Changing the Narrative Director Janine Vanderburg and the Denver Public Library hosted a webinar on age discrimination in March. Janine interviewed book author Elizabeth White, a Harvard MBA graduate, aging solutions advocate, blogger, TedTalks speaker, and lecturer, on her 2019 book, “55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal.” Elizabeth discussed workplace age discrimination and the financial vulnerability of many older adults. The interview with Ms. White identified specific actions adults can take to push local officials and policy makers to prioritize these retirement income and workplace issues.
Author Elizabeth White
Janine indicated in a recent survey that many respondents had issues with workplace age discrimination and had no recourse as Federal laws don’t really protect older adults from workplace age discrimination. Elizabeth indicated one-third of laid off workers experience age discrimination. An Urban Institute survey indicated over 52% of workers over 50 years old were laid off. Unfortunately, over two million laid off workers gave up looking for jobs due to age discrimination issues.
In her book, Elizabeth details several instances about workplace age discrimination by herself and from a survey with other laid off workers over 55 years. She elaborates, “If you or a loved one are facing financial instability as an older adult, you are not alone! It is a misconception that the retirement income crisis is only a problem for low wage workers, or is caused by poor planning and irresponsible behavior. The truth is millions of boomer age Americans are facing a massive retirement savings shortfall.”
Elizabeth revealed after being laid off as a consultant, she wrote an essay, “You Know Her!” about workplace age discrimination, which went viral. She received many responses from other laid off workers indicating similar experiences. She explained she was hiding from ageism due to shamefulness. After this event, she began a resilience group to help others. She recommended using Facebook groups or LinkedIn to start your own resilience group. The idea is to not start a therapy group on why this happened, but to have a positive attitude in helping others in finding jobs.
Elizabeth recommended looking at the non-dollar benefit such as adopting new technologies to better yourself rather than refusing a job based upon salary or become an intern in learning new skills. She indicated many tele-working opportunities exist for laid off workers that have certain skills and many have started their own new businesses. Some smaller companies have an intergenerational workforce with many older 55 workers contributing to the company’s performance.
Elizabeth also noted that your physical appearances will have an effect on career choices as she had discovered. Your age longevity will affect your retirement or being laid off. If you are laid off, she recommended having between $60 to $130 thousand in savings to weather the storm depending on where you live.
She believes the Biden administration will help older workers against workplace age discrimination with new Federal laws. She feels President Biden should hire an aging czar to work on workplace age discrimination.
During the webinar, Jodi Waterhouse, a board member with the Colorado Senior Lobby is proposing to advocate and educate the Colorado legislature on workplace age discrimination with a goal of passing new legislation on preventing workplace age discrimination.
In summary, Elizabeth reminded the attendees that you’re not alone! This is a national systemic issue. The World Health Organization is doing a survey on ageism and longevity and how it affects each other. Get off your throne on only accepting higher paying jobs and consider strategy versus failure in looking for a new job! Saving money, reducing your expenses, and networking after being laid off will be key in getting your next job. To learn more about ageism or age discrimination, please visit https://changingthenarrativeco.org/.