Combating rampant ageism at work: Why this is a big problem, how to fight it

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – In March of this year, I was fortunate to be named one of Forbes’ Next 1000 Upstart Entrepreneurs Redefining the American Dream. I am honored to be part of that list and to see my name surrounded by so many impressive individuals. Yet, at 49 years old, I am also one of the oldest people on it. (14th oldest, to be exact.) I don’t generally consider myself old, so I was surprised about that ranking, and since then, the list has made me think more extensively about age and bias at work and in entrepreneurship.

How old is a successful founder? 

Especially in the tech sector, there’s a persistent stereotype that most tech founders are in their early 20s. Yet, according to ReadWrite, “twice as many successful entrepreneurs are over 50 as under 25. 75% have more than 6 years of industry experience, and 50% have more than 10 years when they create their startup. The highest rate of entrepreneurship in America has shifted to the 55–64 age group, with people over 55 almost twice as likely to found successful companies than those between 20 and 34 – in fact, the 20-34 age bracket has the lowest rate of entrepreneurial activity.” 

This data proves that a founder’s age and experience are beneficial to business success: a point supported by additional research from Bloomberg, Forbes, and Harvard Business Review. But, I like that Bloomberg brings a more nuanced view to the conversation. “Super talented people,” they write, “are going to do great things even when they’re young [but] that doesn’t mean they’re not going to do even better things when they’re older.” 

Valuing youth and age

Over the past two decades, there has been a pendulum swing in how we value age at work. That’s especially true in technology, which can be genuinely youth-obsessed, but it happens in almost every sector. People often think that youth equates to greater creativity, that early-career professionals are more flexible in their thinking, and that therefore, younger is better and stronger. In my experience, it used to be the opposite: people conflated age with acumen and overvalued people’s length of service. 

The truth is that both of those responses show age-related bias — one bias that assumes “age” means “wisdom” and another that assumes “youth” means “innovation.” Today, let’s talk about age discrimination against older people in particular and debunk some myths about being being older in the workforce, especially in entrepreneurship. 

Disguising age-related bias 

Age is a protected class under equal employment law. Still, ageism is rampant in modern business. In fact, according to Propublica, a full 56% of workers who are 50+ have been pushed out of their jobs before they were ready to retire because of age-related bias, typically disguised as performance-related concerns. Some quotes in their research include:

• “Older workers can’t handle the day-to-day demands of the job.”
• “They can’t be retrained and are too hard to manage.”
• “They cost too much money in salary and benefits.”
• “They create too much risk of an employment discrimination claim."

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