To not want my length of service announced in team meeting?

[Bake]

I've worked for a retailer for 20 years. Started in store at 16 then worked various head office roles over the years. I haven't really progressed up the career ladder so find discussing my length of service embarrassing. After 20 years I'm still just doing this, I'm good at my job, but don't feel I'm where I should be and wonder where I'd be if I'd done things differently. I'm in my mid 30s and work with a team where most of my peers are in their mid 20s and will no doubt be more senior than me in a couple of years. It's not something I really dwell on, I have young children and my priority is them at this moment in time.

Last week in the team meeting, they went through "work anniversaries" and announced I'd been there for 20 years. I guess I should have realised this was coming as they've done it previously for other team members. My real anniversary was in September so I was hoping I'd been missed. Am I being unreasonable to think this is personal data and they should check for permission before sharing in a large team meeting?

It's not personal data. Just ask your manager for it to be mentioned in future.

Not to be mentioned!

I don’t think you are being unreasonable to not want it shared but I suspect it probably isn’t personal data in the same way that your address might be. It is in the public domain on the day you start after all.
You might be able to head it off in another five years if you speak to your boss.

I would class this as GDPR as someone is disclosing information in public you have not been consulted on. Also I wouldn't feel embarrassed about not going for promotion. I haven't either as I don't want additional hassle.

As a 20 something in a large firm who haas progressed very quickly up the ranks, I just want to say that people like you, who have amazing length of service but don’t move jobs every couple of years searching for progression, are the foundations of our company. I couldn’t do my new management position without relying on the knowledge and skills built up by people like you. As a young manager, I make it my priority to have someone like you on the team as a valued expert in whatever the team is doing.

if everyone in the firm was like me, we’d lose important knowledge and expertise that would prevent us from progressing and I think having people from all different backgrounds is important for this reason!

What a positive, self aware thing to say. You must be a real asset too. Promotion isn't something everyone is interested in, for many reasons.