 or 60. That should not matter.
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