Getting your player ready...
Dear J.T. & Dale: My belief is that the younger generation of HR workers openly discriminate against older employees. I believe they are threatened because they are simply outperformed by the 40- to 70-year-olds. Thoughts? – Aaron
J.T.: I’m not sure that it’s a question of who’s more productive, but rather, who is less expensive. Labor costs are one of a company’s largest expenses, so hiring younger workers at lower wages is an appealing solution. DALE: Let’s wade into age stereotypes and see what older workers are up against. Say you’re an employer with this list of traits that you most value in your employees: experience, values, work ethic, energy, creativity, openness to change and technological savvy. Which of those do you associate with people under 40 and which with those over 40? The stereotypes would give the first three to older workers and the next four to youth. So your age preference depends on your priorities as an employer, and that’s before you even get to relative salaries. J.T.: Yes, seasoned workers have to deal with the reality that they are being typecast. It’s up to the individual worker to break through those misperceptions. If saying to employers, “I’m older and more experienced” isn’t resulting in job offers, it’s time to change the strategy. DALE: If you’re an older worker, you go in and blow away the stereotype. You go in eager to talk about the latest phone apps or social media sites that you’re putting to use. You bring examples of innovations you’ve been part of. And it wouldn’t hurt to slip in some age-related examples, like how the creative genius of our time, the architect Frank Gehry, created his great masterpiece, the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain, when he was pushing 70. J.T.: It also wouldn’t hurt to put aside resentments and remember that young people also are having a tough time. You might even concede that the young people in this country have it tougher than older workers, with a higher unemployment rate than those in their 50s, all while bent beneath a load of college debt. Dear J.T. & Dale: I just got a promotion that involves some traveling. Standard procedure is that I pay my travel expenses and get reimbursed at the end of the month. I have only one credit card, with $2,000 credit available on it. By my guesstimation, this trip will cost me at least $3,000. I’m embarrassed to tell my manager that I can’t afford to do this. – Justin DALE: Don’t be embarrassed. Most people would have the same problem. The National Bureau of Economic Research published a paper last year on “financially fragile households” that looked at the ability to come up with $2,000 in 30 days. Nearly half of Americans could either not come up with the money at all, or could do so only by pawning possessions or using payday loans. And that was $2,000. So I’m confident that a majority of people would face the same shortfall you’re facing. (By the way, the term “fragile” is apt – a major car repair or even a minor medical emergency could cost $2,000 or more. Meaning that most are headed for a “fiscal cliff.”)
