When Anne LaFave interviewed for a job at a McDonald’s restaurant nearly 20 years ago, she was more concerned about her age than her boss’s, so she fudged a bit and said she was 63. Actually, LaFave was 75.
Today, age doesn’t affect 94-year-old LaFave’s career as a crew member at McDonald’s in Chicago, nor does it bother her 27-year-old boss, Adela Vasquez.
Unusual reporting relationship? Sure, since the traditional expectation in the workplace is the elder, experienced boss overseeing the younger, fledging subordinate. But nowadays it’s common to find people in their late 40s and 50s on up reporting to people in their 20s or 30s.
“The younger boss/older worker concept is driven by emerging leadership and technical skill sets that aren’t necessarily work- or experience-based,” explains Carl Robinson, managing partner of Organizational Psychologists, a Chicago-based consulting firm specializing in human resources management. “Education, not experience, often leads younger people to be promoted or hired from the outside. In school, they’re learning strategic planning and information technology skills, such as programming and software, that make them well qualified.”
Part of what makes Vasquez and LaFave’s relationship work is that they both make important contributions. Store manager Vasquez and the rest of the crew members get the on-the-job training of a lifetime just by listening to what LaFave has to say.
LaFave works hard greeting customers and keeping the restaurant spotless while trying to instill a solid work foundation in her young co-workers. She encourages them to take pride in what they do by telling them what they should be doing to perform well on the job.
“I tell them you need to earn your wages. I say, `I’m not your boss, but I’m part of the team, and this store is my home.’ ” She has gained such respect from her co-workers that they call her “Mama.”
But not all companies can expect the May-December work relationship to be as rewarding or to work as well as it does for LaFave and Vasquez. For many employees, the situation breeds conflict. Older workers may feel threatened and younger workers may feel extra stress in what might be their first position of authority.
“Older veterans often resent being overlooked for a promotion,” Robinson says. “The message that this conveys is that experience and tenure are less relevant to the company. This resentment can be compounded when young managers are arrogant — and that happens often.”
Part of an older person’s resentment is that job security and the value put on loyalty are eroding. A company veteran may feel even more slighted if an organization’s leadership changes and his or her status is reduced.
“Sometimes older people feel that once they empty their brain of their expertise, then they’ll be fired,” says Diane Wilson, an executive coach with Grimard Wilson Consulting Inc., a Chicago-based career-management firm.
Wilson recalls a man in his 50s who now reports to a 30-year-old, his former subordinate. For the first six months, it was a tense situation, but they finally came to terms after they both discussed their feelings and called a truce.
For younger bosses, Robinson says, the inexperience in leadership and office politics, as well as the absence of a mentor figure, often makes them feel insecure. A 30-year-old supervisor who’s been raised to respect elders may feel awkward nixing her 60-year-old subordinate’s ideas.
Mary Zajac has always been the younger boss. She assumed her first managerial role, at the age of 24, at the Naperville offices of Lucent Technologies Inc., a designer of communication networks, systems and components. Today, the 37-year-old is a research and development operations vice president overseeing a mixed-age staff.
“When I was a manager at 24, it was awkward until I decided that I would have to be thick-skinned about it,” Zajac reflects. “I said to myself, `I was chosen for this job for a good reason, and I was hired not because I was young.’ “
That mentality carried her through the managerial positions she held as she moved up through the ranks. She says besides listening to and showing respect for more experienced colleagues, one way to help bridge the gap is connecting on a personal level.
“I like them to teach me something that is uniquely theirs,” Zajac says. “It’s a good way to make a connection.”
The generation gap between a 25-year-old boss, who never saw an eight-track tape, and a 55-year-old subordinate, who never heard of rap artist Coolio, often leads to making assumptions about each other that only intensifies an already-awkward situation.
Older workers, says Robinson, often assume younger bosses have a poor work ethic, have nothing to teach or offer and overvalue their limited experience, while undervaluing a veteran’s broad experience.
On the flip side, younger workers assume older workers are unwilling to change or learn and are coasting until retirement.
The young pup also may think the old dog can’t learn new technological tricks.
To the contrary, experts say that older workers are just as capable — and just as enthusiastic — to learn emerging high-tech skills as their younger colleagues.
But there are ways for young bosses and experienced workers to cope with the age conflict.
Experts advise both sides to keep lines of communication open and treat each other with respect. Robinson adds that an older worker should work with the boss in a supportive — not adversarial — manner to build and maintain a good relationship. Younger bosses should listen to the seasoned veterans, value the work environment that has preceded them and shouldn’t assume older workers aren’t open to change.
“Compassion on both sides goes a long way,” Wilson adds. “Just imagine what it feels like to be the other person.”
LaFave and Vasquez are fortunate enough to share a unique and compassionate work relationship in which mutual respect is ageless.
” `Mama’ teaches us how to do things right and how to improve ourselves,” Vasquez says. “I use her as an example for the rest of my crew on how to be a good worker.”
