Jan Manni never tells her age to people at work.
"My hair is dyed and highlighted," said Manni, who looks 10 years younger than she is. "I wear younger, sporty clothes. I force myself to be perky," she said.
Manni -- who would get a face-lift if she had the time and money -- feels it's necessary to keep her young looks not because she is vain, but because she thinks the work world demands it.
"No one wants to hire someone who looks like they are in their 50s," Manni said.
Age discrimination on the job, once thought to be the bastion of the geriatric set, is now catching the attention of baby boomers as they move through their 40s and 50s.
A survey of plastic surgeons showed that 46 percent of their male patients and 47 percent of female patients said one of the top reasons for their surgery was to "look younger." In addition, 33 percent of the men and 19 percent of the women said one of the factors was "work-related."
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 protects people older than 40 from discrimination in hiring and on the job.
"I thought that sounded young," said attorney Charlotte Fishman of the Equal Rights Advocates, a women's rights group in San Francisco. She wondered who would need protection against discrimination at that age.
It turns out that many people do, Fishman said. Looking young "permeates the culture," and even younger middle-aged people are finding that they are being discriminated against in hiring, promotions and layoff decisions.The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reports that age discrimination complaints climbed almost 30 percent in 2008, likely due to the bulge of baby boomers who are over 40 and the economic crisis.Employment counselors recommend that job-seekers over age 40 minimize clues to their age on their resumes. Companies usually only care about the last 10 years, anyway, said Jenna Gausman, a career counselor at Kerwin & Associates in Los Angeles.Gausman doesn't think there's widespread age discrimination. Older workers may be coming in with a defeatist attitude and a "perception that they aren't wanted" that may become a "self-fulfilling prophecy," she said.She suggests that older workers stress the value of their age and experience and address stereotypes up front by emphasizing their flexibility and the energy they will bring to the position."It's about changing the perception and changing your attitude," Gausman said.People like Gausman aren't being realistic, countered Norm Matloff, a professor of computer science at the University of California, Davis, and a nationally known researcher on age discrimination and information technology workers.
"It's funny, I've heard younger people saying the market is excellent if you have skills that an employer wants," Matloff said. "What they are saying is not realistic. It's very hard for someone who has not been there to understand it."Now that she's on the other side of 40, Roma Martwick said she understands all too well how older workers are discriminated against. And she looks back on her younger days with hiring power and cringes."When I was in my 20s and 30s, and I had to interview people, I did discriminate and lean toward younger people," she said. "It's terrible, but I did do that."Martwick said she thought then that older workers would resent a younger boss. She worried that they wouldn't have a lot of energy or fit in with younger people in the company.A good corporate fit is important, said Tim Mahan, a 48-year-old computer programmer who is currently unemployed and lives in Yreka. He cites a Marin County company where everyone was younger than 30 -- even the managers."They didn't hire me because I was too old," Mahan said. "I understand their reasoning there. That's the company culture."A company culture that isn't youth-oriented is one reason computer professional Gayle Coffman of Bellevue, Wash., likes her current job at a manufacturing company. Many of her colleagues are around her age of 48. "I love it here and hope to retire here," she said.
With the insecurity of the information technology field, Coffman keeps her "edge" just in case.And that edge includes not only keeping up her work skills and education but also keeping up her appearance. She runs two miles a day on the treadmill, dyes her hair blond and cuts it in a short, trendy style, and slathers on Kathie Lee Gifford's Natural Advantage three-step anti-aging system every day."I'll stop short of plastic surgery," Coffman said.But many don't. Folsom cosmetic surgeon Kenneth Sumida said more people are citing "job competition" when they come to see him."The patients I see coming in are 50-year-old men who are top executives or who are trying to keep their positions," Sumida said.Sumida can't say that the surgery keeps the young bucks in the organization at bay. But, he said, plastic surgery "does work in a way" by giving older workers the self-confidence to compete. TheSacramento Bee, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune BusinessNews.
