AGEISM – The New Menace for the Workforce & How to Tackle It
- Rati Hegde
- 20 hours ago
- 9 min read
Rati Hegde
Mob. No: 9819018240
Smt. Rati Hegde is a columnist, author, speaker, TV panelist, Social Media influencer and founder member of the Hindu Charter of Demands and Equal Rights for Hindus. Recently her second book “Tales of Bharat – Dharma” was published by Indusscrolls.
As per WHO, Ageism refers to the stereotypes (how we think), prejudice (how we feel) and discrimination (how we act) towards others or oneself based on age.
The furiously fast pace of innovation and life which is loved by many also has a side to it which is frighteningly cruel to those who are unable to keep up with the pace, especially in technology driven industries.
Students, especially in Bharat (India), now choose the Information Technology sector as their first choice in the education stream, since it is seen as an industry which gives one a job opportunity almost immediately on completion of the basic degree.
While it is true that job opportunities for the young and inexperienced exist in plentiful in the Software industry, the fact is that most people only plan into the first 20 years of working, assuming that growth will happen automatically as one collects experience on the job.
What happens to those who are not able to move up the ladder or those who are not able to keep up with the changes in technology?
Even more frightening is the question as to what happens to those who have reached the upper bracket of income in a particular level?
Year-on-year do they get the expected minimum 10% increase in salaries to keep up with the inflation and/or the years of service put in?
In a country where people still agitate for “permanent” jobs in the government sector, the scary situation of their company being shut down when they have put in about 10+ years of service in that company, is totally unnerving.
The situation becomes worse when they find it difficult to get new jobs or get a similar pay in a new job.
A cursory search on Quora to figure out what IT engineers do after the age of 45 brings up a plethora of responses, all of which say that one cannot grow in the industry after the age of 40 years unless one is willing to branch out or update oneself.
In fact, most of the responses insisted that there is no scope for continuing in the lower management or mid-management jobs in the IT industry after the age of 40 or 45 because by then the earning that the company gets v/s the salary paid to the employee becomes less than 1.
That is why most information technology companies end up downsizing or retrenching their old staff regularly.
Unless one is a billable resource, one will be fired.
About 10 - 15% of the staff find themselves having risen into the post of Team leaders and only about 5% of the staff will have risen to the ranks of top management.
In such a scenario it makes little sense to presume that one could hope to stay in the same company till one retires.
A good question to ask oneself is whether 10 years of doing the same job gives one the same experience or increase in salary as taking up 10 different jobs in 10 years in the same sector.
The follow-up question would be as to which experience would help one get a job if one were to quit or were fired at the age of 40 years.
Most people in the IT industry above the age of 45 years shift to allied industries which can use their knowledge and experience in maintaining their systems, for example, the healthcare industry or the insurance industry.
It comes as no surprise, especially after COVID, that people are now willing to use digital technology to monitor their health or investments and/or get online consultations for various services.
These sectors require people who have experience in entering information and maintaining the system, both considered boring jobs by the younger generation.
Another service sector that is recruiting old blood is the legal sector. Of course for entering any of these industries, one has to take mandatory training to equip oneself to the respective terminology and other requirements.
One of the best examples to understand how changes affect an entire industry is to take a look at the animation industry.
VFX & Animation are words that are used often when we see special effects in films. This industry and its employees faced one of the biggest challenges when the technology changed from 2D to 3D.
New software sprung up almost suddenly and the end users, mainly the film industry wanted the best special effects.
Imagine, a whole line of artistes (those who create the special effects) had to learn a new technology within months!
They knew the art, but not the technology. From making classic masterpieces in animated films, they were now useless unless they learnt the latest technology which forced them to look at and work on every frame with depth (no pun intended).
Those who were able to learn the new software, survived. But many people dropped out of the industry altogether because they were not able to learn at the ripe old age of 40 and above.
Guess which field stood to gain because of this?
YouTube creations!
When one door closes, another one opens…
The only way to stay ahead today is to train the brain to look forward to changes, innovations and welcome continuous skill development and risk taking.
Self-training in saving and investment techniques is also one of the most necessary skills one needs to learn young, to sustain oneself in trying times.
Recently I spoke to a person employed in one of the biggest companies in Bangalore and he was seeking advice on whether to take up further studies in the Technology stream or the Management stream.
His worry was that youngsters who were being absorbed into his company spoke a language which was entirely different from the one his peers spoke. And this man was all of 29 years of age1!
According to a developer of websites, what has happened is that people from the older generation find it difficult to accept that what took them pages of coding is now available as a free feature.
Their expertise, say for example, in creating pull-down menus, is now taken for granted and this makes them feel outdated.
They have to unlearn long coding requirements and freshly learn to adapt to the use of Widgets, Search Engines, etc.
To the end user, it seems that things have been simplified and the end user expects changes in his/her Applications very fast, but to the developer who now has to learn newer ways of effecting changes in look and speed to keep his/her client happy, it seems like an onerous task2.
This means that even small firms have to cope with ageism when it comes to getting newer clients or keeping older clients in their books.
A silver lining in the whole thing is that many companies, especially the bigger ones, have started investing in training their own staff to adapt to new technology.
Continuous training programmes are conducted round the year for staff at various levels to help them cope with the change in expectations.
According to Shri Vivek Grover, a Director in one of the Big 4, “Companies with good work culture and ethics have realised the value of retaining their staff instead of hiring and firing”.
Of course Unicorns and smaller startups have yet to realise this especially since they are in a hurry to cut costs and get quicker results. They prefer to hire young blood who can train themselves on the job.
Recently I read about Shri Sujit Chattopadhyay being presented the Padma Shri for Literature and Education.
After 39 years of work as a teacher, he retired. But he just did not want to hang up his boots, because he felt that he was still capable of giving to society.
He started a free coaching centre called “Sadai Fakirer Pathshala” in 2004 and now has over 3000 students per year, most of who are young tribal girls. And they have gone on to be employed in various industries. When ageism hits, it is time to give back to society3.
Healthcare, Ageism and the role of Industry
One rarely discussed fact is the effect of ageism on health. The healthcare industry is among the worst when it comes to discrimination because of age.
The attention given by caregivers, to the ill depends a lot on the age of the patient, especially when it comes to hospitalisation.
People are conditioned to believe that it is the young who deserve to be saved first (in case of serious illness) and hence, more attention is given to those who are below the age of 65 years of age.
Families just do not want to spend more on hospitalisation and treatment if the patient is old.
The number of elderly in India is projected to reach 158.7 million in 2025 (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2008)4, and is expected, by 2050, to surpass the population of children below 14 years.
This amounts to about 20% of our population are senior citizens. As per another report5, about 25% of our population are under the age of 18.
This means that about 45% of our population are more or less dependent on the people who are the main income earners in the country.
In the absence of any State-sponsored security benefits or income, it goes without saying that most families face a difficult situation when anyone falls seriously ill or requires hospitalisation.
It is a known fact that the need for healthcare increases with age.
The National Family Health Survey of 2004–2005 quoted in the UNDESA report above, indicates that only 10% of households in India had at least one member of the family covered by any form of health insurance.
Since almost 83% of all healthcare expenses are Out Of Pocket expenses, not covered by insurance or government schemes (if any), it follows that a large part of income has to be kept aside for covering healthcare, especially in families which have senior citizens as members of the family.
Half of the Indian elderly are dependents, often due to widowhood, divorce, or separation, and a majority of the elderly are women (70%).
On a side note if we keep this in mind, we realise why more and more people are desperate for freebies announced by political parties.
One must also note that in a country as populous as ours it is difficult to provide for employment to those above the age of 60 years, because this cuts into the employment for those in the 18-60 years bracket.
Keeping all the above factors in mind, it is imperative that:
Government brings out schemes which enforce savings for those in the employable age, in a manner that annual payments/returns are made only after retirement/60 years of age, till death of the employee and his/her spouse.
It could be on the lines of Social Security benefits available in First World countries. In cases where the person falls below poverty line or is unemployable, the Government should contribute to this fund in the name of the person.
Companies contribute a small percentage/fixed amount in the name of every employee to the above scheme every month, even if the employee works only for a few months.
Such a scheme should be made mandatory even for temporary staff, contract labourers and those on contract/consultation, etc.
Retail businesses, hotels, restaurants and those in the service industry should be given small incentives for employing people above the age of 60, even if it is on a part-time basis.
To summarise,
Companies need to do the following to make sure that Ageism does not trump Loyalty and Humanism:
Train their staff on a regular basis to keep up with the times.
If retrenching older staff becomes necessary, help them to find their footing in newer jobs or in different sectors.
Have regular sessions to educate staff in savings and investment options.
Individuals need to do the following to beat Ageism:
Make sure that you attend every training programme offered by your organisation and keep updating your knowledge.
If you get a chance to take up assignments abroad, especially in Technologically advanced countries, do take it up.
Remember that 40 is the new 60 when it comes to retirement. Difficult as it may sound, financial goals have to be achieved by the time you are 40 years of age.
Do not have substantial loans beyond that age, because then every time your career boat is rocked, you will feel more stress than necessary.
Keep networking and making connections, because that is where you will find help in getting job offers.
Ageism has made people feel less secure in their jobs in the technology sector but the flipside of this has been that it has made people feel the need to learn further and keep upgrading their skills.
It has also made people explore new frontiers once their basic need of financial security has been satisfied.
This has led to development in this sector itself and also in other sectors which have no connection to the software industry per se.
People are now using their skills to teach others, to make life simpler for others, to give life to unfulfilled dreams.
It makes one realise that what matters is neither age nor experience – it is the ability to adapt and improve on oneself.
Add a little empathy to that and there will always be room for people of all ages in all sectors.
References:
1. Shri Shivakumar H, Senior Engineer, Bosch Global Software Tech. Pvt. Ltd
2. Smt. Ritu Rathore, Proprietor, Infiaxon Pvt. Ltd.
Rati Hegde
602, Om Viraj CHSL,
Paliram Path, Andheri West,
Mumbai 400058.
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