The Secret of Older Workers

I’ve read many articles about older workers. In totality, the articles cover different age segments (those in their 40s, 50s, 60s), situations (employed, laid off, retired, wanting a career change, etc.), sides of the generational divide, task at hand (résumé updating, job hunting, layoff survival, accepting a new manager,etc.), and mental landscape (logical analysis, emotional impact, etc.).

There are common narratives across all of them. On the negative side, I read that older workers can be perceived as having less energy, being less willing to give their all, being less flexible, caring less about their career growth, or being harder to manage.

On the positive side, they can also be perceived as being more mature, more patient, more reliable, better communicators, or able to bring a lifetime of experience to the job.

All true, more or less, most of the time

Generalizations can help you navigate and organize reality, and life would be unmanageable without them. But if they’re improperly used, they can morph into stereotypes, and that’s never good. I think all of the older worker perceptions are based on grains of truth coming from some real experiences. They’re useful to keep in your back pocket, and occasionally refer to, providing you recognize their source and don’t consider them as foregone conclusions.

But you know what? There’s an aspect of older workers that’s true virtually all of the time, and yet never gets any airplay.

Get to the point, dammit

I’m defining an older worker as anyone over 40. That’s about halfway in average life expectancy, and it means you’ve been in the workplace for about 20 years. In your personal life, you’ve probably put down a root or two, and you’re starting to understand that you’re mortal.

I’m struck by the one true attribute missing from every article. It’s never openly discussed. I guess it’s a closely-held secret of the over-40 crowd. Well, as a card-carrying member of that crowd, I’m going to spill the beans right now.

This secret is true of every older worker, and it accounts for many of the perceived behaviors, both “positive” and “negative”.

Ready?

Here it comes.

It’s this: Older workers have heard it all before.

We won’t get fooled again

Some people are lucky — they’ve worked in only wonderful companies, and for wonderful bosses. But most of us aren’t so lucky. Most of us experience a mixture during our working years…some of our employers and bosses are wonderful, some are average, and some are terrible. From the sum of our experiences, we detect recurring patterns, and make our own generalizations about the workplace.

Including generalizations about company rah-rah, and those stock management phrases:

• “You are our most valuable resource. I’m counting on you to do whatever it takes to succeed.”
• “Invest your loyalty into the company, and you can be sure that the company will return it.”
• “This is a start-up, so we all need to work late nights and every weekend.”
• “We’re trying to close a big sale, so everyone needs to pull together.”

On rare occasions, giving back extra can be justified. Sometimes an extra push is needed, through no fault of the company’s management, to close the big sale or whathaveyou. And that’s better than seeing the company stumble financially, which would have worse personal consequences.

But there’s a difference between that, and a credulous belief in a company, manager, or project. The truth is, more often than not, a request for superhuman effort is symptomatic of poor planning and/or poor management.

Those “years of experience” possessed by older workers? It means they’ve heard all the corporate bullshit exhortations before. With both good, and goddammit-I-won’t-ever-agree-to-that-again, results.

Older workers are less gullible. They’re less taken in by corporate jive, because in the past they’ve:

• Killed themselves for milestones, trade shows, closing a big sale, making a quarter’s revenue numbers, etc. All for naught, as the company staggered on in a coma, or tanked anyway.
• Been loyal to companies that then laid them off, or moved them aside in a reorg, or hired a new boss instead of granting a promotion.
• Been exhorted to get on board with the new yaddayaddayadda process/language. It’s new! It’s great! It’s better than yaddayaddayadda–– ! (Note to Scrum zealots: This happens about every five years. Your turn’s coming soon.)
• Had extroverted bosses tell them they need to speak up more.
• Had introverted bosses tell them they need to be more thoughtful.
• Had turf-conscious bosses tell them they need to think about their group’s needs more.
• Had kiss-up bosses tell them they need to think about their company’s needs more.

After you’ve worked a few years in any business in a capitalist free-market, you begin to glimpse three inherent truths:

• The corporation is a soulless beast.
• Nobody on their deathbed ever said, “I should have spent more time at the office.”
• Remember those other, older employees you ran into when you were just starting out? The way they didn’t kill themselves for the company, the way you did? They knew then what you’re just discovering now.

The older worker who isn’t killing himself for your startup, getting on board with the latest zeitgeist, or staying past 5:00pm just might, might, be on to something. He’s already been where you are. And he has a good idea about what’s probably coming next.

[ Updated 9/17/2008: Minor stylistic nits. ]