Ageism and the Consequence of Inexperience

By Chip Espinoza, Mick Ukleja, and Craig Rusch

As a manager, if you are still unconvinced about the benefits of engaging your Millennial employees, then maybe this information is not for you. But we hope you’ll keep reading anyway, because our research contains a truly remarkable discussion, one of tremendous optimism, energy, and willingness to engage on the part of Millennial workers. Despite a societal organization that favors seniority, we encountered a keen understanding among Millennials of the value of—and eagerness to—gain experience.

This conversation takes place in the context of ageism, discrimination due to age. One common bias we all fall prey to is the tendency to assume that individuals we encounter, including people we work with daily, exhibit all of the traits and behaviors generally associated with their age cohort. Age stereotypes might depict older persons as being less than desirable employees, particularly for technically demanding jobs, or may depict younger employees as being naïve, inexperienced, or unreliable. Employers default to negative stereotypes when they have limited information about applicants and, thus, rely on perceived group characteristics.

Lately, the problem of age discrimination has received increased attention. Ironically, it is the Baby Boomer phenomenon that initially stirred our interest in studying Millennials in the workplace. We were concerned with “who” was going to take the Baby Boomers’ place in organizations and the disconnect that seemed to be emerging between the age cohorts.

We wanted to explore the idea of reverse ageism to see if Millennials felt barriers to job opportunities as a result of their age. So we did a survey with college juniors and seniors at California State University Long Beach and Vanguard University of Southern California.

The survey questions we asked were:

1. Have you ever felt you were treated differently at work because of your age? If so, in what ways have you been treated differently?
2. Do you perceive being a younger worker to be an advantage or disadvantage in the workplace?
3. In your work experience, have you ever been denied opportunity for advancement for any of these reasons: Age, Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Religion?
4. Have you ever felt that an older worker intentionally gave you a hard time?

Here’s what we learned:

• We discovered that an overwhelming 64.3 percent of the students felt they were treated differently at work because of their age. They articulated feelings of being condescended to or disregarded for their lack of experience.

Here is a sampling of their verbatim comments:

“I was treated like I don’t have enough experience; like I don’t know how to do certain tasks that are easy to figure out; like I’m not capable of taking on certain responsibilities that I feel adequate in accepting.”

“I was treated like I was mentally handicapped just because I was only 20 years old, compared to everyone else who was in their mid-30s. They talked to me slowly and acted like I couldn’t pick up anything new because I wouldn’t understand it.”

“I been given fewer projects, called names such as kiddo, tiger, etc.”

Although the majority of students felt they were treated differently because of their age, 72.2 percent believed their age was an advantage in the workplace. When asked to explain their choice, those who considered their age to be an advantage fell into three categories:

1. We have more time.
2. We are more teachable.
3. We are more relevant.

The fact that the students feel discriminated against, but still think they have an advantage, may explain why there is little interest in exploring if or how young people are discriminated against because of their age. Perhaps younger workers are more optimistic about the future because they have more time to overcome “age-related” discriminatory practices. Conversely, older workers who experience discrimination may exhibit pessimism about the future because they have less time to overcome discrimination. The students who considered being young a disadvantage could be categorized into two sentiments:

1. Their lack of experience
2. Being looked down upon because of their age.

• More than 60 percent of the students viewed their age as being the reason for being denied opportunity for advancement.
• More than 60 percent of the students felt they had intentionally been given a hard time because of their age. When we looked at the comments they shared, we noticed that much of the articulation was comparative. That is to say that there was a noticeable theme of ‘‘Us vs. Them.’’ We recognized a similar theme when interviewing managerial leaders on the subject of how they were experiencing working with Millennials.

It is telling that in the 2008 Democratic Primary, then-Senator Obama had the majority of the youth vote. His inexperience was not an issue to young voters. Rather than stretching his limited experience into something it was not, he focused on portraying himself as having good judgment. Another presidential hopeful took a different approach. Senator Clinton’s strategy was to emphasize her experience. When she began losing ground in the race, she changed her campaign from talking about “experience” to using words such as “readiness.”

Perhaps the most remarkable thing is that in spite of negative feedback, and in the face of an organizing principal of society that withholds privilege from them, we found a heartening—albeit competitive—optimism about future opportunities to contribute in their professional capacities among the Millennials we surveyed. We believe that any manager can tap into that capacity if they willingly apply the techniques laid out in the chapters of our book. Millennials, like any other generation, will have to make adjustments to assimilate into the workforce. But we are suggesting that the people with the most maturity need to adapt first. Quite frankly, if you are waiting for Millennials to grow out of their values, you may risk missing the best of what they have to offer.

Managerial leaders and Millennials are perfect for one another; the experienced coupled with the learner. Ironically, one of the biggest roadblocks to successfully managing Millennials is perhaps a leader’s greatest asset—experience. It seems counterintuitive, but if you acknowledge the Millennial’s experience before you reference your own, you will have a greater chance at successfully managing them.

Excerpt from “Managing the Millennials: Discover the Core Competencies for Managing Today’s Workforce,” by Chip Espinoza, Mick Ukleja, and Craig Rusch (Wiley 2010). For more information, visit http://www.redtreeleadership.com/millennials/AboutTheMillennialsBook.html

An expert on the subject of generational diversity in the workplace, Chip Espinoza is the chief executive officer of GeNext Solutions. He also teaches leadership in the Hobbs Leadership Program at California State University Long Beach. His mission in life is to help organizations become worthy of human habitation. Recently, he has focused on the integration of Millennials into the workplace. He and his colleagues have identified nine competencies critical to managing in today’s workplace.

Mick Uklejais the founder and president of LeadershipTraQ, a leadership consulting firm based in California. He hosts LeadershipTraQ Televised, an interview-format talk show in Southern California that profiles outstanding leaders. He helped found the Ukleja Center For Ethical Leadership at California State University, Long Beach. Dr. Ukleja serves as chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Astronauts Memorial Foundation at the Kennedy Space Center, which oversees the Center for Space Education. He is a principal in Bonita Bay Group, one of the largest developers of master-planned communities in Southwest Florida. Dr. Ukleja holds a Bachelor’s degree in philosophy, a Master’s degree in Semitic languages, and a Ph.D. in theology

Prior to his death in February 2012, Craig Ruschwas a professor of psychological anthropology at Vanguard University located in Costa Mesa, CA. He also served as chief strategy officer with GeNext Solutions. Dr. Rusch received his doctorate from the University of California, Irvine in Social Sciences with an emphasis in cross-cultural cognition and social networks. His areas of specialization included developing generationally effective leaders, creating healthy organizational culture, and understanding the impact of culture on cognition and emotion.