Over the last few weeks, I've read various texts dealing with age discrimination.
Does it even exist? and when does it start? is it a new or old familiar pattern?
If the head of department, the HR employee, the boss (oh oh oh, I'm already in the middle of the discrimination! as I'm not using the correct gender, as always everyone is meant, even if there's only the male form here. anyone who has a problem with this is welcome to keep it to themselves - and please leave it there too) has a reservation about anything over 50 as an employee, he is certainly right, as he is usually that age himself and therefore has the best example in front of him in the mirror in the morning (? :rofl: ?).
If I get upset about "the youth", "the lazy Gen Z", etc. - is that also age discrimination?
The young helicopter mothers and the young craftsmen without the old craft honour - also age discrimination?
The old (over 60) freelance engineer has no idea about agile methods and SCRUM and sprints! Okay, if you think about when it all started, who developed it and popularised it - more than 20 years ago. Could today's "old fart" perhaps already have a bit of experience, perhaps a bit more than the young, wild engineer who left university a year and a half ago?
To put all the questions in a nutshell:
THAT'S OLD WINE IN NEW WINESKINS !!!
The discussions have been going on for as long as I can remember, my dad (RIP) talked about it and so did my grandad (RIP). It's a generational thing and will continue, I'm more than sure of that.
Depending on the situation, it will be discussed more or less loudly. At the moment, it's probably louder again.
Smart business leaders have always favoured a healthy mix of young and old because these teams are generally unbeatable. I can only recommend the mix of male and female, and in my personal experience this is even better.
In the current situation with the increasing shortage of skilled labour, it's just plain stupid if I don't cut off old habits and allow resentment towards older employees to continue - especially in my own head. This is where you recognise the much-vaunted ability to learn, flexibility, teamwork and emotional intelligence in decision-makers, which is always demanded of "ordinary people", i.e. employees, in adverts. That's where it quickly ends, especially in middle management. It's just like the implementation problems in politics: it's not "those in Berlin can't get anything done", it's the loosers and louts in middle management in the authorities who slow down, thwart, torpedo, lead ad absurdum. But that's another topic, surely a blog of its own.
CONCLUSION:
- Yes, age discrimination does exist
- no, it is not a new phenomenon
- yes, we can stop it
- no, it still won't change
