Age is Just a Number

I went into a store earlier this week to exchange something I had bought a couple days before. I had paid for one thing, but the clerk had given me the wrong item, which I did not notice until after getting home. When I explained it to a different clerk he went back to get the right item, then stopped to explain to his manager what he was doing. The boss got a bit huffy, and came up front to apologize. “No big deal,” I said, and then he asked “was it one of the young ones?”

Now, about half the people working in the shop seemed to be in their late teens, but none of them had made the mistake. I told him, “no, it was someone older.” “Oh,” he said, “it wasn’t me, was it?” “No,” I replied, “not THAT old.”

He really caught me off guard by assuming the mistake had been made by one of his younger employees, as if being younger meant you were automatically stupid. It made me think about how we often view younger workers. While age and experience may go hand in hand, simply because someone is younger and presumably less experienced does not mean they are not capable.

Putting aside the legal issues of age discrimination (which vary from country to country), think about what you might miss out on if you isolate your younger employees because you think they cannot contribute as much. Age diversity offers an opportunity to boost the value of your workforce.

First, just consider the role your younger workers play. The bulk of the value-producing work in your organization may be done by younger employees, while older employees fill management positions. If your younger employees really cannot produce, then you have got serious problems. You should spend more time coaching and developing them, and less time patting them on the head and telling them they don’t know much.

Younger employees are often derided for being fresh from school (the term “fresh grads” is often accompanied by an eye roll), but to me, that sounds like a plus. Someone who has recently been in a learning environment has (hopefully) been exposed to new thinking that is relevant to the field, and is also more likely to be in a receptive mode when it comes to learning new things on the job. Matching up fresh ideas from younger folks with the experience of older employees sounds like a winning combination.

Those fresh viewpoints are another reason you should welcome your younger employees. Experience is very helpful in an organization, but it can also be a problem, especially if you let your successes blind you to new possibilities. People who are not carrying the experiential baggage that you carry may ask the “why do we do it that way?” questions that your company needs to be able to answer. If you think lack of experience is a problem, try to turn it into an opportunity instead.

When an older person hears a compliment to the effect that they’re doing something great “for someone their age,” a common response is, “hey, age is just a number.” Remember, though, that the concept applies just as well at the other end of the spectrum. Make the best use of all your employees, regardless of their age. Ability and potential matter a lot more than the number of candles on a birthday cake.