We Can Fight Age-Biased Images and Their Economic and Social Harm

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Did you know…?

Stats defy the stereotypes in the media and ad industry. Consider these from a recent AARP study in a collaborative project with Getty Images.

  • A third of the American labor force is older than 50 (Bureau of Labor Statistics)

  • The AARP study found only 13% of images of people at work showed this older segment.

  • Of the images analyzed by AARP (random sample of 1,116 images published or posted by popular brands or groups):

  • less than 5% showed over 50s with technology;

  • images generally conveyed they are out of touch and selfish;

  • Advertising professionals blame ageism in their offices. In ad, PR and related U.S. companies, over 81% of employees are under 55

My take on the negative consequences of this situation include:

  • Biases are reinforced, with negative effects on hiring and retention.

  • Businesses suffer by neglecting and turning off a large potential and affluent market.

  • The stereotypes limit those over 55s‘ own perceptions of what they can do - aspirations and capabilities for the mature phase of their lives.

  • The generations tend to get siloed and have limited opportunities to learn from each other. The young lose out as much as the older, as do employers without cross-generational communication and collaboration.

I view employers to be as much to blame as individual biases for neglecting to take purposeful actions to discourage and prevent acting on ageist biases. Further, most employers have not encouraged and set aside worker time to support reaching out to co-workers of different generations to get to know them, and learn their assets to a team or the organization. A Deloitte study found that only 8% of sizable employers had a specific focus on age diversity as many do on gender, race/ethnicity, and LGBTQ. Yet age diversity is the universal, and young as well as older suffer ageism.

Ageism – whether up, down and sideways – is economically unwise as well as personally cruel. So I will continue to call for collaborageismtm, a collaboration of all generations to fight ageism together, the stereotypes, images and work practices.

If this resonates with you, contact me at pwhaserot@pdcounsel.com or youcantgoogleit.com/contact and we’ll see what a cross-generational community can do together.

Phyllis

© Phyllis Weiss Haserot 2019