Surviving as an Old in the Tech World

Companies can thrive without shunning employees of a certain age. Here’s how.
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About 15 years ago, I was inexplicably offered a job at Google—at age 52. At the time, my age reliably put me in the running for “oldest employee.” Still, I was thrilled to be there and worked hard to become known as a good colleague, reliable, energetic, and a quick study. As the company grew, so did our team, and of course many new people (virtually all younger) were hired around me.

One day well into my tenure, I had a quick hallway chat with one of the leaders of our team. As part of my job, she suggested, I should show these newbies how to do some of my everyday tasks. “You know, let the young people do it,” she said.

Let the young people do it: I understood immediately. In this moment, she and I were mature stewards (she’s about 15 years younger, by the way) looking across a verdant landscape of young employees. We two could share a grown-up understanding that the way forward was to give these up-and-comers every chance to learn and grow. As I recall, my reaction at the time was a mental shrug: Yep, that’s how it is.

I’ve thought about that brief exchange a lot since—and it was in no way particular to Google. Age awareness is a funny thing. I’m 66 now and I don’t dye my hair or hide my age. But this confidence comes in part from working in tech businesses for many years, among—and increasingly for—people 10, 20, and even 30 years younger than me. I haven’t always liked it, but it’s the norm. I’m used to it. So used to it, in fact, that I’m quite skeptical of legacy companies that value hierarchy and old-school protocols above all. (You know the ones: They live by “We’ve always done it this way.”) I wouldn’t want to work in a place where management is close to my age without a gold-plated guarantee they share the “Let’s try it and see” outlook of younger companies.

There’s a lot of attention in the business world today on what’s called diversity and inclusion. It’s the idea that companies need to work harder and more persistently to attract, retain, and recognize diverse talent across the spectrum of gender, race, class, and so on. Not only is it the right thing to do, the thinking goes, but it also enhances business by creating a broader mix of people bringing their energies, styles, creativity, and fresh thinking to the job. And we’ve all seen stories of company culture gone wrong when diversity isn’t prioritized.

But there’s one bias that doesn’t get addressed much: age. The very people who might be affected by age discrimination often don’t want to bring it up—especially in Silicon Valley. Let’s face it: Few of us over 40 want to be considered “old” or label ourselves as outsiders. If workers do come forward, age discrimination is very hard to prove, since it’s often hidden by internal reorganizations, budget cuts, and employee “at-will” agreements. The subject of “older workers” can be a legal minefield for companies—to even acknowledge it is to open a Pandora’s box of issues.

We “elders” know perfectly well that our workplaces are by and large not about us. We don’t drive how roles, functions, advancement, and success are seen. Career development options and the hierarchical career ladders everyone is expected to climb are designed for the majority: younger workers.

What can be done? There has to be a systems overhaul before the members of the over-40 crowd can quit worrying about hair dyeing or giving themselves a crash course in pop culture. Almost everyone I know over 40 tends to omit their graduation year from their résumés and eliminate or streamline their past experiences.

Let me suggest a few areas where the olds might get a little more TLC.

1. Socializing

In an era when we’re encouraged to bring our authentic selves to work, after-hours socializing is part of the deal. For older workers (and others who aren’t quite a “culture fit”), tone-deaf get-togethers can cause emotional or logistical havoc. I’ve survived karaoke, rock climbing, and a folkloric overnight ski trip myself. There are good reasons for groups to let off steam and get better acquainted, but please, managers, make sure everyone feels comfortable about socializing in whatever way and at whatever time that you think will be so much fun. As writer and working mom Mikki Kendall observes, “Coworkers can bond over an in-office lunch or an employee picnic that welcomes families just as well, if not better, as they can over a whiskey tasting.” Here’s a good guideline: Team social events shouldn’t require physical prowess or alcoholic excess—so forget paintball and bar crawls. Done right, employee socializing leads to understanding between ages, cultures, genders, and all the rest. Done badly, corporate “fun” can lead to disaffected employees—or worse.

2. Career development

As long as you’re still working, professional development shouldn’t stop. In my corporate jobs I’ve noticed that virtually all the skill building the company pays for is geared to people starting out or wanting to climb the ladder. Career help is often tied to what’s called an “up or out” management approach—which means you either have the wherewithal to be promoted steadily up the chain, or out you go. But programs that encourage job rotation—job shadowing, shifting to another office or partner site—work for all kinds of employees, not just younger ones. Not everyone can pull up and take a six-month rotation to Belo Horizonte or Singapore, but you can design programs for different ages and mobility.

3. Mentoring programs

Mentoring and coaching programs are useful tools for professional development. I’m also glad to see technical mentoring programs on the rise, which do the important work of helping young women and people of color get into STEM roles, management training, and other specialties. I’d love to see more widespread mentoring programs where the over-40 crowd can make use of their experience. Even better, let’s help older employees transition into mentoring roles while they’re paid to do it. I know of one position at a large company where a long-time senior executive assistant became the (paid) mentor and advocate for a large group of EAs. Let’s see more of that. I should note the rise of “reverse mentoring”—a valuable way to build relationships and engagement across age groups. As 2U CTO James Kenigsberg notes, “Looking to junior employees as mentors helps you stay current with what’s going on above and below water.”

4. Valuing individual contributors

Career tracks often lead to managing people: It’s the main way you make more money and earn bigger titles and more perks. But there are plenty of talented and dedicated people with no desire to get into the people-management business—and when you’re older and really skilled at your job, why should you have to? More companies should offer a fully developed, and valued, individual contributor track. Tech companies often give engineers this option, but surely other teams need steady, knowledgeable talent with depth, not breadth. Why must an ace creative director, biz dev, or sales star also have to become a manager to get all the goodies? If success isn’t only defined by achieving manager status, there’s room for more people to excel.

5. Outside learning

It’s not uncommon for companies to offer a professional development allowance that covers some or all of the cost of continuing education where it has direct relevance to your current job. That’s nice, but in the era of soft skills, like creativity and EQ, we should broaden what “relevant” means. It’s not a big stretch to see how, say, an outdoor survival program or improv classes can help workers become more engaged, curious, and nimble. For training that’s farther afield, a flexible spending account to which employees can contribute could be designated for this purpose.

6. Recognition and credit for volunteer activities

Many companies set aside days for volunteering at charities or for team fundraising on runs and walks. These are great ways to build camaraderie while doing a social good, not to mention giving the company reputational luster. Older workers, who often have done years of volunteering on their own, benefit from being valued for their efforts, especially if it counts toward promotions, sabbaticals, and skill building. Consider adding programs where giving back counts for something.

7. Phased retirement

The vast number of us boomers (some 10,000 a day) rushing headlong toward 65 calls for more creative ways for us to to eventually disengage from jobs. Companies shouldn’t want all that institutional knowledge to walk out the door all at once. Beyond that, people don’t want to—and often can’t—retire at one predefined age. We want and need to work; at the same time, we want to have more free and flexible schedules. Companies should devise programs (like these) to adjust workloads and responsibilities so that valuable workers are engaged as long as they’d like to be.

8. Benefits and perks

As companies add more kinds of benefits to attract recruits, HR and compensation experts should consider the whole spectrum of add-ons. Egg freezing and IVF coverage can be wonderful for those who need them; ditto for parental leave for adoptions and support for gender reassignment surgery.

How about a few items that are geared to older workers? Like these:

  • Enlightened policies for eldercare support (liberal leave, geriatric manager services)
  • Financial planning ahead of retirement
  • Counseling on Medicare and supplemental insurance (believe me, it’s complicated)
  • A formal Employee Resource Group designation for those of a certain age (for example, the Google Greyglers are, roughly, 40 and up)
  • New roles for retirees (e.g., company historian)

I feel very lucky to have spent so many years around the technology world, where I’ve learned firsthand how to manage through chaos, pivot with adroitness and humor, savor fast failure, and all the other tech commandments. These are skills I’ll call on for the rest of my life. Now, it would be great for many more businesses to embrace the fact that, as a recent Brookings report says, “Older workers possess deep work experience and expertise as well as extensive institutional knowledge and professional networks.” Let’s not let anything go to waste!