Any 60 year olds wanting to retire due to micromanagers half your age.

[whatisforteamum]

I've worked with younger people for decades obviously.
Recently the level of micromanaging from younger staff is driving me nuts.
They must think I'm decripted checking I've had enough to drink or if I've had lunch.
Even questioning things I've done for years.
Ok I do push myself quite hard but surely I know what's best and how to get results.
Btw they are not senior to me .
How do I get them to stop checking up on me.

Yep. Everything I did was questioned, even though I was more qualified and was keeping my qualifications current. I had to defend/justify almost everything I did even though it was correct. I was being asked to do things that were very questionable.

People from companies that we worked alongside couldn't believe what I was going through. They said I was the one holding the project together.

SO I took one of my pensions and walked away. I've spent the entire summer mentally recovering. I don't know how it's going on without me and I don't give a damn.

I nearly retired last year but got another job instead. The place I worked and loved had become unbearable!

Yep - the patronising “Do you know what [insert some piece of technology/social media thing] is?”. Honey, I’ve been doing this job since computers at work became a thing. 🙄

I've seen it from both sides. The older staff with 40 years experience of shuffling paper files round and round who can't cope with an electronic document management system.

Now I'm the older one who has to keep reminding the young ones I was coding before they were born and actually understand it not just copy and pasting stupidly over engineered stuff from ChatGPT.

I think the 'push myself quite hard' could be what's leading to questions about whether you are eating/drinking regularly. If it's noticeable that you aren't, I find that younger people put a lot of importance on health and wellbeing and work-life balance, and honestly, good for them! It's not micromanaging, it's concern and a different approach to work.

I did this. At one point she said she wanted me to see occupational therapy because I had had too much time off. I told her to look at my attendance record before she became my line manager and she shut up. I walked away on my 60th birthday and never regretted it.

It’s hard, I manage someone quite a bit older than me and they’re really stuck in their ways, don’t see the bigger picture (e.g. so what if I’ve done x, it doesn’t matter, even though it means now y can’t happen) and generally is resistant to change.

To add for balance, one of the younger members of staff sees me as old and is quite patronising when telling me things. I try and have an open mind to things because I know how frustrated I get with the person I manage.

Fair enough.I used to think 10 years older was old in my 30s.Im the one with lots of current ideas tbh.I like new ideas and projects.
Maybe I don't like being told what to do .I don't mind a younger boss just not anyone patronizing me.

Do you take a standard lunch break each day?

I think if you take the line of 'I was doing x while you were still in nappies', you're kind of proving their point... ie, you think that what worked 30 years ago is still the way to go. On top of which you're trying to pull rank by virtue of years served, which looks a bit desperate.

I don't know what the answer is, tbh. I essentially left my profession when I couldn't keep up with the tech. I went freelance and found a niche working with people who appreciated what I DID have to offer. (I have my doubts about how many organisations really do understand their own processes but that's another story!) Obviously this is where longevity is an advantage, because a long career gives you a track record and a lot of contacts.

It's a painful realisation, but our hard-won experience means little to younger colleagues - or family members, for that matter - unless it's of some benefit to them. Yes, they could be more tactful about it. But I'm equally sure I was just as thoughtless to my elders!

If none of the above applies to you - you're up on the tech, and you breeze through the stresses, long hours and physical demands of modern working life - then the issue of respect / feeling patronised wouldn't arise.

I think sometimes people don't appreciate just how much change someone who's 60 in 2026 has already seen in workplace technology over their working life. Change is exactly what we're used to, the complete opposite of having been used to only one fixed way of doing things.

It's been quite a ride and I don't want to get off yet actually. So it's frustrating to be as enthusiastic about facilitating new technology adoption as ever, but have new managers seem to assume the opposite must be true.

So I can say for sure that being comfortable with whatever currently counts as new technology is not that protective a factor. It's being perceived as comfortable with it that matters more and ageism makes that hard.

I have done my job since God was a boy and am being managed a 25 year old who did a similar job to me for about 9 months before she got promoted.

She’s good but she’s not as good as she thinks she is and if she says “TH you’ve smashed it” in her performance reviews one more time I’ll probably lose my shit.

This.

But I've worked with people exactly the same age as me over the years who can be similarly frustrating - if they don't get cause and effect that's their intelligence or personality, surely.

This thread is interesting. I see this from the other side - I’m in my mid 30s but some colleagues 20+ years older than me treat me like I’ve just left school and in my first ‘real’ job.

It’s frustrating as sometimes they see years of experience as the most important thing. It’s important but it doesn’t mean younger people are less competent just because they haven’t worked as many years yet.

You might find that the younger generation are more aware of wellness than in our day. Both physical and mental. They may actually just care that a fellow human being may not be nourishing themselves properly.

My experience in terms of work doesn't discriminate age as there are good and less good people both older and younger than I. I do notice that young people don't tend to speak about working all hours as being the badge of honour that it used to be perceived as. They generally look at us like we are stupid. It was a good lesson for me. And it doesn't necessarily mean they are lazy or have a bad work ethic either.

My manager is 20+ years younger than me and is great in that she leaves me alone to get on with it and does, genuinely (for her advantage as well, of course) appreciate my subject knowledge.

But what does annoy me about some younger colleagues is that if you have any minor IT frustration, that anyone might experience at times, the solution can be explained to you very very slooowly.

I think it's quite a difficult situation because often your boss is the same age as your grown up children, and what parents like being told how to suck eggs by their children?
On the flip side, a life of experience can make certain problems a much easier solve for an older person and that can be intimidating for a young manager
In my experience it takes a while to hit the right balance. The older worker needs to bite their tongue and be diplomatic when suggesting that perhaps the " great new innovation" being proposed had actually been around the block several times. Choose your words carefully to avoid being called " passive aggressive"
Similarly the young boss has to develop a respect for the skills and knowledge of their older workers and see them as a useful resource rather than has-beens.
A tricky situation for both sides to negotiate.

I agree with this. I entered the workforce in the early 1970s, when as a professional, I didn't even use a typewriter myself, but dictated to a secretary. I retired last year in my late 70s. There is no way I could have worked that long in my profession unless I could adapt quickly to change many times over.

Happily, my work involved a depth of subject matter knowledge, including historical knowledge, that was valued so I usually had respect from younger bosses. I say usually, but there were exceptions. And I have to admit that I am glad that I retired before I had to deal much with AI. That might be a technological bridge too far.

Do you skip lunch a lot? Welfare is part of a managers job. My boss often asks if I have been for lunch, if I tell her I’ve eaten at my desk and don’t really want to go to lunch she leaves it alone. But it’s her job to check I don’t have too much work or I’m too slow to be able to take my legally mandated breaks.

I've had to use the "I've done this more times than you've had hot dinners" line a few times.

For particular smart alecs, I tend to ask them what year they were born and then tell them where I was working whilst they were in a pram.

i dont think about the age of my newest manager
no point.
i think about her capability which is somewhat lacking.

i have actually done the same job since 1985
which younger colleagues are flabbergasted about
but i dont want to go up a band and manage