How do you create a working environment in which diversity is genuinely respected?
The employee suddenly looks anxious. “Uhm…. Is it really necessary… Shouldn’t we just do a verbal presentation…..? Lots of people will prefer it….”
Your staff member, in their early 60s, has never prepared a PowerPoint before. And they have no idea where to start.
When their younger manager realises what is really going on, they scoff inwardly at the older employee’s lack of technical skills.
They assign the PowerPoint presentation to someone else – “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it” – and mentally dismiss the older employee as a “has-been”.
How do you ensure that your older employees are given the support they need to thrive in the modern workplace?
They don’t understand, or don’t care, that this is actually one of the most accomplished members of the team.
As the workforce ages, variations of this scene threaten to become increasingly common.
So how do you ensure that your older employees are given the support they need to thrive in the modern workplace – and that their potential to contribute is valued and recognised, as well?
I've already discussed the need for you to proactively manage your ageing workforce. You need to create policies which prevent discrimination against your older employees, and create an environment in which different generations can work productively together.
But policies, on paper, will make no difference. Not unless your team members have genuinely bought in to your vision of a company where people of different skills, abilities and experience work together, supporting each other and drawing on each other’s strengths.
That scenario I laid out earlier, of a company in which a younger manager dismisses an older employee because they don’t know their way around PowerPoint? That could easily happen in a company which is officially committed to “age diversity”.
But it wouldn’t happen in a company in which that was genuinely the prevailing culture. Making that happen is a big task. But it is possible. Over the past few decades, most companies have made enormous strides instilling a culture of gender and cultural diversity in their workplaces.
I’m not saying that all the work is done – far from it. But most companies have made a conscious effort to create workplaces in which women and minorities are celebrated and treated equally, and diversity is recognised as a net asset to the business.
Age diversity is rarely championed in the same way – but it could be.
Start by rolling age into the initiatives you run in any case around diversity.
And help your employees understand that there are enormous benefits to working in a multi-generational environment, just as working in a multi-cultural environment helps everyone.
Everyone has knowledge to share, with older generations retaining – for example – a lot of institutional and operational knowledge which would otherwise be lost.
Create cross-generational mentoring programmes to share that knowledge.
Intolerance of ageism should be a given, just like intolerance of sexism and discrimination against minorities is now a norm.
And help the generations working together see that they’re dependent on each other’s success.
Encourage them to work together in age-diverse projects, so they can develop trust and work together for a common goal. Team-based incentive and reward systems work particularly well.
Of course, none of this happens on its own.
The top layers of management must be absolutely committed to respecting age diversity and reaping its benefits.
This means proactively thinking about how you need to structure and change your business, to bring it about…
…So when an older employee confesses they have never used PowerPoint, the reaction is never eye-rolling and exasperation, but an offer of help.
Your younger employee knows that the older staff member has helped them navigate other issues in the past, because the information flows in both directions - and they are happy to reciprocate.
That is a workplace where staff believe that age diversity has intrinsic value.