Would the ageing population comment at work be considered ageist?

[theninthwave]

I am 60 years old and the company I work for has recently been brought out by an American company. Recently I had to attend line manager training for recruitment and one of the subjects brought up by a participant was about what to do when recruiting someone if they didn't have access to email (the company uses DocuSign for contracts).
This guy mentioned that some of his potential drivers were 58 (oh no!) and didn't have email addresses - not sure what their age has to do with this???
As if this wasn't bad enough the person doing the training (quite senior in rank, but probably mid 30s) responded by saying, "Ah yes, the aging population." !!
Myself and another 'older' lady on the course exchanged glances, and this has bothered me ever since. When I joined the company as an experienced 59 year old manager the function was a mess - I have since sorted it out and got it organised. In addition, the majority of new recruits and contract staff are over 50. They seem to be totally reliant on the over 50s to get the work done, but obviously see us as 'the aging population'.
I have also had to attend meetings with younger representatives from the US who have been rude and condescending. I've worked for US companies twice in my career and have both times decided to leave. Trouble is I only need to stick it for another three years or so, then I'll be a position to go self employed doing something I'll enjoy much more and that will take me into my older years.
Two questions - would the 'aging population' remark be considered ageist, and should I complain (may seem petty but it's what attitudes underlie it isn't it?), and do I stick it out or start to look elsewhere (I still get a lot of agency calls about jobs)?

58 and not having email can be factual. Asking what to do when someone can’t access Docusign is also a valid question. The aging population comment is ignorant though.

This guy mentioned that some of his potential drivers were 58 (oh no!) and didn't have email addresses - not sure what their age has to do with this???

Yes but if you're going to pretend age isn't a factor, you're going to make yourself look very silly.

For example over 2 million people aged over 60 don't use the internet at all.

Yes, but so could being 40 and not having an email address be true. A lot of people in these sorts of jobs (drivers, warehouse operatives) won't have email access, regardless of their age. On the other hand a friend's mother is 80 and is highly IT literate. My own mother taught herself to program a computer in her late 50s - in the 1990s! It's ageist to assume a lack based on age!

Yes, it’s ageist but I can’t see an American company being bothered about it. They would probably see you as a troublemaker.

@theninthwave It’s pretty easy to take offence at a faulty small offending it. They employ you. It’s true we have an aging pollution as the birth rate is failing substantially. No 2.4 children in many families. So it’s factually accurate even though you don’t like it. Ditto with people and email. Older people are more likely not to have it. They will just have to send a written contract on paper! Overall though, it’s not a hill to die on. I’m 70 and I agree with what was said!

A lot of much younger people won't use email or Internet in a professional setting. They might use Google, social media etc., but a lot of people in non office based jobs won't have used things like Docusign, whereas a lot of older people will have helped design the very tools being used. And can age be a factor when at least half of the 100 or so people working in this particular head office are over 55? And obviously a good portion of the drivers must be too.

But older people are more likely to not be online and we do have an ageing population.

I think you're looking to be offended

Someone has to be a trouble maker. Otherwise us women would still not have the vote and would need a husband to agree to us having a bank account 🙄

Exactly.

And that can make a person look a bit silly, which is why I don't think the OP should react.

I'm retired now, but in my last job there were occasional comments made about older people not being computer literate. I always pointed out that I first had a computer at work and home in the 1980s and have used one every day since.
I would have laughed in his ignorant face at the 'ageing population' comment.

They do employ me, but they need me more than I need them, hence a recent 25% pay increase as they felt I was a flight risk. Plus so many contractors are being brought in to sort out messes and all are over 55. Probably about a third of the workforce are in this category. Probably not a good idea to start annoying them!
Ageing population refers to adults over 80, but I am glad you're fine with that label.
As I said, a lot of younger people don't have email addresses either. My niece is 30, has worked with horses since she was 17 and only ever uses the Internet on her phone. Glad her employers didn't have such ageist attitudes when they employed her to run their stud at age 17. You know, cos "younger people are inexperienced and unreliable" etc....

Exactly this! I designed one of the first workflow systems. Our highly efficient Reporting Manager is in his late 60s. Nothing he doesn't know re IT systems. I was using computers in retail banking in the 80s.
There are laws about this stuff in the workplace these days. Just as there are laws about racism and disability status. But people seem to think ageism is okay????

Absolutely, but person 1 could have had a 58 year old who doesn’t have email and couldn’t use Docusign. The customer themselves could have said (I’m 58 and I don’t have email) - I don’t know why that’s hit a nerve with you but it clearly did. YABU though. I work in technology and come across multiple self proclaimed technophobes who automatically link it to their age. I also meet plenty that are the opposite. Saying so doesn’t make me ageist.

The second person was ignorant and that’s a feedback conversation directly to them.

I would say something. But then I am known as a bit of a troublemaker 😂

They could have discussed the Docusign issue without mentioning age.

One of the least computer literate people I work with is in her 30s!

@theninthwave No. The aging population refers to those over 66 receiving a state pension the working population are paying for. Or the country is borrowing for! These people are not paying NI and use the NHS more. The aging pollution is the growing % of this group when compared to birth rate and working people. It’s plain we have a problem with it.

But a senior person, running a training course, in a professional environment should be more savvy. This is the Head of Talent Acquisition in a huge multi national logistics organisation. Making reference to the aging population with regards to a person who is 58, making an assumption that age is the reason, is unprofessional and outside UK and US law. The person who made the comment is British and employed by the British arm of the organisation.
I have a partner who drives HGVs. He doesn't have an email address. Not because he's old. Just never needed one!

I’m 55 but my tech skills are 10x better than a lot of people half my age.

I would have had to say something

Yeah fuck them, it’s not like they paid in 🙄🙄🙄

Then give them the feedback. You’re making a mountain out of a molehill. You’re focusing too much on what arm of what part of what entity. This is nowhere near disciplinary level or discrimination- it’s clumsy wording.

For example over 2 million people aged over 60 don't use the internet at all.

I bet those 2 million fall in the much higher age range of over 60. The over 75s are the least likely to use the internet and would be very much less likely to be job market.

You sound very motivated on this subject @theninthwave . If I were you I'd keep my head down, keep pushing for more money, leave as soon as you can and then spend time campaigning for older people. You'd be great at it.

I'd also write down all the shit you have to listen to and, one day, if and when they overstep the mark throw the book at them.

Are you actually bothered by the comment or are you just trying to get someone you clearly don’t like in the shit?

Yes, this is ageism.

Educated people in professional jobs are more likely to have confident computer access than less educated people in physical jobs.
Younger people are more likely to have confident computer access than older people.

Older, uneducated people who don’t have office based jobs may well struggle with computer based recruitment- Docusign and email.
It’s not wrong to mention it, and it is a problem. Part of my job involves finding work arounds for volunteers who can’t use the system we now operate. We need their information. They can’t use the system we collect it with. Most of them are older. Youngsters tend to have all singing all dancing internet access.

My parents (late 70s/early 80s) are currently sitting on the sofa with their iPads. My mum set up and ran a successful business after she was 50 and my dad was a CAD programmer.

In contrast, I work with people in their early 20s who have to have twice the training as the older ones.

They are the ones who get stressed about new systems. They are also the ones who, if they don’t know something, won’t look it up or try to find the answer, they just expect it to be spoonfed.

They won’t have paid in enough to cover what they take out. Very few do. It isn’t a defined pot scheme. It depends on younger people paying to support older people. The ratio of supporters to supported is shifting the wrong way at the moment.